Patch-less Birding

In bird watching terms the definition of a "Local Patch" is: Local - meaning you can walk, cycle or drive a short distance to, and Patch - an area of bird friendly habitat with either woodland, scrub, fields, ponds, lakes, reservoirs, or even the sea, which you can visit on regular intervals throughout the year, noting and counting the birds which occupy any pre-determined boundaries. The list of birds which frequent these spaces could be limitless and it really depends on how much time and effort you can afford to give up in pursuit of patch birding, with the list of birds seen at your chosen site ultimately dependent on your current choice of residency, whether this be a flat in an urban city environment or a cottage near to a coastal marine habitat. It's been said many times before but watching and finding birds on a local patch is probably the most rewarding and at times the most frustrating type of bird watching which, in equal measures ensures patch birding is part of the essential make up of every birder!

Since picking up the bins again and getting off my backside, I've been looking, almost searching for a local patch I can visit regularly in hope of watching birds within a stones throw away from where I live. The problem I have come up against is where? From where I currently live nothing really stands out as a potential "local patch", some people may say this is quite negative as even a local park or even a school playing field could be deemed as an ideal place to start but as a teenager growing up on the coastal fringes on the east side of the river Thames. Without realising it at the time, I was spoilt with the type and variety of birds to be found, from waders on the foreshore to warblers in the reed bed, wildfowl in the winter and Raptors on passage. This has only added to my dilemma as if I was to watch a local playing field I fully expected to get bored fairly quickly due to the limited habitat for encouraging new birds into an area and the repetitiveness of seeing the same birds each time I visited the site - it is only so often you can count the number of Common Gulls amongst the Black-headed gulls or note the number of Robins you have seen on a given day!

So, purely for selfish reasons and my own sanity I've decided to give the school playing field a miss and have drawn up a small short list of possible "local patch" contenders:

Wanstead Park/Flats - By far and away the stand out contender, I can't walk here but I can cycle or drive, a good selection of habitat is on offer with ponds and lakes, broadleaved woodland, large open fields with pockets of scrub and gorse. However this is already well watched by a good band of birders, who do an excellent job of recording the birds at this site, and I wonder do they really need another pair of eyes pursuing that Wheatear?

Highams Park Lake - This has potential with a good size lake surrounded by a small broadleaved woodland and open parkland. But having visited here on several occasions, it has yet to inspire me with not much return in the way of birds despite frequent visits, and this has now turned into one of those nice places to visit with the family as it has a great children's playground!

Connaught Water -  Another good size lake surrounded by mature woodland in the centre of Epping forest but once I've circled the lake and counted the Mandarin ducks what next - buy an ice cream? Unfortunately this too has been discounted, based mainly on its own popularity with a large number of visitors all trying to utilise a ridiculously small car park!

Knighton Woods, Epping Forest - This is a small pocket of mature ancient woodland with a couple of small ponds, its always been an enjoyable walk round especially if you own a dog! All the woodland bird species you would expect to find are here, but it's limited in terms of keeping you interested and so would I get out of bed on a cold, wet February morning just to see another Great Spotted Woodpecker - I'm not sure I would!

Rainham Marshes - This really has it all in terms of habitat and diversity of birds on offer but it's not exactly local to where I live and I would also have to rely on the A406 not being full of traffic! This site is already massively watched from dawn to dusk, which is not surprising considering how much money the RSPB has ploughed into the reserve turning this area in to a huge success.

So these are my "Local Patch" contenders, I'm sure there are other areas locally I haven't yet discovered or I have overlooked but these are my current choices. If you have any recommendations not too far from where I reside in Woodford Green and which meet the terms of the definition above, please let me know?

What to do next? Up route the family, change the children's schools, find a new career and move to the coast in pursuit of the perfect patch to watch birds - not just yet... For now, I think I will in the short term continue to chase Wheatears around Wanstead Flats with the other birders, whilst enjoying the company of like minded people, and live in hope of seeing and contributing to finding something which possibly hasn't been seen already!

As a footnote to this blog entry - I was on Wanstead Flats with Jonathan Lethbridge on Saturday morning which, probably due to the persistent rain was surprisingly quiet, with very few dog walkers, no footballers and no sign of any oddballs! (apart from two birders, in full wet weather gear, pursuing an odd calling Lesser Whitethroat). I did however see my first Wanstead Ring Ouzel, along with returning Hobby, Swifts and Lesser Whitethroat! All of which only added to my conclusion that Wanstead Park/Flats is the current stand out "Local Patch" contender.