Wanstead Park
From Londonbirders
Wanstead Park is situated in North East London, and (if you include a part of Epping Forest with which it is contiguous on the Western Boundary) covers 74 hectares. The park is managed by the Corporation of London. The habitat includes several lakes and ponds which in winter hold good numbers of Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Mallard, and lesser numbers of Pochard and Shoveler. Little Grebe are present year-round and breed. There are some old wooded areas with the usual array of species, and some 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 at around 130 hectares, and is largely grassland with gorse and broom, with an excellent variety of species such as Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting and Stonechat. There are a few copses of larger trees. A large part of the area is given over to football pitches used for weekend leagues, favoured by smaller gulls and corvids when not in use. There are also a few ponds, all much smaller than those in Wanstead Park, and supporting far fewer birds, with the exception of Alexandra Pond which has a large population of Canada Geese numbering several hundred. 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, again with the usual mix of woodland species. Tawny Owl is present all year, and Hobby is frequently seen in summer. [3]
All in all Wanstead Park & Flats are a large chunk of green in an otherwise highly urban area. They are easily reached by tube (Leytonstone, Wanstead), train (Wanstead Park, Forest Gate), or road (the main arteries are the A406 and A12)
Over 110 species have been seen in this area. Though the list is old, and many species are undoubtedly scarcer now or indeed absent, it gives a good idea of the types of birds one can expect in the varied habitats. [4]
