Weekend volunteering – south of the border

Bexley Wildlife’s calendar is a bit short on weekend habitat management volunteering opportunities in November and December at present, with the exception of the Lesnes Abbey Conservation Volunteers team which is active in the north of the Borough.  Anyone in the far south may therefore be interesting in helping at Ruxley Gravel Pits, just over the border in Bromley.

Situated on the outskirts of London, near Sidcup, this 11-hectare wetland oasis, sits alongside industry, housing and roads.  The site comprises once-quarried flooded lakes, islands, and marginal swamps which are home to a large number of species of plants, birds and it is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) largely for its exceptional invertebrate fauna:

http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003658.pdf

Access to the site is restricted.

The site is managed by a small team of hard working volunteers who work on the site mainly over the winter period once a month.  Without their input, Ruxley Gravel Pits would become overgrown in ways that would reduce its quality.  But they need more help.  The group are looking for more volunteers to assist with looking after this special site.

Tasks often involve cutting back buddleia and other scrub, felling small trees and other activities. All tools and training are provided and the days usually run on the second Sunday of the month from 10.30am – 2.30pm.

If you live nearby, why not come along and join the group. For more details call either Albert Watson, Honorary Warden on 07831 161208 or Linda & Martin 01322 528570 or Mob: 07814 795805.

Posted in Ruxley Gravel Pits, Volunteering | Tagged | Leave a comment

Michael Heath starts Cray Project blog

Cray Project Officer Michael Heath has started a blog about the Cray River-keeper team’s work. The blog is hosted on the website of Thames21, the organisation he is employed by to help manage the volunteer effort to clean up the Cray and improve habitat  for wildlife, thereby increasing the enjoyment of the river and its environs by residents and visitors alike.

The latest instalment is here, showing team members in action further afield:

http://www.thames21.org.uk/?p=11734

To see previous stories, including photographs of work being done on the Cray, just click the River Cray Project tag at the bottom left of each post.

Thames21 Cray Project Officer Michael Heath has started a blog, to keep supporters and potential new recruits up to date with the important work being done to improve the condition of the river for people and wildlife. (Photo: Ron Pearson)

Thames21 Cray Project Officer Michael Heath has started a blog, to keep supporters and potential new recruits up to date with the important work being done to improve the condition of the river for people and wildlife. (Photo: Ron Pearson)

To get involved, learn new skills and make new friends, contact Michael at michael.heath@thames21.org.uk or 07968 805751.

 

Posted in Cray Riverkeepers, River Cray, Thames21, Volunteering | Leave a comment

Meeting for anti-bridge campaigners

London Assembly member Darren Johnson AM (Green Party) will host a public meeting at City Hall on November 18th, starting at 9am for 9.30.

To register your interest, please e-mail  Rachel Carlill <Rachel.Carlill@london.gov.uk> and put ‘register’ in the subject line.

Through this meeting Darren will be looking to work with key players in the (road bridge) river crossings debate to identify how best he can articulate the huge opposition that exists to these crossings to the Mayor and TfL using the tools at his disposal as an Assembly Member.

Darren’s response to, and critique of, TfL’s 2014 road bridges consultation can be downloaded from:

https://app.box.com/shared/static/b9leipz0c5qo3zfhr6nd.pdf

There may, for example, be gaps in the emissions or other data that Darren could obtain or he could organise a petition, motions or questions to be put to the Mayor. There may be further meetings that he could attend to represent his constituents’ views.

The meeting will also provide an opportunity for campaigners to forge links amongst themselves.

Darren’s Office has been working with Jenny Bates of Friends of the Earth on this issue for a while now, and Bexley Natural Environment Forum is contacting Jenny to find out what FoE are doing to help organise opposition. The last meeting of BNEF agreed to do what it could to help facilitate the coming together and co-ordination of opponents from both sides of the river, but recognised it did not have the resources, nor was the best-placed group to lead any umbrella campaign.

Meanwhile, courtesy Darren’s office, here are recent responses from Boris Johnson about river crossings in east London. The reply to Darren’s question, in particular, is just another statement of Boris’s enthusiasm for massive extra ‘development’ (urbanisation) in Bexley, meekly supported by Bexley Council. This is clearly where the five-fold hike to 22,000  new houses, compared to the 4,500 projected in the recent Local Development Framework comes from, even though 6 weeks after being asked where the 22K figure comes from, the Council has still not replied. The only positive thing that can be said about this is that the more (potential) public transport links there are, the less grounds there are for road bridges – other than to cater for people who want to get to the south coast in a hurry, or ever more heavy goods vehicles, neither of which has much to do with providing any ‘local benefit’, or anything to do with sustainability.

Crossrail – link to Thamesmead Question No: 2014/3001Darren Johnson. Thamesmead is one of the largest areas of London to have no railway station of its own. Have you studied the potential for a future extension of Crossrail to the area?

Boris Johnson’s reply: Written response from the Mayor and CommissionerTfL is currently working with LB Bexley and the GLA to develop a growth strategy for the Bexley Riverside Opportunity Area, which could provide over 20,000 new homes.

