Barking Parks

Continuing my tour around the green spaces of the East End, my next visits were in the wider Barking area. First up, I took the 145 bus from Dagenham to South Park Crescent in Ilford.

Site 77: South Park, June 15th

I didn't notice any "ample parking, day or night" as I walked into the park. This is a medium-sized town park with a large lake and plenty of grassland and some wooded areas.

I walked along the northern section then down the western side and a clockwise loop of the lake. Even early on a weekday morning it's fairly popular place for the locals to go as it's the only green space in the area. Despite the heat, there were still a lot of birds around and I recorded 35 species including the first returning adult Black-headed Gull of the season - autumn has started!

I exited out of the southeast gate and walked south along South Park Drive for a kilometre to the next park.

Site 78: Barking Park, June 16th

There's only a small entrance with a car park off the main road but the park soon opens up rather Tardis-like. A lake runs along the entire northern section and is sourced by the same watercourse that flows through South Park. At the start of the lake there's a small reedbed which held a couple of singing Reed Warblers and breeding Moorhens.

Reed-bed at eastern end

I walked along the lake to the far end and then explored the wooded areas just to the south of the lake but didn't bother going round the open grassy area as it didn't look very productive.

Like many of the parks in Barking & Dagenham, there's historical information boards

Most of the birds I encountered were around the lake but the mature trees held quite a few other species including singing Goldcrest.

Brood of Egyptian Geese

There were several pairs of Little Grebe breeding on the lake

Drake Mallards beginning their annual moult

Young Moorhen

I returned to the same gate on South Park Road and caught the 145 bus back home.

Site 79: Barking Riverside, June 18th

On a whim, I decided to see if I could walk down to the Thames at Barking. I headed west along the A13 and at the end of Castle Green (covered in a previous post), I headed south along Renwick Road, over the railway and along the new development where dozens of blocks of flats are being built. The left hand side of the road has a good green edge.

Renwick Road

At the end of the road there's a brand new Overground station: Barking Riverside which opens this autumn; it's an extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking line. All the surrounding area has been landscaped and there's a path down to Barking Riverside Pier.

Barking Riverside station

Entrance to the pier

Barking Riverside Pier

Unfortunately, there's no current access to the paths along the river as shown on the map. They'll presumably be opened up at the same time as the station. I could still view the Thames either side of the pier and the exposed mud as it was low tide. There was a family of Shelducks and a single Oystercatcher.

Barking Bay

Shelduck family

I followed the road around the southern end of the station where the EL2 bus runs and then found a way onto Footpath 47. This runs along the river heading eastwards along what used to be known as Barking Bay/Marsh. The area used to be well birded before the development started but has pretty much disappeared from the list of regularly watched East London sites. This site has attracted some good birds in the past such as Woodchat Shrike, Barred Warbler and Tawny Pipit so clearly deserves future coverage, which I'll try to do, especially when the paths are fully opened.

Skylarks were singing from inside the fenced-off areas and there were plenty of light scrub birds such as Common Whitethroat and Linnet. 

Linnet

Skylark

After about a kilometre, the path turns inland along a stream that drains into the Thames which I think is the Gores Brook. This little valley has reeds and other wetland plants growing along it and hosts Reed and Cetti's Warblers.  The verges also had several Essex Skippers, my first ones of the year.

Footpath heading inland ...

... alongside the Gores Brook

Entrance from Choats Road

I emerged onto Choats Road and followed it eastwards to the roundabout and then north up Choats Manor Road back over the railway to the A13 and walked home.

Another day, another new bus route. This time I got the 364 from just north of Dagenham Heathway station in Parsloes Avenue to Mayfield Road. The bus stop is right by the entrance to the park.

Site 80: Goodmayes Park, June 19th

I entered the park at the northern boundary and walked along the top where there are a lot of mature trees, then down the west side and back across the park to do a clockwise loop of the ponds.

Looking across to the western side of the park

The top section of the lake is a bit skanky and doesn't hold many birds but there were a few more on the southern section; a bridge spans the two sections.

Canada Goose

Coot on nest

Collared Dove

On the east side, there has been a lot of tree planting, although it would be better if they had used native trees.

The plantation

I recorded 21 species in half-an-hour, a bit below par for a park this size but being mid-June there wasn't too much bird song. I left the park at the southern end and carried on heading southwards for about ten minutes to the next park.

