Lamorbey park

Lamorbey Park has its origins in medieval times but a house was first built here in around 1495 by Thomas Sparrow or Lamienby, the deputy Reeve of the manor of Bexley. The next house on the site, built by Sparrow’s daughter and spouse was called Lamienby – Goldwell from which the name Lamorbey is derived. The present house and grounds date from the 1800’s with many of the trees dating from this period. The house became a hotel from 1910-1946 and an adult education college until the 1980’s with the buildings now used by the Rose Bruford College. The grounds were made smaller by the re-siting of Sidcup Golf Course (from Sidcup Place) which was then itself halved in the 1950’s with the construction of Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School and Hurstmere School, giving the park its present size of around 57 hectares.

The present nine-hole golf course is bisected by the River Shuttle which supplies two lakes and a marshy area within the course boundary. The Shuttle Riverway skirts the course between Burnt Oak Lane and Penhill Road, passing through Dene Wood and along the river for a short way. Within Lamorbey Park, the area known as The Glade includes the main lake, at one time a swimming pool. The lake has been naturalised in the last twenty years and supports several fish species including eels. Water vole tracks have been discovered. Around the lake many species of native and introduced tree and shrub are well established, many being, as stated above, hundreds of years old and a couple of areas of untended scrub exist around the south of The Glade and in the private grounds. The Dell is a small sunken area, much loved by young sledgers in winter, which was formerly an attractive floral display and a collection of evergreen shrubs. The Pine Walk forms the old drive to the house from Halfway Street and is, as the name suggests, dominated by pines.

Being a small patch, Lamorbey Park does not have an impressively large amount of wildlife that some areas in Bexley have but my research has unearthed around 105 species of bird. I have personally recorded 85 species myself, all seen in the last four years (although I have been visiting longer!). In terms of breeding birds, the lake supports mallard, moorhen, coot, Canada geese and since 2010 Egyptian geese with great crested grebe usually breeding but not in 2013. Around 30 species breed away from the water including, for the first time, in 2013, jackdaw. The common garden and woodland species breed here including good numbers of goldcrests and coal tits and single pairs of nuthatch and treecreeper but sadly migrant breeders are few with just chiffchaff and blackcap confirmed this year. Kingfishers breed along the Shuttle, possibly within the patch boundaries and are seen all year round. Tawny owl and sparrowhawk are probably breeders and stock dove is another recent addition.

Passage migrants include wheatear, willow and garden warbler, lesser and common whitethroat (both past and potential breeders) common tern, meadow pipit, hobby, spotted flycatcher (another former breeder), swallow and house martin with flyover buzzards and peregrines recorded in most months.

Winter visitors include little grebe, little egret, redwing, fieldfare, siskin, lesser redpoll, snipe, firecrest (last two winters) and occasional rarities for “the patch” such as waxwing, goosander and reed bunting.

The area has had its share of oddities too, a male pheasant in 2012 near Burnt Oak Lane, lesser white-fronted, bean and bar headed geese, wood duck and, perhaps the oddest of all, a Bahamas pintail have all been recorded and I have had reports of barn owl and bittern from non-birders.

Other wildlife include introduced great crested newts and marsh frogs with the more usual common frogs and toads, several bat species including possible noctule, plenty of insects including southern hawker dragonfly and green hairstreak butterfly and the usual urban mammals.

Lamorbey Park is situated 5 minutes from Sidcup rail station and the main access points are along Hurst Road (both served by 229 bus), Halfway Street opposite the sorting office (51, 229, 286) and Burnt Oak Lane by the Youth Club/College entrance. Limited parking is available in the area for free but the Sidcup Leisure Centre has a fee paying car park. The Shuttle Riverway skirts the northern part of the park. Disabled access to this is not great but the rest of the park has a tarmac path. There are no facilities within the park but plenty just outside where you just might see another bird flying around if you look up.

With thanks to IAN STEWART.