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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
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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
Corky-fruited Water-dropwort: a new record for this very scarce London species in Bexley
On 23rd July 2014 a number of plants of Corky-fruited Water-dropwort (Oenanthe pimpinelloides), a member of the carrot family, and a species of conservation concern for Greater London due to its rarity in the capital, were found in an uncultivated … Continue reading
Posted in Coldblow, Plants in Bexley, Recording
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Crossness records preview: April – June 2014
The next Friends of Crossness newsletter is imminent, but a preview of the April to June wildlife records that will be published therein has been circulated by Site Manager Karen Sutton. Karen does a massive job collating all the data … Continue reading
Posted in Crossness Nature Reserve, Recording, SINC, Volunteering
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The importance and management of heath and acid grassland – free lecture series
The placenames Bexleyheath, Northumberland Heath, Lessness Heath and road names such as Little Heath Road, Heath Way and Broomfield Road attest to the heathland heritage of large parts of the Borough of Bexley. Heather-dominated heath survives (with management) in Lesnes … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, Heathland, SINC
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Largest (and rare) aquatic beetle in the UK is new record for Crossness
While carrying out habitat work on Crossness Nature Reserve recently, Karen Sutton, and volunteer Reg, stumbled across a specimen of the huge and incredibly impressive Great Silver Water Beetle (Hydrophilus piceus). This member of the Hydrophilidae family, was found wandering along … Continue reading
Posted in Crossness, Invertebrates
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Cray team tackles multiplicity of tasks, looks for Oct 2nd volunteers
Michael Heath writes: This last week had the team of regular Volunteer River Keepers on the Lower Cray at the Thames21 yard, sorting out the kit in the van, which was woefully untidy (even to by my standards), following a … Continue reading
Friends of the Shuttle clear 20 bags of litter
Mandy Stevens reports: Friends of the Shuttle carried out another successful litter pick along the Riverdale stretch of the river on Thursday 25th September. We collected 20 bags of assorted rubbish (including 8 bags of recyclables) and assorted bits of … Continue reading
Bexley RSPB Crayford Marshes bird walk, 23rd September 2014
Ralph and Brenda Todd write: Twelve members joined us for a 3 hour walk in glorious sunshine and warm conditions. We met in Moat Lane then walked past Howbury Manor and moat where 4 male Chaffinches were busy feeding. Twelve … Continue reading
Posted in Bird watching, Crayford Marshes, RSPB
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Thames bridges, traffic pollution and Bexley mortality
Public Health England, in a report published earlier this year, estimates an annual excess death rate in Bexley (based on 2010) caused by airborne particulate pollutants – much of which comes from road traffic – as 122, with 1,255 years … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, Planning, Thames bridges
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Cray project maintains momentum as sun shines
Michael Heath writes: The river Cray project continued to bask in the autumn sunshine this week with two clean up events for the lower Cray on Tuesday 16th and Thursday 18th September. They involved a number of officer workers enjoying … Continue reading
FoCNR pressure improves Norman Road outlook – but major battles lie ahead
We have previously provided a partial report on the result of the Norman Road planning application. The following update has been written for the upcoming Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve newsletter, and contains the news that the developer has now … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, BNEF, Crossness Nature Reserve, Planning
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