Site 81: Mayesbrook Park, June 19th

I entered the park at the top of Lodge Avenue by the cricket ground. This park is about twice the size of the previous site but it does include Barking Football Club and a sports ground in addition to the afore-mentioned cricket pitch. I walked around the top section, then southwards along the western edge where the Mayes Brook runs along inside the park's border; this provides some good wildlife habitat.

Trees at top end

Mayes Brook

The brook then flows into the two lakes at the southern end of the park. The first lake has several islands and a large number of geese, while the southern most lake is half the size and has more ducks than geese.

Upper Lake

Lower Lake

I spent just over an hour here and recorded 36 species, showing that the larger size with more varied habitats contains more birds than the previous park.

Egyptian Goose

Goldfinch

Brood of Mallards

Pochard

I left the park at the southeast corner where there is a carpark just off Lodge Avenue and walked down the road to the A13 Ripple Road and caught the bus home. With 81 sites now visited before Midsummer's Day, I'm well ahead of my target of 100 sites this year.

Butterflies and more East End sites

Site 73: Hutchinsons Bank, May 27th

I wasn't originally going to include this site as my primary reason for visiting was for butterflies but have now decided I'll add it anyway as I did make a bird list and it is in Greater London. I met John & Janet at Canada Water and we took the Overground to West Croydon then the tram to New Addington. The reserve is signposted from the tram station with the entrance being just to the left of the recycling station.

This was our third visit here and this one was specifically timed for Glanville Fritillary which had started flying this week. We didn't have to go far until we encountered a group of people photographing one on the track. It showed the upperside of its wings nicely so that was a good start.

Glanville Fritillary

We carried on eastwards, hearing a couple of Bullfinch, my first ones this year and a few singing warblers although it was getting a bit hot and late in the season for much song.

Pheasant

We crossed over the road to Chapel Bank, mainly because that's where we had Marsh Tit last year but there was no sign of any and hardly any butterflies as the Dukes had finished flying this year, We returned to the main meadows and found several more Glanvilles including one that showed off its stunning underside.

Glanville Fritillary

There were other butterflies out as well but not many 'common' ones except Brimstone which was super abundant.

Dingy Skipper

Grizzled Skipper

Small Blue

Site 74: Belhus Woods Country Park, June 8th

This site straddles the border of Greater London and Essex but as some of it is in London I'm still counting it. To reach it I took the 287 bus to Rainham Tesco then the 372 to St Pauls Close in Aveley. It's then a mile's walk up the Romford Road. The top end of this walk goes through Belhus Chase which then leads into the CP. The Chase is wholly in Essex so I didn't count this as a separate site although I did record a singing Yellowhammer here.

Once in the park, I started at the visitor centre and did a large clockwise loop, taking in the conservation area where there's a lake, then out towards the M25, past some more lakes and finishing back where I started. As well as the lakes, there's a lot of flower meadows, scrub and both deciduous and coniferous woods.

Footbridge over the M25

I recorded a total of 41 species which seemed like a good total as most birds have settled down to breed now. I'd only visited the site briefly once before, on a bird race many years ago when we dashed in to tick off Ruddy Duck and dashed off again.

Canada Geese escorting their creche from one lake to another

Site 75: Parsloes Park, June 10th

This park is just a ten minute walk for me and lies just north of the C2C/District Line between Becontree and Dagenham Heathway. It's a relatively large town park and it's nice to see that the council haven't mowed it to death. There's some nice grass meadows, scattered trees and a lake in the southwest corner.

There's a community hub being built in the centre of the park

I didn't know what birds to expect as there were no visits recorded on eBird but I ended up seeing 32 species which is pretty good. There may have been more on the lake but weirdly there aren't any reasonable viewpoints as trees grow all around the lake and there's only a couple of narrow views so I didn't even see any Mallard.

Juvenile Blue Tit being fed

Canada Geese and goslings

Young Egyptian Geese

Greylag Geese

Magpie

Ring-necked Parakeet

I exited out the of the southwest corner onto Gale Street and walked south a little way to the next site.

Site 76: Castle Green, June 10th

This is a much smaller park, with mown and unmown grassy areas, trees but no water. I walked anti-clockwise to the far end, then beside the A13 where there's an exit by the school back on Gale Street. It was just under a mile from start to finish and I only recorded 13 species. It doesn't have a lot to offer to be honest so I might not revisit the site. It really needs proper landscaping and a good bit of tree-planting along the A13.

Southern edge beside the A13

Wooden statues of local sporting heroes

Starling