Our Facebook Posts
BOOK NOW FOR BEXLEY RSPB'S OUTDOOR WINTER EVENTS (non-members welcome, but advance booking is essential for anyone who wishes to attend as numbers are limited):The group's December/January walks and make-your-own-way-there car trips, plus a coach trip, are as below. There are currently spaces on each, so please email Ralph Todd on <rbtodd@btinternet.com> to reserve a spot.
5 December - Sidcup Place
14 December - Rainham Marshes
21 December - Wallasea Island
9 January - Lamorbey Park
11 January - Cliffe Pools
18 January - Sevenoaks Wildlife reserve
25 January - Big Garden Birdwatch - Hall Place (no booking required for this one)
26 January - Titchwell COACH TRIP - please email Deborah on deborahfrances@aol.com (cost £23 pp)
For more details and a full list of events through to March 23rd 2025, including indoor talks, please go to:
group.rspb.org.uk/bexley/news-blogs/blog/upcoming-events-october-2024-march-2025/
No booking is required for the indoor talks - just show up. Refreshments available. Non-members are again welcome but pay a slightly higher entrance fee of £5.
Upcoming Events October 2024 - March 2025 - Bexley Local Group
group.rspb.org.uk
Please note that booking is required on all our guided walks, car trips and coach trips. Please refer to the below for how to book a place. No booking is needed for our indoor meeting. To book a place...
VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT FOR MINK MONITORING SCHEME AT THAMES ROAD WETLAND - help protect rare local wildlife from Mink predation !A nationwide scheme to locate and eradicate non-native American Mink (Neogale [formerley Mustela] vison), which have contributed to the parlous state of Water Voles in the UK, as well as attacking other species, is now being rolled out along the River Cray by the Waterlife Recovery Trust.
Thames21 has agreed to install a Mink trap at Thames Road Wetland (TRW), where there is an important population of Water Voles, along with one of only a very few Harvest Mouse colonies in London. North West Kent Countryside Partnership (NWKCP) will be doing likewise at Ruxley Gravel Pits Nature Reserve. It is hoped that traps can be installed elsewhere on the Cray in due course.
If triggered, the trap automatically transmits an alert, with the role of volunteers being to go and check it if this happens. A WhatsApp group will be used for co-ordination purposes so that only one person out of those available at the time needs to go out. The design of the traps ensures that waterbirds rarely enter them. The species most likely to be caught are Water Voles, which will be released, and Brown Rats, which the TRW team has agreed should also be let loose. There is no evidence they are harming Water Voles, and there are so many in the wider landscape that any removed will quickly be replaced by others. Should a Mink be caught then there will be designated people to contact who will kill the animal humanely.
We do not think that there are any Mink at or in the vicinity of TRW at the moment, or that here have been any in the past, but with Mink known to be present on the River Darent, we don't want to take any unnecessary risks.
Ruxley already has enough volunteers, but we need a longer list of people for TRW to make sure that we can cover every alert in reasonable time, for animal welfare reasons.
To volunteer for trap-checking at TRW, please contact Michael at
<michael.oneill@thames21.org.uk>
Ffi about the scheme as a whole, see:
Waterlife Recovery Trust - Saving our native wildlife from the introduced American Mink
www.waterliferecoverytrust.org.uk
Have you seen or caught an American Mink? Please let us know Report Sighting Report Capture Seeking volunteers to host a smart mink raft If you live in Essex, London, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire,
DOUBLE DOSE OF FRIENDS OF THE CRAY AT CRAYFORDDue to the amount of rubbish dumped along the river below Crayford, there are two upcoming opportunities to join the friends group in clearing up the resultant mess.
29th November - removing litter from Footpath 106 (not done last month as we were working on 105)
6th December - tackling the fly-tipping at the Maiden Lane end of By-way 105 by the bridge over the Cray, which has long been a favoured location for criminals to dump garbage. Arrangements have been made for the council to take the extracted material away.
Both events will start at 10a.m. at the group's usual rendezvous point, which is the junction of Footpath 106 and Barnes Cray Road (see graphic below) as it is easier to park the vehicle carrying the equipment at this location.
All welcome, no particular skills needed.
The necessary equipment will be provided. Wear appropriate clothing for being out in the open and avoiding stings and scratches from Brambles and Nettles, and bring something to drink.
Best wishes
Sarah
NORTH WEST KENT COUNTRYSIDE PARTNERSHIP - DECEMBER CONSERVATION EVENTS AT RUXLEY GRAVEL PITS NATURE RESERVE.The reserve is a SSSI on the Bexley-Bromley border, and normally off-limits to the general public, so besides helping out, this is an opporunity to visit somewhere you may not have seen before.
Wednesday 4th, Thursday 4th and Saturday 14th– Ruxley Gravel Pits, Edgington Way, Orpington, BR5 3HY
We will be clearing scrub and burning the arisings on a bonfire.
Led by: Lucy Sawyer-Boyd (07809 334071)
Meeting Time and Place: 10am at the site (lifts from Hall Place not currently available due to the group's vehicle being under repair).
The gate must be kept locked, if there is no-one there to open it, please call Lucy’s mobile. Follow the track and park underneath the A20. Plenty of parking. Toilets are available at the local Tesco (but it is far from site).
