All points east

It’s been a very busy time for me recently so this post is a bit late. I’ve moved across London to Dagenham so I’ll no longer be a regular at Brent Res. Instead, I have many good sites all very close to me such as Rainham Marshes, Dagenham Chase and Ingrebourne Valley.

I needed a break from unpacking boxes so took the District Line one stop to Dagenham East. Turning left out of the station and then over the road, it’s just a short walk to the public footpath that leads onto the next site.

Site 63: Dagenham Chase, April 14th

This is a site I’ve only visited a few times before, and like a lot of London Birders who have been around the block, my standout visit was to see the Pine Bunting that was present in early 1992. As I don’t know the place very well, I was very fortunate to immediately bump into Vince who is the main man at this patch. He kindly spent the morning with me exploring the area and I met several other local birders as well. 

One of several lakes in the area

We did a rough anti-clockwise circuit, heading out towards The Slack, a fenced off area of shallow water and islands where we saw a small flock of Little Ringed Plovers. 

The Slack

We carried on along the northern boundary, past the Visitors Centre, along the causeway between the lakes and past a couple more lakes before finishing on the Dagenham Road where I caught the bus back home.

Little Ringed Plover on The Slack

It’s going to take quite a few more visits to understand the geography of the area but I don’t think I’ll be threatening Vince’s patch list total of 191 species any time soon.

Rainham Marshes: April 15th, 17th & 19th

With Rainham now being my main local patch, I’m trying to get there as often as possible. On my first local visit, I made an early start and took a local bus to Rainham Village and then walked the short distance to the start of Rainham West.

Sedge and Reed Warblers were both singing away with the former easily outnumbering the latter but that will change by the end of the month. For anyone having difficulty distinguishing the songs of these reed-bed dwellers then I offer this: Reed Warblers have muesli for breakfast and typically sing a steady song while Sedge Warblers have Red Bull for breakfast and their song goes 100 mph and is all over the place.

I met up with John & Janet on Monday 17th on the train to Rainham. We encountered a Willow Warbler on Rainham West that occasionally adds a few Chiffchaff phrases to its typical song. We also found a Hobby hunting over the Butts hide, our first of the year.

Waders are now starting to appear on their spring migration and I recorded ten species on 19th including Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit. Both of these are regularly seen at Rainham but often go through in a narrow window so can be missed. There was also a nice flock of five Grey Plover in Aveley Bay in addition to the five Ruff. I finally managed to catch up with the Corn Bunting on the tip.

Corn Bunting

Site 64: Ingrebourne Valley, April 20th

I haven’t totally neglected my 100 site challenge and managed to find a morning to visit this site. It was a short journey on the District Line to Hornchurch station and then I walked down the road although local buses are available. I entered along a footpath just by St George’s bus stop and walked east until I picked up the main path that runs south alongside the visitor centre and the lookout over the wetland area.

You have to know the roads for this sign to be of any use

Lookout over wetland area

I heard my first Cuckoo of the year here and then followed the path round and eastwards, leaving Hornchurch CP and entering Berwick Glades. I did a loop of this large area which is newly planted woodland and borders onto farmland. 

Some of  the local signage includes maps

On a ploughed field there was a single Red-legged Partridge. 

Red-legged Partridge

I followed the path south to the edge of Berwick Ponds where there is a footpath that leads to Abbey Wood in Rainham where there was another Cuckoo. 

Arboreal Mallard

Berwick Ponds alongside footpath to Rainham

I didn’t go out here but went back up and then followed the path to a lake where there’s a typical assortment of wildfowl including the inevitable Egyptian Goose and begging Mallards. 

Mallard Lake (I'm yet to find a proper name for this lake)

After a short rest on one of the many benches I headed back up the valley to the cafe at the visitor centre for a well-deserved coffee before heading back to the station.