Please e-mail any interesting wildlife sightings to the Biodiversity Officer.
April 2021 wildlife records
15 April 2021, Mudchute: 2 singing Willow Warblers, 2 singing Chiffchaffs, 6+ singing Blackcaps, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, c10 Ring-necked Parakeets, 1 Speckled Wood butterfly, 1 Green-veined White (John Archer, Tom Davis, John Swindells & Morgan Taylor).
Speckled Wood at Mudchute (John Archer)
11 April 2021, East India Dock Basin: a count for the Wetland Bird Survey recorded 2 Little Ringed Plovers, 4 Shelducks, 8 Teal, 3 Tufted Ducks, 15 Mallards, 2 Mute Swans, 2 Coots, 3 Moorhens, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 1 Black-headed Gull, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 1 Herring Gull and 1 Cormorant. Also 1 Kestrel, 1 singing Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff and lot of wild flowers including Cowslip and Honesty (John Archer). Click photos to enlarge
Cowslip at East India Dock Basin (John Archer)
Honesty at East India Dock Basin (John Archer)
11 April 2021, Bow Creek: 2 Oystercatchers (John Archer).
10 April 2021, Mudchute: 4 Willow Warblers, 4 Chiffchaffs, 2 Blackcaps, 1 Song Thrush (Sean Huggins).
9 April 2021, Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park: a club-horned sawfly, either the Honeysuckle Sawfly (Abia lonicerae) or the very similar Abia aenea, in a Whitebeam near a clump of Honeysuckle at Lodge Graves. Both species are scarce in Britain, and either would be a first record for Cemetery Park and for Middlesex, if experts can identify which it is (Ken Greenway).
Club-horned sawfly at Cemetery Park (Ken Greenway)
6 April 2021, Victoria Park: 23 Tufted Ducks, 1 Pochard, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Egyptian Geese with 5 juveniles, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Bar-headed Goose (or hybrid) on West Lake; 3 Tufted Ducks, 1 Gadwall, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Egyptian Geese, 1 Blackcap, 2 Mute Swans on East Lake; 2 Gadwall on the Boating Lake; also 1 Jay, 2 Mistle Thrushes (Richard Drew).
Egyptian Goose family at Victoria Park (John Archer)
6 April 2021, Folly House Beach, Isle of Dogs: 1 juvenile Shag, 2 Goldfinches (Hussain & Yunis Gill).
4 April 2021, Thomas Road E14: 1 Tawny Mining Bee (Hussain & Yunis Gill).
4 April 2021, Ackroyd Drive Allotments: 1 Brimstone butterfly (Richard Drew).
Archive of older reports
Jan-March 2021 wildlife reports (PDF 175KB)
2020 wildlife reports (PDF 1.9MB)
2019 wildlife reports (PDF 6.8MB)
2018 wildlife reports (PDF 4.7MB)
2017 wildlife reports (PDF 3.1MB)
2016 wildlife reports (PDF4.4MB)
2015 wildlife reports (PDF 2.6MB)
2014 wildlife reports (PDF 3.2MB)
2013 wildlife reports (PDF 2.1MB)
2012 wildlife reports (PDF 780KB)
2011 wildlife reports (PDF 100KB)
Header photo: Firecrest in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park (David Darrell-Lambert)