Wanstead Park

From Londonbirders

Revision as of 23:24, 1 January 2008

Wanstead Park is situated in North East London, and (if you include a part of Epping Forest which joins it on the Western Boundary) covers 74 hectares. The park is managed by the Corporation of London. The habitat includes several lakes and ponds, some old forest, and open grassland. An excellent website with detailed information about the park can be found here [1]

Wanstead Flats [2] lie to the south of Wanstead Park, separated only by a few residential streets. It is a much bigger area than the park, and is largely grassland, with gorse and broom, and a few copses of larger trees. There are also a few ponds, all much smaller than those in Wanstead Park, and supporting far fewer birds. At the north-western end of the Flats, the southern tip of Epping Forest begins, an area known as Bush Wood. This is an extremely old and reasonably dense woodland, mainly Oak and Hornbeam. [3]

So far I have noted 71 species in this area:

House sparrow, Blackbird, Robin, Blue tit, Great tit, Dunnock, Wood pigeon, Collared dove, Starling, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Magpie, Wren, Great spotted woodpecker, Rock (feral) dove, Jay, Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Great crested grebe, Mute swan, Carrion crow, Grey heron, Canada goose, Little grebe, Cormorant, Tufted duck, Shoveler, Black headed gull, Green woodpecker, Pied wagtail, House martin, Chaffinch, Swift, Little grebe, Chiffchaff, Long-tailed tit, Common buzzard, Song thrush, Blackcap, Jackdaw, Swallow, Mistle thrush, Whitethroat, Greylag goose, Sparrowhawk, Lesser black-backed gull, Herring gull, Stock dove, Skylark, Pochard, Sand martin, Willow warbler, Lesser whitethroat, Common Gull, Hobby, Common tern, Gadwall, Ruddy duck, Wigeon, Linnet, Kestrel, Tawny owl, Meadow pipit, White-fronted goose (albifrons), Stonechat, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Great black-backed gull.

2007 Patchlist: As above, minus Great black-backed Gull, so 70 species.

2008 Patchlist: Jan 1st; Robin, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Blue tit, Blackbird, Mallard, Black-headed gull, Common gull, Long-tailed tit, Great spotted woodpecker, Wren, Stonechat, Great tit, Skylark, Great black-backed gull, Meadow pipit, Green woodpecker, Starling, Song thrush, Cormorant, Jay, Pied wagtail, Shoveler, Coot, Moorhen, Canada goose, Rock (feral) dove, Gadwall, Chaffinch, Goldcrest, Stock dove, Collared dove, Mute swan, Tufted duck, Little grebe, Pochard, Tawny owl.

Species List - 38