Trip reports
Morning walk around the N Met & Ashley Gravel Pits
Sunday, 1 February 2009
It was a very cold morning with the Met Office predicting temperatures of just 1C but suggesting the wind chill factor would make it feel more like -3C. We had a couple of snow flurries before midday but the day turned out to be bright and sunny once most of the cloud had blown over.
The Lee Valley Regional Park has many gravel pits but Ashley and Slipe Lane Pits tend to be ignored by the casual visitor to the Park, however, these less well known areas can often be worth seeking out. Ashley has, for the last few winters, been the lake of choice for many of the Valley's goosander, one of the areas specialities. We were fortunate to see several females and smaller numbers of drakes on the pit. The site also produced a flock of up to 50 siskins feeding in the alders on the east side. treecreeper, long-tailed tits and goldfinch were seen in the same area.
37 species of Birds seen:
Great crested grebe, cormorant, grey heron, mute swan, Canada goose, wigeon, gadwall, mallard, shoveller, pochard, tufted duck, goosander, sparrowhawk, moorhen, coot, common gull, black-headed gull, lesser black-backed gull, woodpigeon, collared dove, wren, dunnock, robin, blackbird, long-tailed tit, blue tit, great tit, treecreeper, magpie, carrion crow, jay, starling, house sparrow, chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch and siskin.
Many thanks to Mike for leading this walk