Home Patch 1: High Kingsdown
My garden is located in High Kingsdown, central Bristol, in an area of high housing density, though as the name suggests there are views of the hills south of the city. The estate was built in the 1970s (Keith, is this correct?) and the houses have small gardens surrounded by six foot high walls. The trees around the playground were host to Redwing over the cold Christmas of 2010 until all the berries had been eaten. At the same time, we saw Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare around the estate, although I have only once had Song Thrush there.
My Kingsdown list comprises 46 species and although there may only be a relatively small number of resident birds, we do get migrants passing through. Highlights at different times have been Common Redstart, Lesser Whitethroat and Firecrest in the garden, together with a Northern Wheatear seen on the top of the flats at the edge of the estate. While each of these only stayed for a few minutes, some have lingered, such as the Common Whitethroat which was feeding on the plum tree flowers. Add to that flyby Peregrine, Raven and Cormorant and you can see we have a good variety for an urban situation.
Keith Williams
