March 21st 2010

weather, warm sunny day!

Fairlop Gravel Works:

• 4 Shelduck (2 pairs)
• 15 Tufted Duck, 15 Shoveler,
• Grey Heron
• 15 Lapwing, Snipe, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Redshank
• c20 Pied Wagtail
• 3 Song Thrush, Wren
• singing Skylark
• male Reed Bunting

Fairlop Waters CP:

• Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose
• Mallard, Tufted Duck, 1 Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Pochard
• Coot, Moorhen
• Cormorant
• Lesser Black Backed Gull, Common Gull, Black Headed Gull
• Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe
• Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove
• Pheasant,
• Green Woodpecker
• Skylark (singing), 4 Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail
• Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Blackbird, Redwing, Fieldfare
• Chiffchaff (seen and singing)
• Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jay, Starling
• Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit
• Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Linnet
• 2 Reed Bunting
• We also had excellent views of a Grass Snake in the ditch at the end of the lagoon. (Neil Twyford/Alan Thomas)
• 2 Chiffchaff singing (Alan Bell)

Fairlop, Painters Road:

• Short Eared Owl* over the field with the alotments in the middle, between the Gravel Works, and Hainault Road (6pm) (then off north) (DEHull)

Fairlop, Aldborough Riding School:

• Little Owl in the usual tree (NTwyford/AThomas)
• Wheatear (Steve Bacon)
• female Kestrel eating her prey on the field

Gants Hill, Roll Gardens:

• SparrowHawk - Female seen at 5.07pm flying past my back bedroom window which scared what birds were around in the surrounding vicinity going straight pass at speed heading in direction of Gants Hill crescent.
• Goldfinch - 1, Greenfinch - 4, Chaffinch - 4
• Blackbirds - 2
• Great Tit - 1, Blue Tits - 3
• House Sparrow - 1
• Feral Pigeons - 4

Hainault Forest CP:

• Sparrowhawk
• 2 Little Owl (pr) (BJ)

Little Heath, Hargreaves Scout Camp:

• Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, (DEH)

Valentines Park:

• 2 Great Crested Grebe on the boating lake
• 4 Cormorant
• 1 Grey Heron (on nest, on the fish pond)
• 4 Mute Swan, 1 pr on the boating lake, 1 pr on the fish pond (all four juveniles from last year have finally got the message and left then!)
• Canada Goose, 1 Greylag Goose, 2 Egyptian Goose
• Mallard, 1 Shoveler, 12 Pochard, Tufted Duck
• Moorhen, Coot
• Black Headed Gull,
• Feral Pigeon, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon,
• Grey Wagtail by the clock tower
• Green Woodpecker,
• 2 Wren, Dunnock, several Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush in full cry, 26 Redwing, Blackbird, Robin
• Great Tit, Blue Tit, 2 Long Tailed Tit,
• 2 Jay, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Starling, 7 House Sparrow
• Chaffinch, 2 Greenfinch (Mike Condon)
• Red Kite and Buzzard (both over at the same time - see pics) (around midday I saw what I thought was a Buzzard over the park, I then realised there were two of them. I took some pictures and the zoom got me close enough to realise that one of them wasn't a Buzzard but a Red Kite! The two were soaring and mobbing each other for a couple of minutes. (Peter Gordon)

Wanstead Flats:

• 2 Wheatear still present
• Also 2 Chiffchaff calling
• 10+ Skylark
• Jay, Jackdaw (Barbara J)
• male Stonechat by Jubille Pond
• singing Reed Bunting (Tim Harris)

Wanstead Park:

• Great Spotted Woodpecker
• Great Crested Grebe
• Grey Heron
• pr Ring Necked Parakeets (Barbara J)
• Water Rail (The Dell),
• 2 Chiffchaffs (by Heronry), (Tim Harris)

Woodford Green, garden:

• 2 Lesser Redpoll (pair)
• 2 Blackcap (pair)
• 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker (1m, 1f)
• 10 Greenfinch, 3 Goldfinch
• Blue Tits & Great tits,
• Starlings, Magpies, 4 Jackdaws 2 Jays (Peter Warne)

*Short Eared Owl is the 107th species recorded in the borough so far this year, equalling the tally by the end of March 2009. So with 10 days left in March 2010, we are still to see Sand Martin, Swallow and Little Ringed Plover yet this year, so we are doing well!