Havering and Redbridge Parks

There seems to be a never-ending supply of greenspaces in East London that I've not yet visited. I've now adopted a few sites as regular local patches and have managed to combine visiting them along with exploring new sites. I started the week by doing just this: a walk around Dagenham Chase where the highlight was seven Little Ringed Plovers on The Slack. I exited at the eastern side and crossed over Upper Rainham Road

Site 85: Harrow Lodge Park, July 3rd

This park has many entrances and I started on the western side and did an anti-clockwise circuit of the lake. It's quite a long thin park and the NE corner adjoins Hornchurch. The lake dominates the central section with open grassland and some woodland around it.

Only the vast hordes of geese have access to the green by the lake

Canada Geese

Greylag Geese

Mute Swan family

 Site 86: Hainault Country Park, July 11th

To get there I took a local bus, the 173 and changed at Chadwell Heath onto the 362. The stop at Fowler Road is directly opposite an entrance to the park. I used to visit Hainault Forest quite regularly, walking in from Hainault station so I wasn't familiar with this part of the park.

I walked down to the lake, then did a large clockwise loop following one of the trails through the forest and back across the open plain back to the car park where there are two cafes.

View across the plain looking towards Docklands

The birdlife has changed considerably since I used to come here. There used to be breeding Turtle Dove, Marsh Tit, Wood Warbler and Yellowhammer but they've all long gone. I still recorded 33 species which isn't bad for a woodland in July; the only notable breeding bird was two Skylarks singing over the plain.

Site 87: Dagnam Park, July 20th

This was another easy site to get to by bus: the 174 to Harkness Close and the entrance is a minute's walk back to Whitchurch Road. I had been to this park once before when Hawfinches used to winter here but I didn't recognise any of it today. I walked through a thin stretch of woodland up to a pond. It then opens up by a car park and I walked an anti-clockwise route.

Open area just beyond the pond

I saw a lot of Fallow Deer in the park which I don't remember from my earlier visits but they've clearly been here all the time. My route took me close to the M25 which is just the other side of the Weald Brook. I walked through some more woodland, open areas and another pond on the return loop to the car park. 

Fallow Deer

More Fallow Deer feeding on a grassy slope

Weald Brook; the M25 runs behind the far hedge

It covers a large area but surprisingly I saw very few other people on my walk. It's like a small version of Richmond Park but without the hordes of people and dogs. It's a good area for birds with woodpeckers, Nuthatch and Treecreeper in the woods, with Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Red Kite all seen flying around.

Jackdaws

Family of Mallards

Moorhen with chicks

Red Kite

More Dagenham parks and a Dartford

In my continuing exploration of the Dagenham area, I'm starting to realise how green it actually is as I keep finding more parks.

Site 82: Mardyke Open Space, June 24th

I was determined to find out what the large brownfield site was next to Beam Parklands that I accidently discovered last month so I headed over that way again. Access is via a footbridge over the River Beam and a footpath leads up to the site which has the shape of an old landfill to it. Last time I walked up to the top but today I walked a lower path that encircles most of the site. I went anti-clockwise and found another path that led down to a fenced-off park. There are a couple of large gaps in the fence which the locals are using to get from the park to the hill. I've no idea who made the gaps or if access to the hill is permitted or not.

Mown path leading from flats

Sweet Pea growing on lower slope

I discovered the park on the 'legal' side of the fence is called Mardyke Open Space so I walked around it before returning to the fence. The Mardyke in the name is not related to the stream that flows into the Thames at Purfleet and there is a nearby road called Lower Mardyke Avenue but I couldn't find any associated watercourse when I searched online later. There does appear to be the remnants of a brook flowing along the east side of the hill but I couldn't find it marked on a map. Another mystery.

Looking down the slope with Mardyke OS at the bottom

Note one of the gaps in the fence

The official Open Space doesn't have a lot of birdlife in it although there are some scrubby areas in the centre and a strip of woodland along the border.

House Sparrow

Magpie

Once back through the fence I continued circumnavigating the hill. Skylarks were singing constantly and are obviously breeding there. The hill is covered in grasses and wildflowers and was heaving with butterflies, especially Essex Skippers.

Essex Skippers

Reed Bunting

I later accidentally discovered the name of the 'hill' while searching for WeBS sites on the BTO site. It's called Mardyke Farm Landfill. It will be interesting to see if anything happens to this site in the future. 

Site 83: Central Park, Dagenham, June 26th

Confusingly, it's listed on eBird as Central Park, Romford but there is another place called Central Park that's closer to Romford in the London Borough of Havering so I'm sticking with name I've used above. I went past this park on the bus last week on my way to buy some plants for my pond so I thought I'd return and explore it. It's only a short journey on the 175 to Wood Lane at Becontree Heath (any heathland seems to be long gone) which is on the north side of the park. What I didn't realise is that Barking & Dagenham council are doing major works in the park and half of it is fenced off. I don't know exactly what they're doing as there's no notices up nor anything on their website.

The start of the woodland walk

A lot of the park is fenced off

I started off walking down the west side by the fire station which is signposted as a woodland walk. It's not very well maintained as there a couple of fallen trees across the path but they were passable. I then cut east past the rugby ground, along the fences until I eventually found the path which I was looking for. It's well hidden because of the fences but runs down the east side and leads out to Fels Field, part of Eastbrookend Country Park (AKA Dagenham Chase). I did record 22 species of birds in the park including two woodpeckers and three warblers but I won't be returning until the fences are down.

Magpie

Carrion Crow

Linnet

Site 84: Oystercatcher Park, July 2nd

I was actually looking for Ripple NR but found this oasis instead. It's a new greenspace by Barking Riverside with access from Choats Road by the junction with Northgate Road. It's only a tiny area with a reed covered marsh in the middle surrounded by a path that goes around it and then an outer edge of trees and shrubs.

Railway bridge of the new extension to Barking Riverside on the Goblin Line

I only recorded 11 species on the single circuit that I walked but it did include four warblers.

Greenfinch

I finished by going up a set of steps at the end onto Fielders Crescent until I found the entrance to Footpath 47 and walked back along Barking Riverside. Most bizarrely, I then found a singing Dartford Warbler. While winter records are to be expected along the Lower Thames they are still quite rare so what this one was doing here in the middle of summer is anybody's guess.

Dartford Warbler