4 January 2011

Listing splits?

This year I decided to split my park list from my flats. Why? Because I think it would be interesting to see how the two distinct areas shape up against each other. I toyed with the idea of hiving off the old sewage works too, in its heyday as an actual sewage works some remarkable sightings and breeding records showed only to well what's been lost to the area over time. However, since it actually joins the park too many birds could be counted for both at the same time. Problem. It is though unique in the park, being less visited and with an environment more akin to that of the flats, bar no standing water but on the plus side a river. It has its moments in spring and autumn mostly. I reckon the flats will win hands down, because of its great attraction to passage birds, which due to relative lack of cover means things are easier to pin down. Meanwhile Jono has gone for the all encompassing route. Of course, with reference to the London Site List on the LB site, we will be keeping a record of all species reported by us and other birders visiting the area (if we can get hold of them). Last year was pretty brilliant and the patch punched well above its weight, illustrating what a hugely important area this is in relation to its proximity to the centre of the capital.

You might have noticed Siskin and Firecrest have now been added to the current list, sadly neither JL or myself have yet to catch up with them. And yes I am still having problems creating new paragraphs....

1 comment:

  1. Last year I did 80 in the Park, and 92 on the Flats. This netted a combined list of 106, and I added 2 more from the Garden not seen elsewhere - Brambling and Waxwing.

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