I'm up in Hampstead, and seem to get woken up by the early morning heavies and see a lot of the late evening arrivals from the Far East finalising their 'downwind', and if walking the dog up Kite Hill can clearly see their 'base leg' before lining up (thanks HD, had no idea of the phrase!).
As I work closely with a lot of Far East airlines I can always (and sorry for being dull) recognise the airlines in the evening - I tend to see most evenings, almost tailgating the BR 777 following the SQ 380, TG 747 and an EK 380 - but very few BA / VS birds (as I guess most of their Far East trench of flights arrive early am into LHR), and very little smaller.
So, I guess a follow up question is - is there actually a scheduled pattern for the early morning and late evening arrivals from the East to come over North London?
But US / Europe flights to be directed to another holding area? i.e. further South?
Or is it just my Far East bias that means I just don't notice any other airlines?