LONDON BIRD REPORT 2015 LONDON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 1 LONDON BIRD REPORT ——— NO.80 FOR THE YEAR 2015 PRODUCED BY THE LBR EDITORIAL BOARD PUBLISHED MAY 2017 2 LONDON BIRD REPORT NO. 80 3 CONTENTS ——— Introduction and Acknowledgements – Pete Lambert ............................... 5 Appendix I: Escapes - Pete Lambert ......................................................... 170 Rarities Committee and Recorders ...................................................... 7 Appendix II: Hybrids - Pete Lambert ......................................................... 173 Recording Arrangements .................................................................. 8 Appendix III: Non-proven & non-submitted records and records in circulation ....... 175 Map of the London Area ................................................................... 9 First and Last Dates of Regular Migrants ................................................. 178 Mini-Gazetteer of Sites .................................................................. 10 Review of the Year – Nick Rutter .......................................................15 Papers about birds in the London Area ........................... 179 Contributors to the Systematic List ................................................... 21 Ringing Report – Paul Roper ............................................................. 181 The Breeding Bird Survey in London – Ian Woodward ............................... 188 Birds of the London Area: the systematic list ..................... 29 Overwintering Chiffchaffs in the Colne Valley on the western border of Swans to Shelduck - Alex Massey ............................................................... 31 Greater London - John Edwards.......................................................191 Dabbling Ducks - Pete Lambert & Malcolm Kendall ......................................... 35 The Year in Greenwich Park and Blackheath - Joe Beale ........................... 198 Diving Ducks - Dave Bradshaw .................................................................. 42 Can Common Terns and Black-headed Gulls co-exist on rafts? - Gamebirds - Bob Watts .......................................................................... 48 Graham White and Paul Roper ....................................................... 206 Divers to Cormorant - Ian Woodward .......................................................... 51 The rise and fall of Ruddy Duck in the London Area - Andrew Self ............... 214 Herons - Roy Beddard ............................................................................ 57 Slaty-backed Gull at Rainham Marshes - Dominic Mitchell ......................... 219 Raptors - Andrew Moon .......................................................................... 62 Where to find birds in The Regent's Park - Tony Duckett ........................... 220 Rails - Quentin Given ............................................................................ 69 A Breeding Bird Survey of East Sheen Common - Jan Wilczur ...................... 232 Oystercatcher to Jack Snipe - Roy Woodward ............................................... 71 Common Snipe to Phalaropes - Andrew Self ................................................. 80 Checklist, Breeding Criteria and Indexes ......................... 239 Skuas to Gulls - Richard Bonser ................................................................ 87 Checklist of Birds of the London Area and Terns - David Campbell .......................................................................... 95 Guide to Contributors of Records .................................................... 240 Auks to Cuckoo - John Colmans ................................................................ 99 Breeding Criteria .......................................................................... 249 Owls to Woodpeckers - Paul Goodman ...................................................... 105 Indexes of Common and Scientific Names ............................................ 250 Larks to Wagtails - Sean Huggins ............................................................. 112 Links to files on the LNHS website: http://www.lnhs.org.uk Wren to Thrushes - Tim Harris, Andrew Self, Peter Newmark, Pete Lambert ........ 122 Please follow these sequences on the new LNHS website to find links to files. Warblers - Paul Whiteman ..................................................................... 131 About Us> LNHS Sections> London Bird Club. ‘The London Bird Report’: Rarities. Crests to Treecreeper - Derek Coleman ..................................................... 141 About Us> LNHS Sections> London Bird Club. ‘Bird Recording’: Checklist & Guide, Shrikes to Sparrows - Alan Lewis ............................................................. 