Osterley Park NT (8 May 2024)
Twelve people met at Jersey Gate for a morning stroll in the warm sunshine. Apart from the wonderful surroundings, two Hobbies hunting overhead for most of the morning, were the stars of the day. The National Trust have created large areas of meadow here which looked beautiful, but the lack of some birds you might expect in such habitat was worrying. We only heard one Whitethroat and didn’t see a single House Sparrow, Dunnock, Swallow, Martin or Swift (at first glance we thought the distant Hobbies were Swifts) although there were plenty of insects over the lakes. Are there any suitable nest sites nearby? Despite the low number of individual birds, we still saw 44 different species.
As we walked down the drive a Little Owl called. It was clear which huge tree the calls were coming from, but we couldn’t find it. It was obviously sunning itself out of sight on the top side of a branch. A herd of handsome white Charolais cattle grazed in fields on the left side of the drive and their activities must provide food for the birds because we saw more here than in any other part of the park; a pair of Mistle Thrush, Stock Doves, a Green Woodpecker, Starlings, Woodpigeons and the usual Crows and Jackdaws. Two Red Kites flapped above them. Later in the morning we added a Buzzard and a female Kestrel to our list, so it wasn’t a bad day for raptors.
We headed towards the house stopping at Garden Lake for Pochard, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Mandarin Duck and all the feral geese – Egyptian, Canada and Greylag. Round past the house and the next pond gave Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a pair of Mute Swans. A few patches of dense bramble opposite provided the perfect nest sites for Blackcaps and one sang loudly and visibly. Middle Lake had the noise of the passing M4 but we still heard Goldcrests in the surrounding Yew trees. Young Grey Herons were preening out their remaining grey down, a Great Crested Grebe swam on the lake and Cormorants sat in a dead tree but we were more distracted by 9 Red-eared Terrapins on the log below them! Returning up the zigzag path the Hobbies were at their closest and their red trousers were clear. A Buzzard flew past being mobbed by a Crow.
Many of us followed our stroll with refreshments in the Stable Café. We found a secluded courtyard behind the fine 17th century building and then, reluctant to leave this rather idyllic place, four of us spent another couple of hours in Osterley’s Gardens. Roy found us a Reed Warbler, we finally spotted one of the many Goldcrests we’d been hearing all day and the last bird we added was a Coal Tit in an old ornamental conifer. Our walk then turned into a garden visit because the Orangery and borders did look at their best in the hot May sunshine. Osterley was the Child family’s, Robert Adam remodelled, fashionable party house in the countryside and on a day like that you could see why!
by Rebecca Dunne