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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.
Category Archives: Bexley
Lamorbey Ring-necked Parakeet fly-out numbers suggest roost switch
Further work on trying to unravel what Ring-necked parakeets (Psittacula krameri) in Bexley are getting up to, especially since the formation of the Danson Park night-time roost (see yesterdays’ post), took me to Lamorbey late this afternoon – previously the … Continue reading
Danson Parakeet roost count exceeds 2,000 birds
The Ring-necked Parakeet (Bexley) ‘study group’ or RNPB for short (well, I just made that title up) organised the first multi-person Parakeet count at the new Danson overnight roost this evening, in a bid to get a more accurate figure … Continue reading
Eighteen enjoy Hall Place/Crayford Rough bird walk in sunny interlude
RSPB Bexley Local Group Walk – Hall Place South and Crayford Rough Tuesday 13th January 2014 – Leaders Ralph and Brenda Todd Ninety minutes before our walk began the skies were thick grey and heavy rain had just ceased, within … Continue reading
Bexley Bird Report for July – December 2014 published at ‘BW’
Ralph Todd’s July – December 2014 Bexley Bird Report, a compilation of the important bird records made by a number of recorders around the Borough over the last 6 months, has been published on our ‘Bexley Wildlife’ page http://www.bexleywildlife.org/bird-watching-bexley/ where there … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley, Bird watching, Recording
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Open spaces sell-off – Council refuses FOI request to release list
Bexley Council is proposing to ‘dispose of’ 27 open spaces, which it has admitted includes some parkland, in the period to 2018, and is consulting on doing so in its current budget questionnaire. It has declined several written requests to … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley, Bexley Council, Consultations, Housing targets, Land sales, Open spaces, Parks, Planning, Volunteering
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Danson is new Ring-neck roost destination
One of the great, albeit ‘exotic’, wildlife spectacles in Bexley in recent years has been the sight and sound of Ring-necked Parakeets (Psittacula krameri) flying in successive groups out of various sites in Bexley towards their final night time roost … Continue reading
FotS it all about ? – a brief history of looking after Bexley’s little river.
Friends of the Shuttle (FotS) was formed in March 2013. For two years previous to this, dedicated volunteers had been working hard to keep the River Shuttle free of litter as part of a Thames21 project that was funded by … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley, Friends of the Shuttle, River Shuttle, SINC, Thames21, Volunteering
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ERITH QUARRY – BEXLEY’S ‘LAST GREAT WILDERNESS’ – UNDER THREAT FROM PLANNING APPLICATION. PLEASE OBJECT! NEW DEADLINE WEDS 17th DECEMBER.
Chris Rose, Vice-chair Bexley Natural Environment Forum Erith Quarry, a Grade 1 Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, is now the subject of a planning application for 600 dwellings, which would see three quarters of its semi-natural habitat destroyed. London … Continue reading
Open space sell-offs – just say ‘no’ in budget consult (deadline Jan 9th)! Council still won’t provide list of sites. Adopts standard ‘party line’.
Despite a number of requests to different people within the Council from various local campaigners, prompted by the ‘BexleyWildlife’ web platforms and Bexley Natural Environment Forum, the Council is still refusing to make public the list of 27 sites (a … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley, Bexley Council, Budget, Consultations, Environment, Housing targets, Land sales, Open spaces, Parks, Planning
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Crossness Harvest Mouse hunt draws a blank
The Harvest Mouse nest hunts at Crossness on 12th and 26th November have failed to find unequivocal evidence that Britain’s smallest rodent was present either on the northern part of the site, or southern marsh. Both had an example of … Continue reading