Regent's Park/Primrose Hill

From Londonbirders

Revision as of 18:23, 25 January 2008

Map: [1]

For anybody not familiar with these two sites, they are often lumped together because they are adjacent to each other and are separated only by a road. Primrose Hill lies to the north and as the name suggests, is a hill. Its main claim to ornitholgical interest is the fact that it makes an excellent spot to watch visible migration. Nearest tube station is Chalk Farm, which is 5 minutes walk away.

Immediately to the south of this and stretching towards central London almost to Marylebone Road and Baker Street, is Regents Park. This is a very large area, mostly of grassland, including football pitches, small groups/belts of trees and one reasonably sized lake towards the southern portion of the park. Regents Park benefits from having two Royal Parks employees who are also pretty good birders (Tony or Dave if you could add to this page, you would do a better job than I!).

Also for those with an interest in wildfowl identification, the lake holds a fairly extensive collection of birds to practice with. These include Ross's Geese, Black Brant, Pink-footed Geese, Smew, Red-crested Pochard and Ring-necked Duck. The park really comes into its own during periods of migration. Maybe it is because the Park is one of the few sizable areas of green in inner London, or maybe it is because the site gets so much regular coverage, it does turn up some pretty good birds for London every year. Wheatears are one of the obvious birds that are fairly easy to see however a more detailed look can turn more interesting spp. such as Firecrest, Pied Flycatcher and Wood Warbler. A couple of years ago London's second Lesser Scaup was found on the lake (after it had gone missing from Brent Reservoir to the north.

Being an open space in London, the Park does get a lot of joggers/dogwalkers/office workers having lunch. To maximise your chances of seeing decent birds, it is advisable to visit as early as possible before anything unusual has been spooked by the dogwalkers etc. There is a noticeboard near the toilet block at the north-west corner of the lake which will give you details of what birds have been seen recently and exactly where. This will give you an idea of the best areas in which to concentrate your observations. Remember though that birds can and often do turn up anywhere, so I find it a good exercise to keep my eyes and ears open as soon as I enter the Park. In the winter especially, it is not uncommon for records to be of birds flying over, so a basic ability to identify birds on call can be indispensable at this time.

Finally in the breeding season, for the last couple of years, a pair of Peregrines have nested at the top of a tower block to the south. Not only does this make it possible to see this species over the Park, but the RSPB may set up a viewing site so that you know exactly where to look (this year there was even a 'webcam' so you could keep up with events from the safety of your armchair!). If all else fails and after a few hours you still haven't seen anything interesting, fill your time by carefully going through the Gulls. They don't roost here, but probably in one of the Lea Valley Reservoirs, so every day there is the potential for something out of the ordinary to be amongst them. The park is closed at night, but in order to visit, the nearest tubes are: Baker Street to the south-west, Great Portland Street to the south-east, Camden Town and Chalk Farm are both towards the north-east and require a short walk. If I've missed anything important, can someone please add to this page?! Paul White

