Forty-six bird species seen or heard on Bexley RSPB Danson visit

Posted on 21/10/2015 by Chris Rose

21 (including two new) members joined Brenda and I for the latest Bexley Royal Society for the Protection of Birds local walk. First port of call the Old English Garden, now being carefully restored by Friends of the Shuttle (volunteers welcome) – just wren and blue tit showed themselves.

Bexley RSPB Members Danson Park October 2015 (Photo Brenda Todd)

Out into the park, to the woodland behind the children’s play area – an obliging nuthatch perched on a dead branch replaced a few minutes later by a pair of chaffinch.

Nuthatch (photo Ralph Todd)

Jays were collecting acorns, carrion crows were being, well, just crows – very noisy but a couple of white winged specimens were of interest. A small flock of 7 fieldfares flew over. Continuing down through the woodland not much birdlife showed itself so we proceeded to the Bog Garden/Local Nature reserve and lake.

Young moorhen Danson Park (photo Ralph Todd)

Great crested grebe Danson Park (photo Ralph Todd)

Black-headed & Common gulls & Cormorant Danson Park (photo Ralph Todd)

We continued our walk enjoying the gorgeous autumn leaf colours, back to the car park where the 3 hour walk came to a close. As always, the walk proved what great places there are in the Borough for wildlife but also how enjoyable they are from a social point of view with everyone enjoying each other’s company and sharing a common interest.

RSPB Bexley walk Danson Park October 2015 (photo Brenda Todd)

Species seen: Little grebe, great crested grebe, cormorant, grey heron, mute swan, greylag goose, Canada goose, Egyptian goose, gadwall, teal, mallard, water rail, moorhen, coot, black-headed gull, common gull, lesser black-backed gull, herring gull, yellow-legged gull, woodpigeon, ring-necked parakeet, kingfisher, green woodpecker*, great spotted woodpecker, grey wagtail, pied wagtail, wren, dunnock, robin, blackbird, fieldfare (flying over), chiffchaff, goldcrest*, long-tailed tit, blue tit, great tit, nuthatch, jay, magpie, jackdaw, carrion crow, starling, chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, lesser redpoll (flying over). 46 species *heard only

I am grateful to attendee Martin Watts for the link to a c1935 short film about Danson Park www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg9o10gtV2I which might be of interest to readers – I was pleased to see a pair of mute swans present and surprised at what appeared to be an Aylesbury duck in attendance – even all those years ago.

More photos from the walk, taken by Richard Spink, including of the resident Water Rail, and autumn leaf colour, can be seen here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.438955079632223.1073741840.177977672396633&type=3

Ralph Todd

Posted in Bird watching, Danson Park | Leave a comment

FotS: third Danson Lake clean-up to take place on November 14th

Posted on 21/10/2015 by Chris Rose

On November 14th Friends of the Shuttle will be running their third big Danson Park lake clean-up. Danson lake drains into the River Shuttle in Bexley Park woods. Despite two previous such events which removed a large amount of rubbish, there is still an appalling amount of litter floating about on the lake and embedded in the silt on the bottom, due to a combination of irresponsibility from the public and years of inaction from other quarters.

This is a great chance to make further inroads into the problem, which will benefit the appearance of the lake and all the wildlife it supports. Volunteers are asked to let FotS know they are coming in advance to help plan the amount of equipment needed. If you’re willing to put waders on to get a rubbish in deeper water, FotS will need to know your shoe size.

Posted in Danson Park, Litter, Volunteering | Leave a comment

Closing date approaches for River Cray job

Posted on 19/10/2015 by jonathanrooks1@outlook.com

Closing date of this Friday.

We’ve previously promoted this role with the important local River Cray project, here it is again in case you are still thinking about it.

***

Work on the River Cray is expanding and as a result we are currently advertising for an assistant on the River Cray. The post is part time (3day per week) and is on a fixed term contract until March 2016. Please feel free to pass this onto contacts in your network who might be interested in this role. I have attached the JD for this post and the closing date is 23rd October.

Regards

Adrian Spalding

Administration & Personnel Manager, Thames21

http://www.bexleywildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/PartTime-Cray-assistant-Project-Officer-JD-.pdf

Posted in Rivers, Thames21, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Michael Heath’s October Thames21 blog

Posted on 19/10/2015 by jonathanrooks1@outlook.com

Time to put your thermals on and join us on the River Cray

Posted on October 15, 2015 on the Thames 21 webpage.

The Thames21 River Cray project has been active during the late summer and early autumn well done to the Volunteer River Keepers who enabled us to deliver a series of events on and around the River Cray.

