Please e-mail any interesting wildlife sightings to the Biodiversity Officer.
July 2021 wildlife records
26 July 2021, Maritime Quay E14: an Oak Bush-cricket hiding inside the wing mirror cover of a car (Harvey Smith).
Oak Bush-cricket at Maritime Quay (HarveySmith)
24 July 2021, Bethnal Green Nature Reserve: an individual of the nationally-rare picture-winged fly Tephritis praecox in the medicine garden (Gino Brignoli). This is the first Tower Hamlets record of the species. See this post for more details of this exciting record.
Tephritis praecox at Bethnal Green Nature Reserve (Gino Brignoli)
24 July 2021, East India Dock Basin: a count for the Wetland Bird Survey recorded 1 Little Egret, 4 Tufted Ducks, 4 Egyptian Geese, 2 Mute Swans, 57 Mallards, 7 Moorhens including an adult with 2 chicks, 2 Coots, 2 Grey Herons and 66 Black-headed Gulls. Also 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, a male House Sparrow entering an apparent nest site in an adjacent building, and about 10 Reed Warblers that appeared to be 3 family groups (John Archer).
23 July 2021, Mudchute Allotments: good numbers of butterflies in the sunshine, including Painted Lady, Meadow Brown and Small Skipper (Peter Minvalla).
Painted Lady at Mudchute Allotments (Peter Minvalla)
23 July 2021, Mudchute: a Painted Lady caterpillar and Red Admiral and Gatekeeper butterflies (Peter Minvalla). Click photos to enlarge
Painted Lady caterpillar (Peter Minvalla)
Red Admiral (Peter Minvalla)
23 July 2021, Tower of London: a juvenile Peregrine flying over calling at 0730 (Dan Fletcher).
21 July 2021, Hesperus Crescent E14: a Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing moth (Peter Minvalla).
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (Peter Minvalla)
18 July 2021, Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park: an individual of the nationally rare flat-footed fly Agathomyia collini in Sanctuary Wood. There are very few recent British records of this species, which is classified as Endangered (Gino Brignoli). Read more about this exciting record in this news post.
Agathomyia collini at Cemetery Park (Gino Brignoli)
12 July 2021, Victoria Park: a juvenile Nuthatch near East Lake (JW Davies).
6 July 2021, Bethnal Green Nature Reserve: a Reed Warbler singing in bushes around the ponds, the first site record and unusual as there are no reeds on site (John Archer & Michael Smythe).
4 July 2021, Maritime Quay: 2 White-lipped Snails (Harvey Smith).
White-lipped Snails at Maritime Quay (Harvey Smith)
4 July 2021, Isle of Dogs: 2 recently-fledged Mistle Thrushes on Ferry Street near the Kinkao restaurant (Harvey Smith).
Mistle Thrushes by Ferry Street (Harvey Smith)
3 July 2021, Kingsbridge Estate, Isle of Dogs: a Leopard Moth on the front door of a flat in Montrose House (Diane Terry).
Leopard Moth at Montrose House (Diana Terry)
1 July 2021, Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park: lots of Hawthorn Jewel Beetles (Agrilus sinuatus) on the shrubs at either end of Scrapyard Meadow and in Horse Chestnut Glade (Gino Brignoli). This is the first site record, and the 479th species of beetle the be recorded in Cemetery Park. Click photos to enlarge
Hawthorn Jewel Beetle (Gino Brignoli)
Hawthorn Jewel Beetle (Gino Brignoli)
1 July 2021, Maritime Quay: 2 Red Admirals (Harvey Smith).
Red Admiral at Maritime Quay (Harvey Smith)
Archive of older reports
Jan-June 2021 wildlife reports (PDF 1.3MB)
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)