Park Sightings on http://www.regentsparkbirds.co.uk

                                          REGENT'S PARK CHECKLIST
                         
 Little Grebe	             1		  Dunlin	           75		  Black Redstart	  146	
 Great crested Grebe	     2		  Jack Snipe	           76		  Common Redstart	  147	
 Slavonian Grebe	     3		  Common Snipe	           77		  Stonechat	          148	
 Black-necked Grebe	     4		  Woodcock	           78		  Whinchat	          149	
 Leach’s Petrel	         5 		  Bar-tailed Godwit 	   79		  Northern Wheatear	  150	
 Gannet	                 6		  	  		                  Black-eared Wheatear	  151	
 Cormorant	             7		  Whimbrel	           80		  Ring Ouzel	          152	
 Shag	                     8		  Curlew	           81		  Blackbird	          153	
 Little Egret	             9		  Redshank	           82		  Fieldfare	          154	
 Bittern	            10		  Spottede Redshank	   83		  Mistle Thrush	          155	
 Grey Heron	            11		  Greenshank	           84		  Redwing	          156	
 Mute Swan	            12		  Green Sandpiper	   85		  Song Thrush	          157	
 Whooper Swan	            13		  Wood Sandpiper	   86		  Grasshopper Warbler	  158	
 Bewick Swan	            14		  Common Sandpiper	   87		  Sedge Warbler	          158	
 White fronted Goose	    15		  Turnstone	           88		  Eurasian Reed Warbler	  159 	
 Pink footed Goose	    16 		  Arctic Skua	           89		  Melodious Warbler	  160	
 Grey lag Goose	    17		  Pomarine Skua	           90		  Lesser Whitethroat	  161	
 Canada Goose	            18		  Long-tailed Skua	   91		  Greater Whitethroat	  162	
 Brent Goose	            19					                  Blackcap	          163	
 Eygptian Goose	    20		  Mediterranean Gull	   92		  Garden Warbler	  164	
 Common Shelduck	    21		  Black-headed Gull	   93				
 Mandarin Duck	            22		  Little Gull	           94				
 Mallard	            23		  Common Gull	           95		  Wood Warbler	          165	
 Eurasian Wigeon	    24		  Herring Gull	           96		  Willow Warbler	  166	
 Gadwall	            25		  Yellow Legged Gull	   97		  	  	
 Northern Pintail	    26		  Lesser Black-backed Gull 98		  Chiffchaff	          167	
 Northern Shoveler	    27		  Great Black-backed Gull  99		  Goldcrest	          168	
 Garganey	            28		  Iceland Gull	          100		  Firecrest	          169	
 Common Teal	            29		  Glaucous Gull	          101		  Spotted Flycatcher	  170	
 Red Crested Pochard	    30		  	  		                  Pied Flyctcher	  171	
 Common Pochard	    31		  			                  Red-breasted Flycatcher 172	
 Tufted Duck	            32		  Kittiwake	          102		  Long-tailed Tit	  173	
 Ring-necked Duck	    33		  Sandwich Tern	          103		  Blue Tit	          174	
 Feruginous Duck	    34		  Common Tern	          104		  Great Tit	          175	
 Lesser Scaup	            35		  Arctic Tern	          105		  Coal Tit	          176	
 Greater Scaup	            36		  Little Tern	          106		  Marsh Tit	          177	
 Common Scoter	            37		  Black Tern	          107		  Willow Tit	          178	
 Long-tailed Duck	    38		  Guillemot	          108		  Nuthatch	          179	
 Common Goldeneye	    39		  Feral Rock Dove	  109		  Treecreeper	          180	
 Smew	                    40		  Stock Dove	          110		  Golden Oriole	          181	
 Red Breasted Merganser    41		  Collared Dove	          111		  Red-backed Shrike	  182	
 Goosander	            42		  Turtle Dove	          112		  Great Grey Shrike	  183	
 Ruddy Duck	            43		  Wood Pigeon	          113		  Jay	                  184	
 Common Buzzard	    44		  Rose-ringed Parakeet	  114		  Magpie	          185	
 Honey Buzzard	            45		  Cuckoo	          115		  Carrion Crow	          186	
 Red Kite	            46		  Barn Owl	          116		  Rook	                  187	
 Black Kite	            47		  Tawny Owl	          117		  Jackdaw	          188	
 Hen Harrier	            48		  Little Owl	          118		  	  	
 Marsh Harrier	            49		  Short-eared Owl	  119		  Starling	          189	
 Montagu’s Harrier	    50		  Long-eared Owl	  120		  Waxwing	          190 	
 Northern Goshwk	    51		  Swift	                  121		  House Sparrow	          191	
 Eurasian Sparrowhawk	    52		  Kingfisher	          122		  Tree Sparrow	          192	
 Osprey	            53		  Wryneck	          123		  Brambling	          193	
 Common Kestrel	    54		  Lesser Spot'd Woodpecker124		  Chaffinch	          194	
 Merlin	            55		  Great Spot'd Woodpecker 125		  Greenfinch	          195	
 Eurasian Hobby	    56		  Green Woodpecker	  126		  Goldfinch	          196	
 Red Footed Falcon	    57		  Woodlark	          127		  Hawfinch	          197	
 Peregrine Falcon	    58		  Eurasian Skylark	  128		  Bullfinch	          198	
 			                  Barn Swallow	          129		  Crossbill	          199	
 Grey Partridge	    59		  Red-rumped Swallow	  130		  Siskin                  200	
 Common Pheasant	    60		  Sand Martin	          131		  Serin	                  201	
 Water Rail	            61		  House Martin	          132 		  Lesser Redpoll	  202	
 Corncrake	            62		  Tree Pipit	          133		  Meally Redpoll	  203	
 Moorhen	            63		  Meadow Pipit	          134		  Linnet	          204	
 Coot	                    64		  Rock Pipit	          135		  Twite	                  205	
 Common Crane	            65		  Water Pipit	          136		  Reed Bunting	          206	
 Oystercatcher	            66		  Richards Pipit	  137		  Corn Bunting	          207	
 Stone Curlew	            67			 		                  Yellow Hammer	          208	
 Little Ringed Plover	    68		  Pied Wagtail	          138		  Snow Bunting  	  209	
 Ringed Plover	            69		  Grey Wagtail	          139		  Black-headed Bunting	  210	
 Golden Plover	            70		  Yellow Wagtail	  140		      		
 Grey Plover	            71		  Wren	                  141				
 Knot	                    72		  Hedge  Accentor	  142				
 Lapwing	            73		  Robin	                  143				
 Ruff	                    74		  Nightingale	          144