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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
New EU faming policy to make agriculture worse for the environment
There are not a lot of farms in Bexley, but the EU Agricultural Policy certainly affects farming in the region. With 360 billion Euros of subsidies paid each year, EU policy affects a vast area with its emphasis on intensive … Continue reading
Posted in Farming
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Danson Park records for April 2014
Keeping notes of what you see, where and when is important in hleping build up a picture of the wildlife in Bexley – and in particular how it might be changing over time. John Turner has been keeping records of … Continue reading
Posted in Bird watching, Recording, Uncategorized
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Wildlife Photo Exhibition Avery Hill
An interesting exhibition of wildlife photographs in the Avery Hill Winter Gardens (just into Eltham) by Bexley resident and Crossness nature Reserve member Richard Winston. Photos include local ones as well as international. The exhibition is on from Sunday 8th … Continue reading
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March weather globally and locally
Global climate; March, 2014. No records broken, but this March was amongst the warmest on record. Prime Meridian is published as part the outreach programme of the Ecospheres Project – Earth Campaign. prime-meridian01@hotmail.com http://www.ecospheresproject.wordpress.com/
Posted in Weather
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Crossness Cuckoo makes local press
The calling Cuckoo reported at Crossness by a number of BexleyWildlife readers has now been photographed and appears in this week’s News Shopper. http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/11237633.Rare_sighting_of_cuckoo_in_Erith_Marshes/
Posted in Bird watching, Crossness Nature Reserve
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Keats Community Farm hits funding target.
Pleased to report tha the Keats Community Farm project in Welling has exceeded its £10,000 funding target on Crowdfunder.co.uk with three days left to go. http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/keatscommunityorganics/updates/ I look forward to seeing Jack, Ed and Chrissy’s project flourish. Jonathan
Posted in Keats Community Farm
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Norman Road Planning application to be considered on Thursday
Dear Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve, This Thursday (May 15th) sees the Planning Committee meeting taking place during which a decision will be taken regarding the application to build 3 industrial units on the former electricity substation site on Norman … Continue reading
Posted in Planning
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Identifying Hawthorns
Very useful video on identifying Hawthorn species from the Kent Botanical Recording Group.
Posted in Uncategorized
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Are native plants best?
Well I was certainly ‘brought up’ on the notion that native wildflowers and trees were better for wildlife. Remember those illustrations of trees that showed the myriads of species dependent upon our native flora and the much smaller numbers supported … Continue reading
Posted in Gardens
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Advance notice of RSPB indoor meetings from September
Indoor Meetings September 2014 to June 2015 These are held in Hurstmere School, Hurst Road, Sidcup beginning at 7.45pm. There is plenty of car parking space and the 229 bus passes along the road. Doors usually open around 7.15pm and there … Continue reading
Posted in RSPB
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