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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
A future for parks in the face of further Council cuts?
Think tank, Policy Exchange, have just published a report on the importance of public open space and the particular threats in the face of repeated Council cut backs. “Our report highlights the importance of parks and other urban green spaces … Continue reading
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Thames Estuary Airport impact on birds.
BTO reports on plans for the Thames Estuary airport British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) ecologists have recently reported on controversial proposals to build an airport on the Isle of Grain in the Thames Estuary. The study shows that this development … Continue reading
Danson Park July records
Last month’s records of wildlife sightings in Danson Park from John Turner. We are always pleased to receive records of observations. Email to JonathanRooks@virginmedia.com. We keep copies of reports in a cloud folder at https://app.box.com/s/b9fbraryiqo4h4wblbf6 04/07/2014 07/07/2014 15/07/2014 21/07/2014 a.m. … Continue reading
Posted in Bird watching, Recording
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Reintegrating Bexley’s Rivers
An interesting opinion piece published on the Thames21 website by Theo Thomas in which he discusses the need for Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) and how they can be retrofitted giving us more environmental areas, cleaner rivers and reducing the risk of … Continue reading
Posted in Rivers, Sustainable housing
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Thames Tideway Tunnel will reduce pollution
There are interesting videos on the Thames Tideway Tunnel website explaining the need for this major engineering project which will reduce the pollution of the Thames. With sewage and other rubbish in the Thames taking weeks and sometimes months to … Continue reading
Posted in Rivers
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Danson Park wildlife reports June 2014
Latest records from regular Danson Park visitor, John Turner. We are always interested in receiving reports if you are regularly visiting a particular site. 06/06/2014 17/06/2014 26/27/06/14 a.m. a.m. a.m. Great-crested Grebe 2+2juv 2+2juv 2+2juv Little Grebe 1 1 … Continue reading
Posted in Bird watching, Recording
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Cattle in parks in Havering
Havering Council are showing some initiative in the management of the grass in Bedfords Park. Undoubtedly motivated by the £300,000 saving they expect to make over the next ten years, but the use of grazing animals to manage vegetation is widespread … Continue reading
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Bexleyheath Broadway Shopping Centre takes action on water conservation.
It is good to see a local commercial organisation taking action to reduce its environmental impact. Unfortunately Bexley Council’s planning officers seem to keen to accept excuses from developers and not even apply there onwn policies on environmental aspects. So, … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Planning, Uncategorized
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Warmest May globally since 1880
Latest Prime Meridian newsletter covering weather and climate for May 2014. It can also be downloaded at: https://app.box.com/s/d59zruolzq5bmf5o2c8a Prime Meridian is published as part the outreach programme of the Ecospheres Project – Earth Campaign.
Posted in Weather
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Tigers in Bexley
I have been lucky enough to have the Jersey Tiger Moth in my garden. This is a day flying spectacular moth. Although I have only ever seen one at a time, I have seen them over the last three years. … Continue reading
Posted in Butterflies, Gardens
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