Please e-mail any interesting wildlife sightings to the Biodiversity Officer.
June 2018 Wildlife Records
20 June 2018, Ackroyd Drive Greenlink: a mating pair of Six-belted Clearwing moths in Cowslip Meadow (Ken Greenway).
Six-belted Clearwings at Ackroyd Drive Greenlink (Ken Greenway)
20 June 2018, Mudchute: a Marbled White butterfly, the first site record (Peter Minvalla).
Marbled White at Mudchute (Peter Minvalla)
18 June 2018, East India Dock Basin: a count for the Wetland Bird Survey recorded 12 Tufted Ducks, 4 Shelducks, 48 Mallards, 6 Coots, 3 Moorhens and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Also present 4 House Martins (the first record here this year), 2 Sand Martins and a Pied Wagtail (John Archer).
15 June 2018, Bow Creek: a shoal of 30+ Thick-lipped Grey Mullet feeding in the edge of the creek, 1 Little Egret, 2 Oystercatchers, a Reed Warbler singing in the reed bed below the pylon, 1 Large Skipper butterfly beside Silvocea Way, about 500 plants of Jersey Cudweed along Silvocea Way (John Archer).
surface-feeding Thick-lipped Grey Mullet (John Archer)
11 June 2018, East India Dock Basin: 1 drake Teal (extremely unusual in summer), 1 adult Little Egret showing the pink lores and red feet of extreme courtship plumage, 3 Sand Martins, 1 Common Tern, 1 Pied Wagtail, the Moorhens on the raft have at least one very small chick, 2 Burnet Companion moths, several Black-tailed Skimmers (Tom Speller & John Archer). Click photos to enlarge
Little Egret in courtship plumage (Tom Speller)
Burnet Companion (Tom Speller)
female Black-tailed Skimmer (Tom Speller)
male Black-tailed Skimmer (Tom Speller)
11 June 2018, Poplar Dock Marina & Blackwall Basin: 1 Egyptian Goose, Canada Geese with 2 goslings, at least 2 broods of Coot chicks and another pair nesting on a tyre (Tom Speller).
8 June 2018, East India Dock Basin: 1 Little Egret, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, 1 Sand Martin, 1 female Emperor Dragonfly, 2 Black-tailed Skimmers (John Archer).
7 June 2018, Meath Gardens: 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Mistle Thrush (John Archer).
7 June 2018, Weavers Fields: a family group of recently-fledged Blackcaps in the Woodland Walk, 1 Kestrel (John Archer).
6 June 2018, Mile End Park (Arts Lake): 1 Black-tailed Skimmer, 1 Emperor Dragonfly, lots of Azure and Blue-tailed Damselflies, a fine display of Flowering Rush, at least 2 pairs of Moorhens and 1 pair of Coots with chicks, a pair of Mute Swans (John Archer). Click photos to enlarge
Black-tailed Skimmer (John Archer)
Blue-tailed Damselfly (John Archer)
Azure Damselflies (John Archer)
Flowering Rush (John Archer)
6 June 2018, East India Dock Basin: 1 Peregrine, 1 Kestrel, a pair of Little Ringed Plovers, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Common Tern, 1 male Emperor Dragonfly, breeding birds as yesterday (John Archer).
5 June 2018, Isle of Dogs: a third-calendar-year Yellow-legged Gull on the Thames shore opposite the Cutty Sark (Sean Huggins).
5 June 2018, Mudchute: a Reed Warbler singing (Sean Huggins).
5 June 2018, Victoria Park: the pair of Great Crested Grebes on West Lake have one young chick, also 11 Tufted Ducks, 3 drake Pochards and 4 Egyptian Geese on West Lake, Red-eyed and Common Blue Damselflies on East Lake, 3 Mistle Thrushes, Holly Blue and Speckled Wood butterflies (Jan Dobbie).
5 June 2018, East India Dock Basin: 1 or 2 Sand Martins (the first sightings this year of what used to be a regular breeding bird here), 1 Pied Wagtail, 3 Tufted Ducks, 4 Shelducks, 2 singing Reed Warblers, a female Mallard still with 3 ducklings, the Lesser Black-backs, Coots and Moorhens still on nests (John Archer).
4 June 2018, Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park: a pair of Poplar Hawk-moths mating in Poplar Wood (Dan Hall).
Poplar Hawk-moths mating (Dan Hall)
4 June 2018, East India Dock Basin: 14+ Swifts drifted slowly south-west at 1.10pm, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Common Terns, 1 Egyptian Goose, 1 Oystercatcher flew over towards the Thames, 4 Shelducks, 1 singing Reed Warbler, a female Mallard still with 3 small ducklings, the Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Moorhens still at nests on separate rafts, a pair of Coots nesting on the same raft as the Lesser Black-backs ( a recipe for disaster as both species are potential egg-predators!) and another pair of Coots nesting on the island (also a recipe for disaster as it floods on high spring tides!) (John Archer).
2 June 2018, Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park: a female Brown Argus butterfly laying eggs on Cut-Leaved Cranesbill in Scrapyard Meadow (Terry Lyle)
1 June 2018, Saffron Avenue Pond: a pair of Moorhens with 5 chicks, a pair of Coots with 2 chicks, lots of Red-eyed and Common Blue Damselflies (John Archer). Click photos to enlarge
Red-eyed Damselflies (John Archer)
Common Blue Damselfly (John Archer)
1 June 2018, East India Dock Basin: 1 Common Tern, 5 Shelducks, 2 Tufted Ducks, a Cetti’s Warbler singing in the Copse, 1 singing Blackcap, the Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Moorhens still nesting on rafts, 2 Emperor Dragonflies (John Archer).
Archive of earlier reports
Jan-May 2018 wildlife reports (PDF 950KB)
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)