February 14th 2010

weather: 5C mostly cloudy

Fairlop Waters CP:

• dark bellied Brent Goose* (3rd day)
• 11 Wigeon (Alan Bell)
  

Hainault Golf Course:

• 50+ Fieldfare in the field next to the golf course (there the Car Boot usually is)

Valentines Park:

• Black-headed Gulls, Herring Gull (Juvenile), Common Gulls,
  
• Mediterranean Gull** (Valentino, near- full hood, standing on a boat, preening then sleeping, in amongst Black-headed Gulls)
• 4 Cormorants, 2 Grey Herons
• Tufted Ducks, Pochards, Mallards, Coots, Moorhens
• Great-crested Grebe
• Mute Swans, Canada Geese
• Carrion Crow mobbing a Heron
• Blackbirds,
  
• Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail
  
• Green Woodpecker, Great-spotted Woodpeckers fighting
• Mistle Thrushes fighting, 100+ Redwings
• Starlings,
  
• Blue Tits and Great Tits on the feeders (Emma Charles)
• Pochard number has risen even further to a record 24! (PHopkins)

Wanstead Park:

• Lesser Spotted Woodpecker near the Dell this morning (Marco Johnson)
  

Woodford Green, Broadmead Estate:

• Mistle Thrush and Goldfinch calling early this morning

Chigwell, High Meadows: (just outside the borough)

• garden sightings on Limes Farm (LJeffries)
• 4 House Sparrows (normally seen in the garden)
• Unusually there was 1 male Blackcap with them - I've never before seen a Blackcap in my garden.
  
• Also saw a Dunnock, a Robin, a Blue Tit and 9 Starlings.

Epping Forest, Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge: (just outside the borough)

• Ring Necked Parakeet (Patrick O'Donnell)

Epping Forest, Connaught Water: (just outside the borough)

• Mandarin, Wigeon, 36 Teal, Red Crested Pochard,
  
• Great Spotted Woodpecker. (PHa)

* This is the first sightings of Brent Goose at Fairlop Waters since 1991 (19 years ago!)

** Valentino is likely to leave this week... and head back to Antwerp in Belgium where he spends his summer (via France). The latest winter sighting of him the last 2 years has been on the 15th Feb and 17th Feb respectively. We hope that he returns for his 11th consecutive winter in Valentines Park sometime during mid-October.