April 2026

In the 15th of a series of articles featuring wildlife images from Wanstead Park and Wanstead Flats, Diane Dalli presents her shots of a Green Woodpecker

During a walk on Wanstead Flats, I was stopped in my tracks when I noticed some movement in the long grass. I had heard the laughing yaffle call of the Green Woodpecker several times that morning, and here it was, right in front of me!

It stuck its long beak into the soft mud searching for some tasty insects or caterpillars, then hopped up onto a small mound where it stretched its neck up and looked around. I was able to stand some way off as I had a long lens on my camera and took a few shots before it flew off with its characteristic undulating flight.

The Green Woodpecker is a very colourful bird with a green and yellow body and a red crown. The female has a black moustache marking but this is red on the male. Despite its vivid colours, it can be difficult to spot, especially when it lands in a tree. It uses its stiff tail feathers to support it as it climbs up the trunk in a series of hops, blending in with the foliage or lichen on the trees. However, it does generally feed on the ground in grassy areas, using its strong beak and long sticky tongue to help it find the insects it feeds on.

Woodpeckers are usually quite solitary birds, but as spring arrives, they look to pair up and build a nest. The male excavates the nest hole quite high from the ground and prefers the softer decaying wood of a mature tree, especially oak or ash. Four to six eggs are laid, which hatch after about three weeks. Both parents take turns at incubation, and when the eggs hatch, they also take turns feeding the young in the nest.

The Green Woodpecker is just one of the many species of birds that can be seen on the Flats, but it is one of the most appealing and always delightful to see, hear and photograph.

To view more of Diane’s wildlife photos, visit wnstd.com/dalli

Residents are encouraged to ensure they are registered to vote in time for the local council elections taking place on 7 May.

In Redbridge, 63 members of the council will be selected, contested across 22 wards. Wanstead Village and Wanstead Park are represented by three and two councillors respectively. The deadline to register to vote in person is 20 April. The deadline to apply for a postal vote is 21 April.

Visit wnstd.com/reg

In the 53rd of a series of articles, David Bird discusses the work of Redbridge Music Society and introduces Jelena Makarova and Sara Minelli, who will be performing in Wanstead this month

Two aims of Redbridge Music Society are to bring high-quality live chamber recitals to Redbridge and to promote musicians who live or work near or within the borough. This month, at Wanstead Library, pianist Jelena Makarova and local flautist Sara Minelli will perform a diverse programme of music, including works by Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Donizetti and Lithuanian composer MK Čiurlionis.

London-based Lithuanian pianist Jelena Makarova is a graduate of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and London’s Royal Academy of Music, where she also participated in masterclasses with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Paul Lewis. She has performed at many famous venues, including Carnegie Hall and London’s Southbank Centre, and has appeared at leading festivals and concert series. She has toured as pianist with the BBC Concert Orchestra and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Jelena is a passionate advocate for contemporary music, regularly premiering works by emerging and established contemporary composers; she is also a fervent champion of historically underrepresented women composers. Her numerous recordings include new piano and chamber works by Sally Beamish and Philip Lancaster, and with her chamber group, Trio Sonorité, she has recorded Rūta Vitkauskaitė’s The Music Shell in collaboration with Lithuanian National Radio and Television. Upcoming engagements include recitals for London’s Great Exhibition Road Festival and a Lithuanian tour.

Locally based Italian flautist Sara Minelli has performed extensively at prestigious music festivals and venues abroad and in the UK. As a highly regarded soloist, Sara has received special recognition with awards, including the International Valentino Bucchi Prize (Rome) and the Artists International Development Fund Award from the Arts Council of England. She has recorded several albums, all with critical acclaim. She has collaborated with the Royal College of Music and recently worked with the internationally renowned RIOT Ensemble music group in concerts at London’s Royal Academy of Music and in Cambridge. Sara is also a member of the GAMO Ensemble for Contemporary Music in Florence.

Sara has given the world premieres of a large number of works and is the dedicatee of works for solo flute by many contemporary composers, including Jonathan Cole, Alessandro Solbiati and Edward Cowie. She is also a recipient of a Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust grant for the commission of a new piece by Richard Causton.

