A Cetti’s Warbler in central London
I’m in London for a little while having fun with my son. I just have time for a quick visit to The Regent’s Park to see the wildlife. There’s a bird I really didn’t expect to see hidden in the undergrowth. It’s usually heard rather than seen, with its explosive and unmistakable song. This time it’s just cheeping and skulking. It’s a Cetti’s Warbler, Cettia cetti:
I’m delighted to see it. Signor Cetti was an Italian ornithologist who is honoured with the English name, but not with the Italian name of this bird. It Italian it’s known as Usignolo di fiume, the Nightingale of the River.
Perfect.
It’s feeding amongst the suckers at the base of the trees around the lake and finding invertebrates everywhere. As I walk back I see a man in hi-vis strimming all the suckers off every tree. That’s gardening for you. Destroying one natural habitat after another in the pursuit of neatness.
Tragic.
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