Wednesday 11th May, Crystal Palace Park, 0630, dense white cloud, poor visibility, wind SW

The Ridge - didn't there used to be a tower somewhere?

As the BTO migration blog reports here, a fantastic array of birds have turned up across the country this week courtesy of the prevailing South Westerlies.

However luck deserted us at the ridge on Wednesday morning as a band of mist and cloud swept in overnight and made conditions impossible for visible migration. With visibility 50m at best we did a quick roll call of species in the scrub on the ridge instead: Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Dunnock, Robin, Wren, Blackbird, Blackcap, ChiffChaff, Whitethroat, Carrion Crow, Magpie.

Although many of these are common species and locally abundant, it doesn’t diminish their importance in terms of biodiversity. The scrub may lack visual appeal, being a mass of brambles, budlea, cow parsley and immature trees, but it is home to a wide range of species and in the context of a heavily-managed urban park it has considerable ecological value.

So the weather was disappointing but at least the breakfast at Dave's later was top notch!

One radio transmitter, no birds

Monday 2nd May, Crystal Palace Park, 0630+, fine, clear, strong wind NE

Good session on the ridge this week. Prolonged period of clear weather and strong North Easterlies have kept things interesting, such conditions often hold up the progress of birds migrating from the south so there's always a chance of turning up something unusual.
This week the action was in the skies with a Buzzard seen (at considerable distance) along with a Kestrel, while 2 House Martins and 2 Swifts flew N over the ridge. The scrub behind our view point now holds established territories for 2 Whitethroat and 2 Blackcap.
The weather looks to be staying fine (some showers perhaps) with Southerly winds approaching at the end of the week. This should speed the passage of birds, especially Hirundines and Apods (Swifts) so check back soon!