Wanstead Park

From Londonbirders

Revision as of 09:06, 3 December 2009

Wanstead Park and Flats are a large chunk of green in an otherwise highly urban area of North East London. They are easily reached by tube (Leytonstone, Wanstead), train (Wanstead Park, Forest Gate), or road (the main arteries are the A406 and A12)

Wanstead Park

Wanstead Park covers 74 hectares (if you include a part of Epping Forest with which it is contiguous on the western boundary). 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, Shoveler and Teal. Rarer winter visitors include small numbers of Wigeon and occasionally Goosander. Little Grebe are present year-round and breed, and Great Crested Grebe are also present. Coot and Moorhen are numerous, and the lakes also support small numbers of Kingfishers and the occasional Water Rail.

There are also some ares of old woodland, with the usual array of species, and some open grassland. Woodpeckers are very numerous indeed, and you stand a good chance of seeing all three species. There is a large population of Jackdaws, and Swallows, both Martins and Swift are all regular in summer.

An excellent Wanstead Wildlife website has detailed information about the park here and a map here.

Wanstead Flats

Wanstead Flats 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.

The habitat is largely grassland with gorse and broom, with an excellent variety of species such as Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting and wintering Stonechat. Winter thrushes are scarce at the best of times, but Mistle Thrush is a common sight on the playing fields. At migration time you can expect regular Spotted Flycatchers and Lesser Whitethroat and, if the conditions are right, there is the chance of something less common such as Redstart, Pied Flycatcher or Ring Ouzel. Wheatears and Whinchats are scarce, but annual.

There are a few copses of larger trees, and a few scattered areas of denser cover, which is good for the commoner finches and warblers.

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, with a smattering of larger gulls - once even a Great Black-backed. The dominant species is Common Gull, so keep an eye out for a Ring-billed!

There are also a few ponds, all much smaller than those in Wanstead Park and unsurprisingly supporting 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, although Nuthatch and Treecreeper are notably absent. Tawny Owl is present all year, and Hobby is frequently seen in summer.

Over 110 species have been seen in this area. Further information can be found on the Wanstead Wildlife website here.