We welcomed back Gordon Davis and his young team who came down to Crayford during the School Holidays. On the theme of young people we again this year engaged with the National Citizens Service and our nominated groups spent two Saturdays in September at Foots Cray Meadows.

This week we were busy: With our annual Sixth Form River Study Session with Plumstead Manor School. Also after a number of years the project return to Bedons Brook at the Streamway Belvedere where we facilitated a group of local school students with a much needed river clean up.

On top of this there is still work to be done: Continuing on the Foots Cray Meadows project and we have commenced our winter schedule for the management of the Thames Road Wetland. Look out for more opportunities here as we will soon be announcing an exciting new project at this wetland site and the adjacent River Wansunt.

Linked to this is the new Thames21 post of Assistant River Cray Project Officer- the application process is currently open see http://www.thames21.org.uk/vacancies/

This with other HQ duties and project Planning means we have a slightly reduced schedule of events. Do not worry there is a winter programme in the making with the possibility of new tasks and locations without ignoring the need for winter deep cleans at your favourite sections of our Rivers. So thermals on and see you on the Cray very soon.

Here are some dates for next Month, all welcome but do contact me if you want to come alongMichael.Heath@thames21.org.uk Tel 07968805751:

Wednesday 28^th October 2015; meet at the Depot for a Kit Maintenance session Thames21 Depot, Barnes Cray Road DA1 4NR. (100m along Byway 106 walking from Barnes Cray Road towards Crayford) 1030 -1500

Thursday 29th October 2015 Chalk Stream River Cray Habitat Enhancements at Foots Cray Meadows. Continue with ‘Snagging’ (for want of a better term) some of our marginal bank creations need some attention. We will be on site from 1030 to 1530 come along and join in. meeting at the Leafield Lane Gate, Leafield Lane DA14 5EB

Friday 6^th November 2015. A Pre Remembrance Sunday Community Clean up of the river Cray at Waterside Gardens, Crayford. There is a war memorial area within these gardens beside the Cray Meet 1030 The Parade, Waterside Gardens DA1 4JA. Finish 1300.

Posted in River Cray, Rivers, Thames21 | Leave a comment

Loring Parakeets take new direction. 302 birds leave Bursted Woods.

Posted on 16/10/2015 by Chris Rose

Ring-necked Parakeets gathering in trees by Loring Hall at the north end of Foots Cray Meadows have switched fly-out-to-roost direction from south-(south)-west to north-west, which will now take them to Danson Park, a new overnight roost site from late in 2014.

My previous Loring Hall count was of 307 Parakeets leaving in a south westerly direction between 18.58 and 19.14 on 12th September 2014, before the Danson roost was discovered. But on 14th October 2015 147 birds were counted out between 17.45 and 18.05, all heading north west in the direction of Danson Park. It seems likely that at least some of these merge with the birds commuting out of Bexley Park Woods.

Ring-necked Parakeet in Bexley Park Woods. (Photo: Martin Petchey)

On 15th October 302 Parakeets came out over the southern and western margins of Bursted Woods between 17.34 and 18.06, heading south west towards Danson Park. Not all of these birds will have spent the day in these woods. Others use it as a staging post en-route to the final roost site.

Chris Rose

Posted in Bexley Woods, Bursted Woods, Danson Park, Foots Cray Meadows, Ring-necked Parakeet | 1 Comment

Second ‘BW’ social a rather smaller affair

Posted on 16/10/2015 by Chris Rose

Twelve people came to the second ‘Bexley Wildlife Social on October 14th, whilst another half dozen found themselves unable to attend at the last moment for various reasons.

‘Bexley Wildlife’ social event attendees on October 14th.

We heard from Martin Watts and Linda Graham about the management of the Ruxley Gravel Pits SSSI, from which flowed a debate about control of invasive aliens and the need for biosecurity measures – difficult when you have fishing people going in and out. The rate at which Buddleia and Willows regrow was flagged up, emphasising the need for more volunteer assistance.

Kim Ilsley talked about conservation work in Lesnes Abbey woods, with photos of wildflowers and fungi. Richard Spink made an interesting contribution about the response of the woodland ground flora to the 1987 storm, which had had a similar effect to coppicing in opening up areas to light. This raised issues about the apparent loss of biological records from the time, which pre-dated all the modern digital systems for storing and sharing data more widely.

Chris Rose presented information about the ups and downs of various Butterfly, Dragonfly and Damselfly species in the Borough, gathered by himself and several other observers. One butterfly species has become extinct in our area, but others have spread or been found at more sites, and there are a number of Odonata which may colonise Bexley in the near future to add to two other quite recent arrivals.

