Dunlin visit and migrant birds on Wanstead Flats

Walking from home across the Flats  to enjoy a coffee in the sun in the cemetery (!), my 'phone rang... "There's a Dunlin on the Jubilee Pond" said Jonathan Lethbridge, so instead of a short walk and sit in the sun, I had a long walk and an excellent view of a Dunlin.

There is a report of a Dunlin at the same site on 6th February 1979, when the pond was then concrete-lined and called the Model Yacht Pond, and the following year I observed a Dunlin that was present by Alexandra Lake from 31st August to 3rd September.

The situation yesterday was similar to that of the 1980 one; the bird was feeding almost persistently along the edge of the pond, just a few feet away from the pond-edge path and passing people, and seemed quite oblivious to any possible danger. I am no expert on Dunlin behaviour, but when I see them more typically, for example, in estuarine habitats, they are always in flocks, and if a possible danger - usually from overhead - goes past the whole lot go up as if one. There are certainly possible dangers on Wanstead Flats - Sparrowhawks being one - and enough going on to startle me at times, but these individual Dunlin seem to be mostly unaware and unfazed. Is it because they are so out of their normal environment and usual company that they are simply just not picking up the usual signals from their peers?

Whatever, the opportunity was there to sit on a bench and observe the feeding just a few feet from the bird.

Yesterday's photographs (digital cameras not being around in 1980) captured the Dunlin almost always with its head in the water. It was still there at 3pm, but not seen just after 5pm.

Wanstead Flats has in the last few years seen an explosion of bird-watchers; it has at last been recognised as an excellent birdwatching site. Back in 1980 I wrote an article for the Wren Group Newsletter entitled "Wanstead Flats - not bad for birds" (read here), but there was only about two of us to my knowledge that covered the Flats. Now - with some excellent bird-spotters about - my long-term thoughts about its possibilities are proving true. However, recently some of us are becoming aware that Wanstead Flats is actually loosing habitats - or is in danger of doing so. An example of these that relates to waders in particular is an area  of marsh quite near the Jubilee Pond. This is probably the area where most of the present-day Snipe hang out overnight. But it is drying out. This can be seen by the lack of mosses and liverworts that used to be found here, and the invasion of birches and other dry vegetation. Similarly - on Alexandra Lake I used to fairly often see Common Sandpipers first thing in the morning on the banks of the two islands there. Now these islands are surrounded by willow vegetation, and indeed it has  become almost impossible to realise that there are two islands and not just one as the willows tangle together!

The arrival of seven Little Egrets in Wanstead Park last July when the level of water in the Heronry Pond was so low showed how quickly these birds had found a habitat that they found useful for their feeding. What we are lacking in the whole Wanstead area, I believe, are scrapes for wading birds. Perhaps an ideal place to think of creating these might be by the Roding - which must be a migration route for such birds - and a potential area exists. This is the site of the old allotments on the Redbridge bank to the north of Whiskers Island. There are a number of proposals for making use of this un-used and presently bramble-tangled land. These certainly includes a pedestrian/ cycle (and - hopefully - horse) route to complete a missing link of the Roding Valley Way, but also the possibility of moving the present river bund away from the river towards the A406 link road. This is so as to provide a water-relief flood plain in case of high water levels in the Roding.

Notwithstanding that the allotment area probably at present provides a good nesting habitat for a variety of our more common birds, the idea of a flood plain could give rise to the idea of a series of scrapes for wading birds - a much more-needed habitat, I suggest?

Perhaps we could see more Dunlin - and other things - visiting the Wanstead Park area, as careful management could see an increasing number of the wide variety of migrants and residents that we already know visit Wanstead Flats.

Paul Ferris, 22 April 2010

Dunlin wading...

...Dunlin feeding