Please do not miss this opportunity to hear these two outstanding musicians perform.

The recital will take place at Wanstead Library on 14 April from 8pm (tickets on the door: £12; members: £9). Call 07380 606 767. Redbridge Music Society is affiliated to Making Music.

A new monthly litter picking event has been launched to help keep Jubilee Pond and the surrounding area on Wanstead Flats tidy.

“I have been litter picking here for nearly a year and neighbours have started to tag along, so we thought we should extend the invitation. Join us on the second Saturday of each month to help keep this side of the Flats clean, safe and enjoyable for all,” said organiser Fleur Gatineau.

The next event will take place on 11 April from 10am to 12 noon (meet between Dames Road Playground and Jubilee Pond).

With a recent outbreak of bird flu in the Docklands, local swan rescue volunteer Gill Walker encourages residents to follow simple safety precautions while continuing to feed our feathered friends

There have been confirmed cases of Avian Influenza in some parts of England. Since the threat of bird flu seems to be getting higher and nearer, it may be the right time to remind ourselves about health and safety measures we can all take whilst visiting, feeding and enjoying our local swans, geese and ducks.

As bird flu is transferred through contaminated bodily fluids secreted from the beak and nostrils and is found in droppings, do not feed wild birds by hand. But please do keep feeding the correct, healthy foods to keep the birds fit and their immune systems strong. Feeding will also stop birds from moving to new locations in search of food and potentially spreading the disease. Grain, oats, peas, sweetcorn, swan pellets and brown bread are suitable. Put food in shallow water or use floating food in deeper water. Do not put food on the ground where the birds will be in direct contact with each other’s saliva, mucus and faeces.

Contaminated droppings can be spread on footwear, wheels, walking-stick ends and food containers, so disinfect anything that has been in contact with the ground where you visit waterbirds after each and every visit, and, of course, clean your hands. I recommend plastic-free Safe4 disinfectant and hand wipes, which are DEFRA approved as effective against the bird flu virus.

Please keep dogs out of the water and on a lead near waterbirds to avoid contact with any sick or dead birds.

If a bird is infected, swans, juveniles and cygnets will be lethargic, sleepy and may not want to feed. They will likely be on their own and show signs of a droopy neck and glazed eyes. Swans frequently present with neurological signs, including head shaking, twisting of the neck and swimming or walking in circles, and breathing distress, such as a gaping beak, coughing and gurgling. Other species of ducks and geese may show minimal clinical signs of the virus.

Many smaller wild birds can carry the virus without showing symptoms. So, if you feed garden birds, remember to clean your feeders weekly with warm, soapy water and rinse thoroughly. Rotate feeding spots to prevent the build-up of droppings in one area and keep water sources fresh and clean.

These precautions can help to prevent the spread of the virus. But please also remember not all birds that look or seem unwell have Avian Influenza. They may have been in a flying accident, a territorial fight, suffered a fishing-related injury or may be unwell for another reason. As always, please call me if you are concerned about the welfare of any local waterbird.

To report an injured or sick swan or other waterbird, call 07970 404 866

A newsletter charting construction work on Evergreen Field is available to view online.

A four-storey development, including a children’s nursery and 24 flats, is being built on the Wanstead High Street site.

“Foundations were poured in March and April’s tasks will be focused on groundworks and infrastructure,” said a spokesperson for Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Association.

The scheme also includes the creation of a new landscaped area, which will be incorporated into Christ Church Green.

Visit wnstd.com/efnews

A series of bluebell information boards have been installed outside the Temple in Wanstead Park.

“Wild, native English Bluebells have been with us since just after the Ice Age, but are in danger, so we must do all we can to cherish them… Did you know that folklore tells us that a child tiptoeing through the bluebells will get taken by the fairy folk? It’s probably a hidden warning because bluebells are highly poisonous to people, horses and dogs!” said local artist Verity Watkins, who created the display to entertain and educate.

The project is sponsored by local estate agents Petty Son & Prestwich.

Ahead of a talk for the Wanstead Historical Society about local women of note, Lynn Haseldine Jones reflects on the life of Margaret Meekings Johnson OBE (1875–1940)

Although March was the month of International Women’s Day, I shall be marking the occasion in April by giving a talk for Wanstead Historical Society on ‘Women of Note of Wanstead and Woodford’.

