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THAMES ROAD WETLAND (Inner Crayford Marshes) - THE WORK GOES ON.Our last report was way back on 12th April. We're usually out every Friday, but tiredness and a loss of motivation from yours truly, plus some rainy days, have reduced our levels of activity over the last quarter.
Repeat summer cutting of areas of Reed we are trying to supress has continued. Where this has got taller than we'd hoped, we have watched and listened first to ensure no Reed Warbler usage. We have been able to cut some patches often enough for there to be no danger of nesting birds using them.
Dates, work done and selected wildlife sightings have been as follows:
19/4 - Re-pollarded small Sallows. Dug out road run-off muck from 'crap-trap'. Path work. Slender Thistles outside fenceline in flower. Bur-chervil in flower. Red Admiral, Peacock, Speckled Wood, Small White. Large Red Damselfly, Reed Warblers back.
17/5 - Re-packed Bug Hotels with dead hollow plant stems. Re-cutting main path. Litter removal. In flower: swathe of Wild Clary (Salvia verbenaca), Bee Orchid, Brookweed, Flag Iris, Early Forget-me-Not, Hound's-tongue. Adult Cinnabar Moth, Ashy Mining Bee. 1 x Painted Lady, Peacock, Red Admiral, 2 Holly Blue, single Small Heath. Lizards. 1 Greenfinch heard. Chiffchaff.
14/6 - Re-cutting area of Reed at foot of Thames Road bank with brushcutter, and Reed at west end by scythe. Raking and stacking silt and cut material. Cutting off Giant Hogweed flower heads. Re-cutting sections of main path. Selective cutting back of vegetation where now shading reptile basking sites. Pyramidal Orchids in flower. 18 plants with 23 flower spikes (vz 7 with 12 on 17/6/23). Lots of Hemlock Water Dropwort in flower and one Monkey Flower (Mimulus guttatus). Banded Demoiselle and Azure Damselfly.
28/6 - Reed cutting. Path work. Wild Carrots and Hop Sedges in flower. Small Tortoiseshell, 1st Gatekeeper of season. A few Lizards. Water Rail heard, suggesting possible breeding.
12/7 - Re-cut Reed at west end with brushcutter and by hand with scythes. Some path and Lizard basking site work. More Giant Hogweed beheaded (The fire of 2022 caused a few new ones to come up. Since all the Cray area plants appear to flower once and die, they usually think their job is done if you cut off the flowerhead even though the seeds haven't ripened, and they therefore die without reproducing). First Marsh Sow-thistle flowers of season out. Marsh Woundwort in flower. Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma, a few Gatekeepers. 3 or 4 Blue-tailed Damselflies. A few Lizards out.
A complaint has been submitted to the Council about the large amount of litter / fragmented plastics along the Thames Road site fence that never seem to get cleared up, and that fact that a strimmer gang recently went over it all, unhelpfully chopping up the material into even smaller pieces.
For assistance during this period I thank fellow volunteers Ray, Pamela, Clare, Elio, Ian, Alex, Sarah, Lee, Verity and Rory. There was Thames21 staff support from Michael O'Neill on 14/6 and 12/7.
Chris Rose. Volunteer Site Manager.
WOODLANDS FARM (SHOOTERS HILL) BAT SURVEY DATE CONFIRMED.Thank you to everyone who got back to me to confirm which date they could do for the Bat Survey. I can confirm that we shall be sticking with the original date of Thursday 25th July. Meeting in the yard at 9.15pm. So hope to see you there, please bring a bat detector if you have one, and a torch.
Also a reminder that the Big Butterfly Count season has started until beginning of August. So why not pop down to the farm on a sunny day (if we have any!) and record what butterflies you see for 15 minutes. Then either write in the Bird Book in Mess or send me the info. All the information and ID sheets are available from the
Butterfly Conservation Trust bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/
Hannah Ricketts
Education Officer
The Woodlands Farm Trust
331 Shooters Hill
Welling
Kent
DA16 3RP
Tel: 0208 3198900
Website: www.thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org
NORTH AMERICAN VAGRANT SPOTTED AT CROSSNESS.A Franklin's Gull was found at Crossness yesterday (13/7/2024) by Conrad Ellam, a member of the Friends Group. Thanks to @stormcabbirds for permission to reproduce his 'X' post with photos here.
