Any sighting of a Merlin is a cause for celebration but little did we expect the aerial show we witnessed on Sunday 23 March at Bradwell, on the Essex coast. As the Wren party walked south along the seawall, to the accompaniment of Corn Buntings, Meadow Pipits and Skylarks, Bob, one of the regulars at …
On Saturday 15 March 19 people – and several dogs – took a closer look at the area of Wanstead Flats where Skylarks and Meadow Pipits build their nests and raise their young every year. An Epping Forest keeper and the Wren Group’s Tim Harris walked slowly along the main paths that dissect the area …
On Sunday 2 March members of the Wren Group practical work team donned waders and life-jackets to clear areas of Floating Pennywort (Hydrocotyle ranunculoides) from the western end of Perch Pond. This aquatic plant, which grows on the surface of the water, is actually quite attractive, so why bother? Well, it is not a native species but adapts very well …
The Wren Group, in conjunction with the City of London, has produced a new leaflet explaining the key role that dog-walkers can play in conserving our valuable breeding population of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. Wanstead Flats has the only significant populations of these ground-nesting birds within a seven-mile radius of the centre of London, but …
So often ignored, Bush Wood really does deserve more attention. Providing a green link between the north-western extremity of Wanstead Flats and Wanstead Park, its mix of sweet chestnuts, oaks, hornbeams and stands of holly combine to form a kind of ‘magic forest’ sandwiched between Bushwood (the road) and Belgrave Road. Recent habitat management work …
Beneath a canopy of brown, orange and even mauve leaves, the Wren Group practical work team finished the bramble clearance in Chalet Wood, in preparation for next spring’s bluebell display. This annual ritual ensures that visitors can enjoy the best possible show of these ever-popular flowers. While we were at work someone presented organiser Peter …
On Saturday 7 December a count of all Wanstead Park’s lakes produced a combined total of 307 Gadwall, a new record for the site. This comes just 10 months after the record was last broken, on the February WeBS count when Wren Group counters noted 258. With both Nick Croft and Dan Henessey reporting 200-plus …
On 20th October the Wren Group Fungus Foray in Bush Wood was led – as is traditional – by Tricia Moxey. Fortunately the timing was impeccable and the walk took place between two bands of heavy rain, meaning that although the forest was appropriately damp to be looking for fungi the people were not and the …
October 6th came as a gloriously bright and unseasonably warm sunny Sunday, the perfect day to be out and about in Wanstead Park. For nine Wren Group members it proved a particularly fun morning, boating across the Ornamentals to Lincoln Island and removing brambles and the like that threatened flowers that grow there, especially the …