On Saturday 14th we will be working with Kent Wildlife Trust volunteers. Please bring your own refreshments if joining on this day. On this occasion there will be a portaloo on site.
LOCATION:
goo.gl/maps/S2NBZUfT2mTkbgX17
What3words:
Entrance: ///noises.sheet.reject
Parking: ///hopes.gender.gums
Just a quick reminder that any volunteers who plan to meet us on site should let the member of staff leading the task know as soon as possible so that they can pack the correct number of tools and inform them of any task changes/delays that may occur.
If there are any updates or changes with the programme, we will update it regularly on the volunteer page on our website (www.nwkcp.org ). We will also contact the regular volunteers by phone if any last-minute changes to the location of the task happen.
Please remember to bring with you; suitable clothes for the weather conditions, a packed lunch and suitable footwear (we insist working boots with steel toecap and mid sole are worn at all times to comply with health and safety and insurance considerations). We will supply all other equipment, gloves and safety equipment and also hot drinks and biscuits throughout the day.
Each project will be led by a NWKCP member of staff who will be more than happy to answer any questions that you have throughout the day. A health and safety talk will also be given at the beginning of each project. If you are planning to come out on a project for the first time this month then please let us know beforehand which day that will be.
We write a risk assessment for each task day, and a copy of this will be brought to the site and available for you to read if you wish.
51°24'41.7"N 0°07'10.5"E · 51.411583, 0.119583
goo.gl
Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
If the council said it was going to concrete/tarmac/pave over Danson Park, there would be uproar. But vastly more greenspace/wildlife habitat in the Borough has been lost to cars in recent years.Why the loss of front gardens matters - to cut flood risk, reduce health-harming heat, restore our depleted nature, and raise resilience.
Lunchtime online discussion on Thurs 14 Nov. FREE.
Front gardens on the frontline - CPRE London - Tickets
cpre-london.eventcube.io
Front gardens on the frontline at Tickets and Information
Author Archives: Chris Rose
Erith Quarry – any further decisions on SINC status must be subject to public scrutiny
Erith Quarry, a Grade 1 Site of Importance for Nature Conservation in the Borough, is the subject on an impending planning application for up to 600 houses, which would see a substantial area of important grass and scrub-land disappear. In … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, Consultations, Erith Quarry, SINC
1 Comment
Expanded conservation role for Karen Sutton as she takes charge of portfolio of sites
Congratulations to Crossness Nature Reserve manager Karen Sutton who has been promoted to Biodiversity Team Manager at Thames Water. There will be a huge sigh of relief locally to hear the news that she will still be managing Crossness Nature … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Open spaces sell-off: openness, Bexley Council and the ‘phantom list’ it now declines to make public
Bexley Council is consulting the public on a proposal to sell off up to 27 pieces of ‘open space’, as part of its attempt to make further significant budget cuts by 2018. But despite accepting that it will need to … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, BNEF, Budget, Consultations, Environment, Housing targets, Land sales, Open spaces, Parks, Planning
2 Comments
South east’s migratory birds wintering in Africa face steep declines – effects seen in Bexley
The following media release by the RSPB and partner organisations, comments on the State of the UK’s Birds report as it applies to the decline of migratory birds in south-east England. This is just the latest publication (following on from … Continue reading
Posted in Bird watching, Environment, Extinction, Migration, RSPB
Leave a comment
Bexley Park Woods – nest-box scheme success
By Ralph Todd Local conservation volunteer, Duncan Devine, was joined on Wednesday 15th October by colleagues from the Friends of the Shuttle to inspect and clean the 16 nest-boxes he had built and put up with the help of local … Continue reading
Rainbows, Brownies and Girl guides learn about water, wildlife and sustainability at Crossness
On Saturday 11th October, Thames Water’s Crossness Nature Reserve and Crossness Sewage Treatment Works hosted lots of Rainbows, Brownies and Girl guides groups from across the Bexley borough. As the first borough to receive our rolling metering programme, we thought … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Shuttle team in Bexley Woods clean-up
A beautiful Autumn morning in Bexley Woods was the setting for Friends of the Shuttle’s latest river clean. We managed to clear several significant in-stream blockages, mostly caused by large fallen tree branches trapping smaller twigs, leaves and rubbish. The … Continue reading
Cray crew tackle mini madness and sofa shame
The six Cray Riverkeepers out on Tuesday (October 21st), led by Michael Heath, were confronted by the horrendous sight of a large section of cut-up mini sat on the riverbed along footpath 106, and a sofa trapped in a large … Continue reading
Posted in Cray Riverkeepers, Crayford, River Cray, Rivers, Thames21, Volunteering
Leave a comment
‘Fact-finding mission’ in Greenwich
Thames Road Wetland Site Manager Chris Rose, and Thames21 Cray Project Officer Michael Heath, were at Sutcliffe Park in Greenwich last Friday (17th October) looking at the ‘Sustainable Urban Drainage’ solution there, created by restoring part of the River Quaggy … Continue reading
Posted in Greenwich, Parks, Rivers, Sustainable Urban Drainage, Thames21
Leave a comment
Weekend volunteering – south of the border
Bexley Wildlife’s calendar is a bit short on weekend habitat management volunteering opportunities in November and December at present, with the exception of the Lesnes Abbey Conservation Volunteers team which is active in the north of the Borough. Anyone in … Continue reading