This is an uncommon species from Canada and the northern USA, which migrates to South America, occasionally showing up in western Europe.
There is currently some debate as to whether it's the third, or possibly second record for London. It is certainly the second for Crossness, since one was also seen here in April 2000.
State of the UK's Invertebrates Virtual SymposiumHugely important subject.
Online event.
Friday, July 19 · 10am - 1pm
Non-professional attendees asked to pay what you can afford (minimum fee of £1, recommended donation £10)
State of the UK's Invertebrates Virtual Symposium
www.eventbrite.co.uk
Join us for a knowledge-sharing event about the state of the UK's invertebrate populations.
Author Archives: jonathanrooks1@outlook.com
FOI request reveals a £10 m valuation on sale of parks.
A Freedom of Information request by Caroline Ellis has revealed the Council expect tom gain £10 million by selling off parks. *** Following your alerting us to the proposed disposal of park and open spaces, I put in a Freedom … Continue reading
Campaigners give views on Bexley’s list of 27 open spaces up for the chop
Coverage in This is Local London. http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/NEWS/11814720.Campaigners_give_views_on_Bexley_s_list_of_27_open_spaces_up_for_the_chop/ Campaigners give views on Bexley’s list of 27 open spaces up for the chop. On Friday (Feb 20) News Shopper revealed Bexley Council had published the list of 27 plots of land up for the … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, Land sales, Parks, Planning, River Shuttle
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New Housing Zone on Thamesmead ‘brownfield site’
More homes in Bexley. There’s ‘brownfield’ and ‘brownfield’. Some brownfield sites are important wildlife areas. What’s on the site at the moment? Do you think Public Open Space will be incorporated into the development at the same time as Bexley … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, brownfield, Thamesmead
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Comments made on Council Budget Consultation
The Council’s second consultation on its budget proposals closes today. A good number of our friends have made comments. Here are mine related to the parks sell off. 7. Grounds maintenance: Bring forward 2016/17 saving of an extra £113,000 to … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, Budget, Land sales, Open spaces, Parks
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Weather and Climate report for December 2014
Latest Prime Meridian newsletter covering weather and climate, globally and locally, for December 2014 and annual review. 2014 has been cited by the UK’s Met Office as the warmest year in Britain since 1659. The Met Office reported that with the exception … Continue reading
Posted in Climate, Weather
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Former Mayor tells Bexley Wildlife that Danson Park not on Conservatives’ ‘Parks for Sale’ list
Commenting on one of our Facebook posts, Conservative Councillor and former Mayor Sharon Massey accused campaigners of scaremongering for having their photos taken in Danson Park and revealed that Danson is not one of the 27 public open spaces to … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, Land sales, Parks, Planning
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Danson Park bird records for January 2015
Our regular update from John Turner from his weekly visits to Danson Park. Interesting to note the small numbers of ring-necked parakeets in his day time observations now that Danson is becoming a regular night time roost for around 2,000 … Continue reading
Posted in Bird watching, Ring-necked Parakeet
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Do you subscribe to Bexley Bulletin?
It seems these days that we have to keep a very close eye on the activities of Bexley Council – consultations, planning applications affecting important wildlife sites etc. The best way is probably to follow the Council’s weekly Bexley Bulletin. … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, Consultations, Planning
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Is failure to replant street trees damaging local property values?
TREES IN BEXLEY. David Webb comments on Bexley Council’s cut backs in street tree planting. *** photo: During the summer of 2014 some trees along Berkeley Avenue were removed due to safety and disease reasons. These trees will not be … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, Trees
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