148 Breeding Criteria, Gazetteers of Sites, LNHS Bird Recording Form. Chaffinch to Siskin - Angela Linnell .......................................................... 156 Publications> London Bird Report> Downloads: Consolidated contents, past issues Linnet to Hawfinch - Anthony Stones ........................................................ 161 of the London Bird Report and extended papers, Foreign-ringed Black-headed Buntings - Bob Watts ........................................................................... 166 Gulls, Indexes of Common and Scientific Names (when not printed in the journal). Front cover: Great Northern Diver at King George VI Reservoir. (Andrew Moon) Back cover: Ring Ouzels at Beddington Farmlands. (Peter Alfrey) 4 LONDON BIRD REPORT NO. 80 5 LONDON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY LONDON BIRD REPORT FOR 2015 FOUNDED 1858 ——— HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS A. J. Barratt, D. Bevan, FLS, R. M. Burton, MA, FLS, This London Bird Report has been produced by an Editorial Board, comprising: J. A. Edgington, PhD, FLS, J. F. Hewlett, PhD, K. H. Hyatt, FLS Chair of Editorial Board ............................... Pete Lambert OFFICERS FOR 2017 Chair of Rarities Committee .............................. Bob Watts PRESIDENT Data Manager ............................................. Roger Payne Vacant Editor: Birds of the London Area ..................... Pete Lambert Editor: Papers ............................................... Mike Trier VICE-PRESIDENTS Helen Baker, MBOU, Colin Bowlt, PhD, FLS, Mark Burgess, David J. Montier, Editor: Photographs ........................... Jonathan Lethbridge Colin W. Plant, BSc, FRES, Pat J. Sellar, BSc (Eng), FRGS, MBOU, Editor: Remaining Sections ........................... Pete Lambert R. John Swindells, Edward Tuddenham, MD, H. Michael Wilsdon, MBOU Production Manager ....................................... Gus Wilson Other members ........................................... John Archer SECRETARY David Howdon Introduction TREASURER This issue finally reports the 2011 record of Slaty-backed Gull which has now been Michael West formally accepted by the British Ornithologists’ Union. Starting with LBR 2013, we are now making corrections to previous issues of the report ASSISTANT TREASURER by showing them on a Corrected Report PDF on our website. You can see this at Robin Blades http://www.lnhs.org.uk > Publications> London Bird Report> Downloads. World List Abbreviation: Lond. Bird Rep. Scroll to ‘London Bird Report 2014’. Copyright © London Natural History Society 2017 At the time of writing this, we are still looking for a new Editor of the Birds of the London Area section and the production of LBR 2016 depends on us finding one or more Designed by Nigel Partridge people to do this. Please contact me if you could help with this. Printed by Swallowtail Print Limited, Norwich, Norfolk It would be a great help in producing this report, if people would send us records as soon as they can. For birds that are rare in London, please send details as soon as you ISBN 0 901009 43 1 can after seeing them. Our Checklist on pages 240-248 gives details of which species ISSN 0141 4348 this applies to, and what details are needed, using the keys D, N or BBRC. For all other Published by birds, we would like all records to be with our Recorders as soon as possible after the the London Natural History Society – May 2017 end of the year to which they refer. Records received after March 31st in the year http://www.lnhs.org.uk following, will not usually be able to be included in the LBR. Records of birds which are rare in London will not be published without our Rarities Committee receiving full LONDON BIRD CLUB details (notes/description or photo). The LNHS uses three different kinds of recording The London Bird Club is the section of the London Natural History Society area: a circle for its outer boundary, an Inner London rectangle, and the Watsonian for those with a particular interest in birds. vice-counties. There is sometimes confusion over the exact location of these, so the http://www.lnhs.org.uk > About Us> LNHS Sections> London Bird Club LNHS has commissioned GiGL to publish them on their website. You can now see all of twitter.com/londonbirdclub these on the iGiGL map at www.gigl.org.uk/online, to check exactly which area your record is in. Further details on records are in the Recording Arrangements sections on CHAIR pages 8-9. Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne The Watsonian vice-county boundaries near the R Thames usually follow the COMMITTEE SECRETARY course of the river, but there is a slight variation in the Beckton area. This means Angela Linnell that a small area of Beckton (which is on the north side of the R Thames) is in the 6 LONDON BIRD REPORT NO. 80 7 Watsonian vice-county of Kent.