Remembrance Sunday turned out to be a good day for the working party at Ruxley Gravel Pits Nature Reserve. The water levels were unexpectedly low despite some heavy rains during the week. The nine volunteers got stuck into hacking back the saplings which were draining and drying the marshy areas near the main lake. All the wildlife deserted us except for a friendly robin and masses of gulls, too many to count and no time to identify them, but 250 would be a good estimate. Even the herons had gone although one was later to be seen near the top of Walton Road and Farwell Road on Monday.
The outcome of Willow coppicing work at Ruxley Gravel Pits nature reserve this month.
On a personal note I have finished my bumblebee transects for the year. Looking back over the season I have only seen a total of about six bumblebees which I have been unable to identify during the monthly walks around Ruxley Lakes. It is as if the little bumblers knew I was coming and flew. I have seen one queen returning to a nest in the spring but I am still very inexperienced at spotting them, catching them, photographing them and identifying them. ‘Note to self’ must try harder next season. If you would like to know more about the bumblebee survey see http://www.beewalk.org.uk/ for general information see http://bumblebeeconservation.org/
We still need more volunteers for the working parties & bird reports. The next working party is the *Sunday 6th December 2015*. You would be most welcome to join us. Details are on the Bexley Wildlife website calendar.
See you there. Linda Graham and Martin Watts.
Thank you for your interesting news of Ruxley. Good to hear you are watching out for the bumbles. The area looks well managed. Let’s hope you have more volunteers to help next month. Hold on to good weather warm and dry for December predicted by me, ha ha.
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