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THAMES21 TRAINING COURSES ON RIVER RESTORATION AND WATER POLLUTIONThe following may be of interest to those involved - or thinking of getting involved - with work on local rivers or other waterbodies:
Thames21 is working on new training courses to help level up River Action Groups and community groups with new skills to help them look after their local waterways.
Their current working titles are ‘An Introduction to River Restoration
( book.plinth.org.uk/e/mN6kOfsHk887zFrHdfCM ) ’ & ‘Water Quality Monitoring
( book.plinth.org.uk/e/YtNbkQgKtsT2fByNZX2I ) ’.
These course are both still in their trial phases. After gaining feedback from our RAG leaders and other interested people, we will be rolling them out on a regular basis from late 2024/early 2025 onwards.
If either of these sound useful or interesting to you, then please register your interest at the following link: Training Course Interest
( forms.office.com/e/c2NEpDAThR )
forms.office.com
SAVE CROSSNESS NATURE RESERVE CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISER - tickets now on sale for event to help fund legal and expert witness support.An exciting fundraising event is taking place at the Lesnes Abbey Lodge (SE2 0AX) on Saturday 2nd Nov 2-4pm where a 'Wild Bexley' PowerPoint presentation will be given by Ralph Todd (founder of RSPB Bexley) about wildlife sites within the borough, including Crossness; there will be talks by myself; updates from members of the Save Crossness Nature Reserve campaign group, as well as refreshments, raffles and auctions.
The event is ticketed in order to help raise funds for the campaign, so for an afternoon of enlightening talks, an opportunity to get your hands on some fabulous prizes, and of course some fabulous
company whilst also raising funds to protect this important nature reserve (all monies raised will be held by Southwark Law Centre), do please purchase a ticket and come along:
www.ticketsource.co.uk/scnr
We can't wait to see you there!
[If you can't make it the campaign crowdfunding page is still open for busines:
www.crowdjustice.com/case/scnr/ ]
Many of you are by now aware that Crossness Nature Reserve is under threat from development by neighbouring landowners, Cory Energy. If you're not familiar with the proposal. I would suggest visiting the campaign group's website for further information: Save Crossness Nature Reserve at Erith Marshes
www.savecrossnessnaturereserve.org/
but in the meantime, this is what we are facing:
Cory have submitted a planning application to the Secretary of State to build a Carbon Capture Plant on parts of the Crossness Nature Reserve to the north and east. The marshland landscape has already changed beyond recognition, not least by Cory's second waste incinerator currently under construction to the north, with areas to the east - once alive with the song of breeding Skylark - being used as construction compounds and car parks.
The proposed carbon capture plant would be devastating for the reserve, resulting in the complete loss of our East Paddocks and Stable Paddocks to huge industrial infrastructure; huge elevated pipework on our West Paddock and Sea Wall Field; and permanent buildings on the areas currently being used for construction compounds along Norman Road. And while Cory are claiming that they will be creating a larger nature reserve by enhancing Peabody's Norman Road Field to the south-east, this is
an area that already exists for wildlife, already has ecological value, and is already under a Section 106 agreement to be managed for biodiversity. Tweaking existing habitat does not make for a larger nature reserve.
The whole proposal is very contentious and the Save Crossness Nature Reserve campaign group has been working tirelessly to fight these plans. However, such a campaign costs money in order to secure relevant expertise. Do please see the group's website for more information about the threat and how you can help - thank
you.
Look forward to seeing you on the 2nd Nov.
Best wishes
Karen Sutton
Crossness Nature Reserve Manager
Save Crossness Nature Reserve Campaign event tickets from TicketSource
www.ticketsource.co.uk
Buy tickets for Save Crossness Nature Reserve Campaign's upcoming events. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!
CROSSNESS NATURE RESERVE UPDATE - THE RARE SHRILL CARDER BEE, AND HOW IT COULD BE IMPACTED BY CORY THREATKaren Sutton, Crossness Nature Reserve Manager
Shrill Carder bees
Some people will be aware that we have England's rarest and most threatened bumblebee species - the Shrill Carder Bee - at Crossness, but recently film maker Jay Jochnowicz, managed to capture some wonderful video footage of 3 or 4 Shrill Carder bees in Norman Road Field (NRF). The Norman Road Field isn't owned by Thames Water and doesn't form an official part of Crossness Nature Reserve (CNR), but rather it sits to the south-east of CNR and is owned by Peabody Estates as Section 106 habitat for their previous Tilfen Land development impacts on Veridion Park.
However, many visitors to the reserve enter through NRF, following
Public Footpath 2.
This is also the area that Cory is earmarking for mitigation for its proposed Decarbonisation Plant that it hopes to build on and around Crossness Nature Reserve.
Their ecological surveyors didn't pick up Shrill Carder Bee in this location, but as a rare ground-nesting bee species, their plans to create wetland features here could have devastating impacts for this bee which is now restricted to small isolated areas of the South and East of England and in Wales. Research has found that Shrill
Carders do not forage as far from their nests as other species, so need flower-rich habitats and undisturbed nesting grounds. It nests in rough, tussocky grassland, within clumps of grass or just below ground.
