May 23rd 2010

Hainault, Greenwoods Gardens:

• 2 Swifts (DEH)

Collier Row, Five Oaks Lake:

• Enormous scrub area south of 5 Oaks Lane (possibly Cold Blow Farm?) - I never know about this place until today!
• Cuckoo calling
• 100+ Starlings makin a right racket!
• Pheasant
• 17+ Whitethroat (probably loads more), 5 singing Willow Warbler, Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff
• singing Nightingale
• yay, finally found a stronghold in the borough, of... 4 singing Yellowhammer
• 2 male Reed Bunting
• and an owl pellet of some description
• 3 Linnet loads of singing Chaffinches
• singing Goldcrest
• Blue Tits, Great Tit, Jay, Carrion Crow, 2 Jackdaw, Jay, Wood Pigeons, House Sparrow, (DEH)

Ilford, garden:

• Have just read comment by Barbara J about greenfinches in her garden. I live just around the corner from Barbara, and I've been hearing a lot of greenfinches in the past week, which is unusual. (MSevoir)

South Woodford:

• House martin (PGordon)

Valentines Park:

• Little Grebe on the Boating Lake:
• 3 Great Crested Grebes, including 1 still on nest
• 2 Cormorant (1 on Boating Lake, another over)
• family of 5 Grey Herons
• Family of Mute Swans on the baoting lake with 8 cygnets now all hatched. 2nd non-nesting pair on the fiah lake.
• 1 Greylag Goose (crossbred), many Canada Geese, 1 (presumably feral) Barnacle Goose on the west side of Long Water, feeding with the Canadians
• 2 Egpytian Geese
• Mallards, Tufted Duck, Coot, Moorhen
• 1 pair of Pochard on the boating lake
• 2 Black Headed Gulls
• Feral Pigeons, Wood Pigeons, 2 Collared Dove,
• 12 Swift
• Green Woodpecker
• Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Blackbird,
• 2 male (singing) Blackcap,
• Great Tit, 2 Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit
• Magpie, Carrion Crow, Starlings (almost every tree and field were filled with buzzing starlings,
• 8 House Sparrow,
• 4 Chaffinch, 4 Greenfinch (Mike Condon/Gillian Ware)
• Hobby at 7.10am
• 3 Stock Dove
• 2 singing Goldcrest! (Peter Hopkins)

Wanstead Flats:

• Buzzard over at 12.20 from Forest Gate (Anita Daruvala)
• many Canada Goose families on Alexandra Lake
• 4 patrolling Lesser Black Backed Gulls
• Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (male) taking food to a nest hole!
• 20 Skylark including 15 singing males!
• 6 Meadow Pipit including 4 singing males
• singing male Lesser Whitethroat south of Lakehouse Road
• c22 Whitethroat
• 20 House Sparrow (WREN via TH)

Wanstead Park:

• 3 Broods of Swans: Shoulder of Mutton - 7 cygnets, Heronry - 4 cygnets and Ornamental -8 cygnets)
• Canada Goose family, Mallards,
• 2 Little Grebe including 1 on a nest on Heronry Pond, 3 Great Crested Grebe (2 on Perch Pond and 1 on Ornamental)
• Cormorant on Ornamental and lots overhead
• Coots and Moorhens a plenty
• Kestrel hunting on the plain
• Little Egret on the Roding by the Old Sewage Works
• Stock Dove, Ring Necked parakeet, Swift (good number),
• Kingfisher on the Roding, just East of Ornamental Waters
• Lesser Spotted Woodpecker near the Temple, Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker
• Wren, Dunnock, RObin, Blackbird, Song Thrush,
• many singing Blackcap (plus females), c10 Chiffchaff,
• 2 Family Parties of Long Tailed Tit
• Blue Tits, great Tits
• Jay with young, Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow,
• 4 House Sparrow on the Plain, Chaffinch, Greenfinch (WREN via TH)

Woodford Green, garden:

• sky watch from the garden
• 1 Kestrel. 1 Sparrowhawk
• 2 Buzzard, 1 drifting high & East (11.30) & presumably a 2nd bird south(16.10)
• 1 Common Tern
• 1 Hobby
• 1 Little Egret (Tony Brown)