This area has been the birthplace, home or working place of many women of note, and my talk will include a wide range of personalities, from teachers, philanthropists, artists and writers to businesswomen and church figures. I have tried to mix the well-known with the not-so famous, but all have made a considerable contribution to the community, whether it be at a local, national or even international level.

One woman of note of Wanstead was Margaret Meekings Johnson, who was born in West Ham in 1875. She was the daughter of industrialist Samuel Henry Johnson, whose company was SH Johnson of Carpenters Road, Stratford. The family originally lived at West Ham Hall, in Sebert Road, Forest Gate. The house was required for railway expansion, and this necessitated a move for the Johnson family. They acquired at auction in 1890 Warren Hill House in Manor Road, Loughton.

Following Samuel’s death in 1909, his widow Annie and her daughter, Margaret, moved to Vale Grove, which was situated on Loughton High Road. This is where Annie died in 1919. After her mother’s death, Margaret chose to move to Wanstead, where she lived at a property she called West Ham Hall. She bought this at auction in 1920. The house was built in 1914 by architect Charles Living of Stratford and was called Ronceval. She renamed it West Ham Hall, after the family home in Forest Gate, which had been demolished by then. The house is still on The Green in Wanstead, but is now, confusingly, called Wanstead House, although it has no relationship with the Wanstead House demolished in the 1820s. The building is now used as a community centre, and although it is called Wanstead House, the railings include a gate which still displays the name West Ham Hall.

Margaret was appointed OBE in 1936 for public services in Essex. She donated £10 to the Westminster Abbey Fund in 1920 and was present at the consecration of the new Church of St Andrew’s Ilford on Saturday 31 May 1924.

Miss Margaret Meekings Johnson OBE of West Ham Hall, Wanstead died on 30 December 1940. She left, among other bequests, £2,000 consols to Christ Church, Stratford, £500 to Queen Mary’s Hospital for the East End, Stratford and £250 to her secretary and friend, Ethel Watts.

Margaret is only one of many women I shall be discussing at this event.

Lynn’s talk will take place at Wanstead Library on 13 April from 8pm (visitors: £4). For more information, call 07949 026 212

Alan Coppin, caretaker at Hermitage Court in Snaresbrook, was honoured at the Redbridge Mayor’s Community Awards last month.

“In November 2025, Hermitage Court resident Tony Walsh collapsed in his kitchen due to a sudden heart attack. His partner froze, not sure what to do or who to turn to. She screamed for help and Alan responded. He rushed in, called 999 and was guided through his first CPR by the operator. Alan’s CPR saved Tony’s life. An angel, a hero, we are all so grateful,” said an event spokesperson.

Aldersbrook resident Carol Curtis was honoured at the Redbridge Mayor’s Community Awards last month.

“Since 2020, Carol has been a mainstay of the Tin in a Bin foodbank charity, collecting donations from the drop-off points several times a week. She assists with sorting, collation and dispatch of foodstuffs… Carol has also raised thousands of pounds for various charities by running stalls at fetes and jumble sales and is principal organiser of St Gabriel’s annual charity coffee morning,” said an event spokesperson.

Age UK’s Wanstead Activity Centre was honoured at the Redbridge Mayor’s Community Awards last month.

“The centre would not be able to run without its amazing volunteers. The centre provides activities and hot lunches for people over 55 years, Monday to Friday. Every day, there are two volunteers working at the front of house… Volunteers also run some of the classes, art, knitting, chess, bridge and a book club and IT support. The volunteers have created a family atmosphere,” said an event spokesperson.

Local police officer Harinder Sanghara was honoured at the Redbridge Mayor’s Community Awards last month.

“In his time as an officer for Wanstead Village, Harinder has overseen an increase in visibility of local police on the High Street… and contributed to a significant reduction in crime in the local area. He also demonstrated impressive bravery when he tackled a criminal whilst off duty in Gants Hill. Unfortunately, he was stabbed during the incident and is currently off work recovering,” said an event spokesperson.