Welcome to the Lee Valley park website

Lee Valley Regional Park is a great place for both birds and birdwatchers. Over recent years, 200 different bird species have been seen in the Regional Park.

 

Even though the Regional Park is close to London, it still provides birds with many quiet, sheltered places to feed, roost and moult. Birds from many parts of the world travel thousands of miles to the Lee Valley Regional Park during migration. Some come to breed, many rest and feed in the Valley and others stay through the winter to retreat from much harsher weather than our own.

 

As traditional wetlands throughout Britain have been lost, more have been created in Lee Valley Regional Park.  Gravel pit lakes and reservoirs have replaced the more traditional Valley wetlands. Even though these new wetlands are less than a hundred years old, they provide a nationally and internationally important refuge for birds.

 

The wetlands of Lee Valley Regional Park are one of the major inland wintering areas for birds in Britain, annually supporting over 10,000 waterbirds.

 

Nationally important numbers of Tufted Duck, Pochard, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe and Coot use the Lee Valley Regional Park. Over 2,500 Tufted Duck winter here.

 

Internationally important numbers of Gadwall and Shoveler winter in the Lee Valley Regional Park.

 

Lee Valley Regional Park is one of the most important sites in the UK for wintering Bitterns.