Over 180 species have been recorded on Hampstead Heath. From sparrowhawks hunting over the ponds to the nightingales that inspired Keats, the Heath is one of London's great birding destinations.
Hampstead Heath is one of London's most important sites for birds. Its 790 acres of mixed habitat — ancient woodland, meadow, reed beds, open water, and scrub — support over 180 recorded species, including a number of rarities that make the dedicated birder's heart beat faster.
Resident Species
The woodland holds all three native woodpeckers — green, great spotted, and lesser spotted — along with treecreeper, nuthatch, and the full suite of common tits. The open heath supports skylarks, a rarity in inner London, and the meadows hold good numbers of goldfinch, linnet, and greenfinch. The ponds support little grebe, great crested grebe, and tufted duck year-round.
Spring Migration
Spring brings warblers in numbers — chiffchaff, willow warbler, blackcap, garden warbler, and lesser whitethroat all breed or pass through. The North Wood in May, when the migrants are singing from every bush, is one of London's great birding experiences. Spotted flycatcher arrives in May, one of the last summer visitors to appear.
Winter
Winter brings redwing and fieldfare to the berry-bearing trees, along with occasional siskin and redpoll in the alders by the ponds. The open water at Parliament Hill Lido can attract unusual wildfowl in hard weather. Long-eared owl has been recorded in several winters roosting in the dense scrub of the West Heath.
Best Spots
The North Wood is consistently the best area for woodland species. The Mixed Pond and its surroundings are excellent for waterbirds and reed warblers. Parliament Hill gives good views over open ground and is the best spot for raptors, including the occasional peregrine passing over.
## What you will actually see and when
The Heath holds around 180 recorded species across the year. You will not see 180 species in a morning — most are passage migrants or rare overwinterers — but a committed two-hour walk in early morning should give you forty-plus species in any season.
Year-round: green woodpecker (the Heath is one of the best places in Greater London to see them), great spotted woodpecker, jay, nuthatch, treecreeper, and kestrel. Common pond birds — coot, moorhen, mallard, tufted duck, and the regular cormorant on the Hampstead No. 1 pond.
Spring migrants, April to May: willow warbler, chiffchaff (the two often confused — listen for the chiffchaff's metronomic song and the willow warbler's descending cascade), blackcap, whitethroat, and occasional reed warbler on the ponds. Swifts arrive first week of May and leave first week of August; a pair usually nests in the gables above Parliament Hill Lido.
Autumn passage, September to October: redwings and fieldfares arriving from Scandinavia (flocks of fifty to a hundred crossing the Heath at dawn), siskin on the alders around the Hampstead Ponds, and occasionally a peregrine hunting pigeons along the ridge.
Winter: expect the full complement of tits (blue, great, long-tailed, coal, marsh), redpoll in the birch trees of the West Heath, and the winter thrushes again.
## Where to stand
The Highgate Ponds in the north-east of the Heath are the richest single spot for water birds — take the footbridge between pond 2 and pond 3 and stand quietly for ten minutes. The West Heath woodland, especially the area around the Pergola, is the best for woodpeckers and all five tit species. The long scrub on the eastern edge of the West Meadow holds skylarks in summer, the only reliable skylark territory in inner London. Kenwood's terrace is the best place for a hunting kestrel; they use the updraft from the south-facing slope.
## Equipment and timing
A pair of 8x42 binoculars is the single most useful thing you can carry. A phone with the Merlin Bird ID app (from the Cornell Lab, free) covers the rest — point it at a singing bird and it will name the species with surprisingly high accuracy. Dawn is best. From April to September, 5:30am to 7:30am is peak song. In winter, 8am to 10am works because the birds wait for the sun.
## The Heath's keepers and atlases
The London Natural History Society has been recording Heath birds for more than a century, and their annual report is the authoritative source for the year's movements. The City of London Corporation's Heath rangers run occasional guided bird walks (free, advertised on the Heath noticeboards and the City's website). Heath regulars — look for the ones with proper scopes at the ponds — are often happy to point out whatever is unusual that day. Nobody minds a polite question.
