Benfleet

202312 - Bedfords Park

WILDLIFE: Thursday 14 December 2023; Visit to Bedfords Park, Havering.

For those not familiar with Bedfords Park it is close the Havering-atte-Bower village, a little north of Romford. It has a variety of habitats including woodlands, marshes, meadows, and a lake and is quite large at 215 acres. Its origins date back to the 1200s and a manor house existed there for much of the intervening times. It was opened as a public space in 1934 and in World War 2 used for the Auxiliary Fire Service. Afterwards the house was used but gradually fell into disrepair.

Since 2003 it has been managed by Essex Wildlife Trust, which is a bit strange because the site is now in Greater London rather than Essex. A visitor centre replaced the derelict manor house and has a shop, cafe and toilets.

The weather was overcast and grey but at least it didn't rain and the light was just enough to get some reasonable photos.

The main and easiest attraction is the herd of Red Deer. In an enclosure but making it convenient to get close. The deer were happy to pose for us but probably expected food. Walking around the park we saw and heard many different birds although they were quite 'flitty' and difficulty to pin down. A summary of our observed and sometimes just heard wildlife:

• Small birds: Goldcrest, Coal Tits, Blue Tits, Long tailed Tits, Great Tits, Nuthatch, Cettis Warbler (heard)
• Larger birds: Magpies, Carrion Crow, Great Spotted Woodpecker (heard), Parakeets, Wood Pigeons
• Water birds: Moorhen, Coot, Black Headed Gull
• Fungi: Jellyear, Candlesnuff
• Mammals: Red Deer, Grey Squirrel, very friendly Border Collie!

The route round was quite wet and slippery. We spotted many footprints showing that wild deer do also roam around this area.

As usual we ended up in the cafe where David set us a quiz on types of tree leaves, nuts and seeds that he had collected whilst in the park. Between us all we got about half of them - room for improvement! Thank you David.

Best Wishes, Alan
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