Regent's Park/Primrose Hill

Location: Streetmap

Guide to birding sites: Regent's Park Bird-Sightings Map On arrival, there are detailed visitor maps at the main access gates.

Regent's Park NW1 and Primrose Hill NW8, separated only by Prince Albert Road, together form one of the city's eight Royal Parks.

South of Prince Albert Road, stretching almost to Marylebone Road and Baker Street, is Regent's Park. This is a large, relatively flat area, mostly of playing fields and formal gardens but with a few small, fenced-off groups of trees that collectively can be quite productive (notably the Old Golf School wildlife pen, the boundary of Leaf Yard Wood, the Cricket and Wetland Pens - plus the open, northwest border of the Rose Wheel in Queen Mary's Gardens and the nearby St John's Lodge 'secret' garden).

At the Park's southwestern edge is a reasonably-sized boating lake, home to a small heronry, a few pairs of Reed Warblers and one or two wintering Water Rails; however, it's shunned by most waders due to its concrete banks. Several years ago the city's second, wild Lesser Scaup was found on the lake (after it had gone missing from Brent Reservoir to the northwest); more recently two Bearded Tits, the first for Inner London, did a 3-day stopover in the lake reedbeds after wintering in Hyde Park. The best vantage-points for seeing wild (often feral) waterbirds are the various footbridges, the viewing platform north of Longbridge and, especially, the Holme Green shoreline near the Bandstand looking northwest across the lake. Outside the breeding season, carefully examine the loafing gulls as most of them roost overnight elsewhere, probably in the Lee Valley reservoirs, so every day brings the potential for something unusual. If all else fails, the lake's extremities hold captive waterfowl to challenge your identification skills including Whooper Swan, Pink-footed Goose, Lesser White-fronted Goose, Barnacle Goose, Pintail, Garganey, Red-crested Pochard, Canvasback, Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Goldeneye and Smew.

North of Prince Albert Road lies Primrose Hill, featuring a lookout that is a good place to watch visible migration over central London. The closest tube station to the Hill is Chalk Farm, a 10-minute walk away.

NB Effective coverage of all the above hotspots normally requires at least three hours of brisk walking, as cycling between them is prohibited and the sites are well-spaced over an area nearly 2 kilometres across.

The patch really comes into its own during periods of migration. Maybe because it is one of the inner city's few sizable areas of green, or because it gets so much regular coverage, it does turn up some pretty good birds every year. Wheatears are fairly easy to spot when present but a more detailed look can turn up other interesting visitors such as (annually) Common Redstart, Whinchat, Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Firecrest, Woodcock, Water Rail and (more rarely) Stonechat, Wood Warbler and Ring Ouzel. Many site records are of birds flying over so the ability to identify species by call can be indispensable.

Being open city spaces, the Hill and Park both get a lot of joggers/dogwalkers/commuters/office workers having lunch, so to maximise your chances you should arrive as early as possible before anything unusual has been spooked. NB The Park gates - but not those on the Hill - are locked at dusk and remain so till 5:30am even when dawn has already broken.

To visit the area, the nearest tubes are: Baker Street to the southwest; Regent's Park and Great Portland Street, both to the southeast; Camden Town and Chalk Farm, both to the northeast; and St John's Wood to the northwest.

[Paul White (2006), with additional contributions (2009, 2012).]

Guide to birding sites: Regent's Park Bird-Sightings Map

Yearlists
BIRDMAN_EUSTON'S PATCHLIST 2014 (72 species as of 23 Mar):

Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Egyptian Goose, Shelduck, Mandarin Duck, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Red-crested Pochard, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Kestrel, Peregrine, Moorhen, Coot, Woodcock, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Ring-necked Parakeet, Little Owl, Tawny Owl, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Magpie, Jay, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Wren, Starling, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Robin, Wheatear, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Siskin, Linnet, Lesser Redpoll, Reed Bunting.

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REGENT'S PARK PATCHLIST 2008 (122 species):

Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Egyptian Goose, Common Shelduck, Mandarin Duck, Mallard, Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Common Teal, Red-crested Pochard, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Greater Scaup, Ruddy Duck, Red Kite, Honey-buzzard, Common Buzzard, Osprey, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine Falcon, Hobby, Merlin, Common Kestrel, Moorhen, Coot, Water Rail, Common Snipe, Woodcock, Whimbrel, Dunlin, Common Sandpiper, Mediterranean Gull, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Caspian Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Tern, Feral Pigeon, Turtle Dove, Collared Dove, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Eurasian Cuckoo, Ring-necked Parakeet, Tawny Owl, Little Owl, Common Swift, Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Skylark, Woodlark, House Martin, Sand Martin, Barn Swallow, Water Pipit, Rock Pipit, Tree Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Blackbird, Ring Ouzel, Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Song Thrush, Northern Wheatear, Stonechat, Whinchat, Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Common Redstart, Robin, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Wood Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Firecrest, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Jay, Magpie, Jackdaw, Crow, Rook, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Brambling, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Common Crossbill, Siskin, Mealy Redpoll, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer.