The Chingford Reservoirs are the

King George V Reservoir The King George V Reservoir, also known as King George's Reservoir, is located in the London Borough of Enfield and is part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain that supplies London with drinking water. The storage reservoir is bordered by Sewardstone ...

and the

William Girling Reservoir The William Girling Reservoir is located in the London Borough of Enfield and is part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain that supplies London with drinking water. It is named after William Girling OBE, a chairman of the Metropolitan Water Board (MW ...

, which form part of the

Lee Valley Reservoir Chain The Lee Valley Reservoir Chain is located in the Lee Valley, and comprises 13 reservoirs that supply drinking water to London. The Reservoir Chain is a major geographic constraint; together with the Thames it is one of the two significant topog ...

in the London Boroughs of

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

and

Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to t ...

and

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. Construction of the King George V Reservoir was started in 1908 and completed in 1912. Work on the William Girling Reservoir was started in 1938, with John Mowlem & Co being the contractor, but owing to technical problems, and the intervention of World War II, the reservoir was not finished until 1951. The reservoirs are a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

, of which 316.3 hectares are in London and 75 hectares in Essex. They are comparatively shallow and provide open water habitat for wildfowl, gulls and waders. The reservoirs are major wintering grounds for wildfowl, including nationally important populations of

shovelers The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks: * Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea'' * Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii'' * Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis'' * Northern shoveler, ''Anas cl ...

and

great crested grebe The great crested grebe (''Podiceps cristatus'') is a member of the grebe family of water birds noted for its elaborate mating display. Taxonomy The great crested grebe was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in t ...

s. They also attract significant numbers of goldeneye ducks,

tufted duck The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird ment ...

s and

goosander The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) (''Mergus merganser'') is a large seaduck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish. It nests in holes in trees. ...

s. The reservoirs are also one of the capital's main roosting site for gulls; 70,000 of these have been recorded at one time, the majority being

black-headed gull The black-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus ridibundus'') is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic including Europe and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but some birds res ...

common gull The common gull or sea mew (''Larus canus'') is a medium-sized gull that breeds in the Palearctic, northern Europe. The closely related short-billed gull is sometimes included in this species, which may be known collectively as "mew gull". Many ...

lesser black-backed gull The lesser black-backed gull (''Larus fuscus'') is a large gull that breeds on the Atlantic coasts of Europe. It is migratory, wintering from the British Isles south to West Africa. It has increased dramatically in North America, most common alo ...

s and

herring gull Herring gull is a common name for several birds in the genus ''Larus'', all formerly treated as a single species. Three species are still combined in some taxonomies: * American herring gull (''Larus smithsonianus'') - North America * European he ...

s. Since the 1950s, the reservoirs have been providing a refuge for wildfowl while they are vulnerable during the late summer moult, and in some years, moulting flocks of great crested grebe have also used the reservoirs as a refuge. The reservoirs have also been used by migratory birds as a stopover site in autumn and spring, and yellow wagtail regularly breed here. A total of over 85 species of wetlands birds have been recorded at the site.

References

External links

* {{authority control Drinking water reservoirs in England Thames Water reservoirs Lee Valley Park Sites of Special Scientific Interest in London Reservoirs in London

See also

References

External links