Bird's eye view of migration patterns from one of the City's highest points

TWITCHERS who have friends in high places have been taking advantage of the City's tallest building to get a bird's eye view of London's wildlife.

Bird watchers from across London have teamed up to form the Tower 42 Bird Study Group and have started having spotting trips to the top of the former Nat West Tower.

Over the past month the group has spotted sparrow hawks, peregrines, buzzards, common swifts, hobbies, red kites, kestrels, swallows, an oyster catcher, a rook and an arctic tern.

Bird watchers from the London Wildlife Trust, RSPB and 'The Urban Birder' David Lindo have been taking regular trips up London's first skyscraper to study visible bird migrations and have even seen ospreys making their way to Scotland and Scandinavia from their summer fishing grounds in southern Africa.

The RSPB's Tim Web said: "The Tower 42 group is a unique and exciting project.

"David Lindo managed to convince the building managers of the value and importance of monitoring wildlife from their roof. I'm delighted to say they understood the idea and have backed it 100 per cent.

"I had thought they'd see migratory birds coming up the Thames, using it as a navigation aide.

"In fact, most of the birds recorded are flying south to north, coming into central London from Croydon and heading straight over the centre.

"They've seen the usual geese, cormorants, swifts and swallows, many at high altitude that would normally have been missed."

Spotters have been keeping children's wildlife project ThamesWatch up to date with what has been seen from the top of the tower.

Children aged five-11 have been getting out and about, exploring the Thames and experiencing the vast array of wildlife it has to offer.

Members of the ThamesWatch team even met David Lindo at the top of the tower to see the wildlife for themselves.