Please see Jay's lovely footage here:
drive.google.com/file/d/1pQ9sMCU6zkqY6ZMbxluK3wNi19_hVyuC/view
and for more information on Cory's plans to destroy parts of Crossness Nature Reserve and what you can do to support the campaign against this devastating loss, please see the Save Crossness Nature Reserve campaign group's website:
www.savecrossnessnaturereserve.org/
Recording your wildlife sightings
Do please let us know what wildlife you spot when you visit Crossness Nature Reserve. There is a log book in the upstairs bird hide (only accessible to Friends Group members) where you can record your sightings (or you can email your sightings), but could I please remind people to record the number spotted. If a number isn't stated, we have to assume that just one was seen. So when we see 'Black-headed Gull' recorded on the foreshore, we have to
record it as one, when in all likelihood, there were c300. We submit our records to local biological record centres such as GiGL, which in turn are used to assess the ecological importance of sites in the planning process. With Cory wishing to build on Crossness Nature Reserve, it is more important than ever to record numbers - thank you very much and a special thank you to those that diligently record their sightings.
I would also like to thank volunteer Mike Robinson, who spends an inordinate amount of time collating our records for us, and to Ralph Todd who coordinates bird records each quarter.
Another rare plant species
We already have several plants that are recorded on the Kent Rare Plant Register, including Marsh Dock (Rumex palustris) and Frog Rush (Juncus ranarius) - the latter being so rare that it was considered extinct in Kent until it was relocated by Rodney Burton in 2019 in the West Paddock. We now have another species to add to the list, discovered by Mike Robinson on the Thames Path by the raised viewing platform: Sickle Medick (Medicago sativa subs. falcata), distinguished from related plants by the horseshoe-shaped seeds.
Karen Sutton
karen.sutton@thameswater.co.uk
Save Crossness Nature Reserve | Erith Marshes
www.savecrossnessnaturereserve.org
A campaign to Save Crossness Nature Reserve from Cory taking land at Crossness Nature Reserve, Erith Marshes (Belvedere) to build their Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) facility.
CRAY CATCHMENT VOLUNTEERS WIN THAMES21 AWARDSThe efforts of River Cray volunteers were recognised in two of the four awards categories at a recent annual Thames21 event, which in this instance also celebrated the group's 20th birthday.
Elio Gregori, a relatively recent recruit, who works with the Friends of the Cray at Crayford removing litter and doing selective vegetation management, helps at Thames Road Wetland and has also participated in a number of projects on other rivers across London, won the Star Volunteer Award.
The Celia Hensman Award, commemorating the founder of Thames21, has hitherto only been awarded to one person per year. On this occasion the judges had difficulty picking a clear-cut winner, so besides the principal award, also issued a Highly Commended certificate, which was granted to Chris Rose, Volunteer Site Manager at Thames Road Wetland. The citation referenced 14 years of service at the site, inspiring other volunteers and conserving wildlife, including making a significant contribution to bringing the nationally scarce Marsh Sow-thistle back from extinction in Bexley (and thus London as a whole).
WOODLANDS FARM - WILDLIFE SURVEY EVENTSWe have a couple of upcoming surveys. As usual please let me know if you are able to attend.
I am planning on doing a Moth survey on Friday 20th September meeting at 9am in the farmyard [presumably to sort through what's in traps from the night before ..... If the weather has been OK, an opportunity to see the beauty and diversity of Moths. 'BW']
Bee Survey on Monday 23rd September at 2pm.
Thank you and hopefully see you at one of them!
Hannah Ricketts
Education Officer
<education@thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org>
The Woodlands Farm Trust
331 Shooters Hill
Welling
Kent
DA16 3RP
Tel: 0208 3198900
Website: www.thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Analysis of this year’s Big Butterfly count
Butterfly Conservation do an annual summer survey of butterflies. here is their analysis of the over 44,000 returns they received.
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938 Seals in the Thames
The Zoological Society of London’s annual seal count has found 489 Harbour (Common) Seals and 449 Grey Seals in the Thames Estuary. A survey is done every August to monitor seal populations. A short film on this year’s survey is … Continue reading
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Canal clearing in Thamesmead 30th August
An opportunity to help with litter picking around the canals of Thamesmead. In response to resident consultation in Thamesmead regarding litter in the waterways Brick Box are including canal clearing in their event on August 30th. The event will take place at The … Continue reading
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London Wildlife Trust comments on the London Infrastructure Plan
Interesting comments from the London Wildlife Trust on the Mayor’s London Infrastructure Plan. It would be good if it does mean more protection for green spaces, yet at the moment Bexley Council is planning to build on a large Site … Continue reading
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Kent wildlife conference, October 2014
Saturday 18 October 2014 Grimond Lecture Theatre 1 University of Kent, Canterbury Campus Organised by the Kent Field Club (Kent’s natural history society). Having been to a couple of these events in the past, they are well worth attending if … Continue reading
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Four out of 5 top search engines put Bexley Wildlife first
BexleyWildlife.org – or the associated Facebook page – now tops the list of suggested sites when ‘Bexley wildlife’ or ‘wildlife Bexley’ is put into the Google, Bing, Yahoo or AOL search engines, coming up ahead of the biodiversity pages on … 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
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Environment Forum looks at problem areas
The well-attended Bexley Natural Environment Forum meeting on July 23rd looked at a couple of long-running problem areas. These were the Vicarage Road Site of Importance for Nature Conservation in Old Bexley, which has been subjected to repeated bulldozing, and … Continue reading
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‘Consultation’ on destruction of important Erith Quarry wildlife site
The former Erith Quarry site, ‘the last great wilderness in Bexley’, is a Grade 1 Bexley Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, but is now under threat of being built on. It has been damaged in the past by inappropriate … Continue reading
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Danson Park Records May 2014
John Turner’s records for his regular visits to Danson Park. We are always interested in receiving reports of sightings from locations in Bexley, either in report form such as John’s (Excel spreadsheet) or as postings direct to our Bexley Wildlife … Continue reading
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