Osterley Park (10 February 2025)
A bleak and bitter morning didn’t seem promising, but 12 hardy souls still gathered at Jersey Gate. We were surprised to see tents, floodlights, catering vans and all the other paraphernalia of a large film crew around the house but no one would tell us what they were filming! Luckily the parkland was still open. The fence around the first lake was strung with lights but they didn’t seem to bother the birds. The tree full of Feral Pigeons, the Mallards and 2 hybrid Muscovy type ducks still hung around waiting for people to feed them as usual.
It’s always tempting to just meet at the car park but starting at Jersey Gate and walking up the tree-lined drive, with a detour along the path adjoining the cottage, invariably gives some of the walk’s highlights and today was no exception. I was astonished to hear a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker drumming, then hear what appeared to be the whickering call of another LSW close to the road as I headed towards Jersey Gate. Roy arrived shortly afterwards and confirmed what I was listening to. Needless to say, they couldn’t be seen in the gloom and had stopped by the time the rest of the group appeared! As we walked around the back of the cottage we did see and hear 2 Great-spotted Woodpeckers. A few other small birds were glimpsed but we could only confirm Goldfinches and Tits. Woodpecker drumming continued but no definite LSWs. A Buzzard flapped out of one of the old trees nearby and a Red Kite flew overhead. Nuthatch, Song Thrush and Blue Tits could be seen in the huge conifers along with the sounds of Goldcrest. A group of a dozen or so Redwing and at least 3 Mistle Thrush were busy foraging in the cattle pasture. As Roy walked back to the station at the end of the walk he heard a Little Owl along the drive.
It was a good walk for thrushes in general with decent numbers of Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Redwing and Blackbirds searching for invertebrates in the muddy paddocks. One particular field adjoining the noisy M4, with manure, straw and muddy patches gave us at least a dozen more Redwing, Blackbirds and a couple more Song Thrush. Along with them were a Green Woodpecker and a flock of about 40 Chaffinch. The Chaffinch were flighty, almost invisible when feeding in the rutted pasture with the Redwings but continually flying up into a small bush. Despite looking hard, we couldn’t find any Brambling amongst them!
The lakes didn’t give the hoped for Kingfisher, but a Great Crested Grebe and a Little Grebe in fine breeding plumage were compensation. What a crest! You could see why Great Crested Grebes ended up adorning hats in the past! The Tufted Ducks that the GCG was swimming amongst also looked at their black and white best. The display of the pairs of Shoveler Ducks was a highlight for me. They were submerging their bills in the water then circling each other in a strange, synchronised swimming like performance. Cormorants dried themselves on the usual low branches over the lake. One had developed its peculiar white patchy breeding plumage which looks like badly applied paint, The gulls were almost entirely Black-headed with a couple of juvenile Herring Gulls. A flyover Buzzard put them all up showing us the size difference between Herring and Black-headed Gulls. As we approached the end of our walk our only Grey Heron of the morning flew into the lakeside rushes and disappeared.
A reward of a walk at Osterley is the café in the ancient stable block and 10 of us took advantage of this. Hot soup and jacket potatoes were very welcome on such a chilly day, but the birding had been excellent. It’s always worth going out, even on the most unpromising days!
by Rebecca Dunne