This presentation can be downloaded here:

https://app.box.com/shared/static/tx76jjphvpa334oilmf6imxwror2k7ba.ppt

There was a discussion about the advertising of events, which again highlighted the need to avoid total reliance on the internet, and to get information into the local press and put up posters in nearby shop windows etc. It was pointed out that a lot of local wildlife walks have been held on weekdays, which precludes some people from attending.

If readers have particular wildlife subjects they would like to hear a short talk about – or would like to talk about themselves – at future social events, please let us know.

Some more of those present ….

Posted in Bexley Wildlife social events, Butterflies, Dragonflies and Damselflies, Lesnes Abbey Woods, Ruxley Gravel Pits | Leave a comment

Planting wildflower seed

Posted on 15/10/2015 by jonathanrooks1@outlook.com

Advice from Gill Watson from Landlife Wildflowers

Gill demonstrates the very best way to sow your wild flower seed in this ‘how to’ YouTube video. A Question & Answer session follows the demonstration.

Posted in Bees, Butterflies, vegetation management | Leave a comment

Observer sees 26 of the 28 butterfly species known from Bexley during 2015 season

Posted on 14/10/2015 by Chris Rose

Mike Robinson reports that he has seen 26 of the Borough’s 28 (possibly 29) known species of Butterfly this year, as the season begins to come to a close.

'BW' contributor Mike Robinson, who recently discovered the Marbled White butterfly at Hollyhill, a new (modern, at least) record for Bexley.

‘BW’ contributor Mike Robinson, a recent convert to the joys of Butterfly-watching.

The species he has seen are:

Brimstone
Brown Argus
Clouded Yellow
Comma
Common Blue
Essex Skipper
Gatekeeper
Green Hairstreak
Green-veined White
Holly Blue
Large Skipper
Large White
Marbled White
Meadow Brown
Orange Tip
Painted Lady
Purple Hairstreak
Peacock
Red Admiral
Ringlet
Small Copper
Small Skipper
Small Tortoiseshell
Small White
Speckled Wood
White-letter Hairstreak

Twenty-three of these species have been recorded at Crossness (Erith Marshes); being the above minus Marbled White, Purple Hairstreak and White-letter Hairstreak, though it has recently come to light that a Marbled White was seen on the Thames path near the original Crossness sewage works in July 2010 .

Ringlet on Lime flowers. (Photo: Mike Robinson)

Missing from Mike’s year list are Small Heath, Silver-washed Fritillary and (yet to be definitively confirmed as occurring within the Bexley boundary, though it looks like it probably does) White Admiral.

___________

Posted in Butterflies, Crossness, Erith Marshes, Recording | Leave a comment

Dragonfly recording app launched

Posted on 13/10/2015 by Chris Rose

The release of the iRecord Dragonfly App allows you to input and upload your dragonfly records in the field. With excellent identification information, the app is easy to use by amateurs and experts alike, say the British Dragonfly Society.

Created in association with the CEH, BRC, JNCC and BDS, the app has extensive galleries for each species, along with flight season graphs, habitat information and distribution maps. Coupled with the ability to upload your photo instantly on your phone, the app should give you more confidence in your records. The app also has advanced features, such as the ability to record life-stage, behaviour and species counts. This ties the app in neatly with our DragonflyWatch recording network and renders it useful for all levels of recording. The app can also be used for uploading your old records which have not yet been added to our database.

As the app runs from a website, it is available on Android, iOS and even on your laptop. If you already have an irecord account, use the details from this to log on. If you don’t already have an account the app will ask you to make one.

See the video here:

App webpage here:

http://irecord.org.uk/dragonflies/#list

Some species such as Migrant Hawker and Common Darter are still on the wing in Bexley, and you can use the app to input your existing records.

(Info from British Dragonfly Society e-newsletter.

http://www.british-dragonflies.org.uk )

Posted in Dragonflies and Damselflies, Recording | Leave a comment

Bling attracts Crows.

Posted on 13/10/2015 by jonathanrooks1@outlook.com

It’s supposed to be Magpies that are attracted to bright shiny things, but Saturday morning saw around 50 Carrion Crows gathered (very noisily) on the roof of Sidcup’s The Fold, known locally as the Bling Palace.

Around 50 birds were gathered on the roof around 9:00 am on Saturday 8th October and making a racket. Invevitably, before I could get my camera out, they mostly took off at headed down the line. It would be interesting to know if that’s a regular gathering point for them.

Jonathan Rooks

Posted in Bird watching | Leave a comment

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