As part of this work, TfL is considering a number of potential transport interventions which may be required to enable such growth. The assessment of options has only just begun, with modelling expected to take place between August and October and the final report expected early in 2015. Depending on the outcome of the Opportunity Area study, a development funding study could then follow to determine what, if any,funding could be generated to help fund new infrastructure. This work stems from discussions between LB Bexley, TfL and GLA and is focussed on delivering additional homes and jobs for London.

TfL is also working alongside RB Greenwich, LB Bexley, the GLA and Peabody as partof the Thamesmead Futures initiative and is looking at measures which could improve the accessibility and connectivity of this area, as well as enabling housing and employment growth. This work is at an early stage and will consider a range of options including rail links, however due to the location of Thamesmead to the north of the planned Crossrail line; this is unlikely to include an extension of Crossrail.  The proposed extension of the Overground to Barking Riverside is,however, being designed not to rule out a possible onward extension towards Thamesmead and Abbey Wood. This work is being developed in partnership with the work on Bexley Riverside.

Rail River Crossings in East London Question No: 2014/3334 Len Duvall Can you outline to me any potential rail or light rail river crossings that could be built around the Thamesmead or Erith areas and potential timescales?

Written response from the Mayor. Tackling the barrier effect of the river east of Tower Bridge is a vital element in addressing the long-term growth requirements of east and south east London, alongwith the economic development and regeneration needs of this part of the city. Inrecent years there have been significant improvements in cross river transport insome parts of east London including DLR and London Overground schemes. Further majorimprovements are committed and in the delivery pipeline, including Crossrail, whichwill provide a further new rail crossing of the river when it opens in 2019. Thiswill directly benefit Thamesmead and Erith through interchange with existing railand bus services at Abbey Wood.  An extension of Crossrail east of Abbey Wood toBelvedere and Erith and onwards to Ebbsfleet is also safeguarded by the Government. I recognise that more will be needed and together with TfL I am working on plans todeliver further major schemes to serve this area. My recent 2050 Infrastructure Plansets out why this is important within the context of London’s wider strategicchallenges. In particular London needs to maintain its world city status, house a population that is expected to exceed 11 million within 35 years, and become a better city in which to live as well as a bigger one. Maximising the potential ofareas with significant growth capacity such as Thamesmead and Erith will be vital if we are to succeed in these aims. The Plan sets out a series of transportrequirements designed to achieve this. These include options for new crossings in this area, including bridges at Gallions Reach and at Belvedere, and TfL has recently consulted on these. Both would offer the potential for new bus services to link east and south east London, which would improve orbital public transport connections in the area. In the case of Gallions Reach, a bridge would end close to the existing DLR, and itmay be feasible to extend the DLR across the bridge to serve Thamesmead. Thisconcept will be considered as part of the next stage of work on river crossings inresponse to the recent consultation.  Furthermore, opportunities also exist to extend the heavy rail network across the river. Proposals to extend the London Overground to Barking Riverside are currently being consulted on, with implementation proposed by 2019. A further extension across the river to Thamesmeadto connect up with Crossrail would also be possible. This is at a very early stageof investigation and there are currently no proposed timescales.

Proposed Silvertown Tunnel (1)Question No: 2014/2975 Caroline Pidgeon How much money has been spent so far on plans and preparation for the Silvertown Tunnel?

Written response from the Mayor. The total expenditure to date on planning and design development work for the Silvertown tunnel is in the region of £2.5 million. This covers a four year periodduring which TfL has progressed the design through feasibility and optioneeringstages. Proposed Silvertown Tunnel (2)Question No: 2014/2629Caroline PidgeonWhy did TfL decide to progress the Silvertown Tunnel separately from the otherproposals relating to river crossings, even though you have been reported as statingon LBC Radio that building Silvertown alone will put “much more pressure” on roadsnear the tunnel?Written response from the MayorMy Transport Strategy sets out a clear need for a package of river crossings in eastLondon, to support the growth of the area and to address existing constraints withthe transport network. Earlier consultations carried out by TfL on the rivercrossings package have yielded clear support for the Silvertown crossing butidentified the need for further analysis and consultation to determine the proposalsfor crossing(s) to the east. As a key part of this package, the Silvertown Tunnel is designed to addresslong-standing congestion and resilience problems at the Blackwall Tunnel and thesurrounding roads. It achieves this by removing a substantial proportion of localtraffic from Blackwall Tunnel and will also act as a diversion route when BlackwallTunnel has to be closed for incidents, emergencies or essential maintenance. Theproposal of a new tunnel at Silvertown has had strong support from the public andstakeholders at previous consultations and the Secretary of State for Transport hasdesignated it as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. However, the Silvertown Tunnel alone cannot address the lack of crossings in eastLondon. The fact is that London needs a package of new crossings to improveconnectivity and resilience to the east of Tower Bridge and support the growth ofthis area. I was not referring to the Silvertown Tunnel specifically but making a wider point that there is a clear case for further crossings to be delivered east of Silvertown, in order to support the growth in jobs and homes across east London. TfL is consulting now on these new crossing options, which are in addition toSilvertown Tunnel. The responses will guide the selection of an appropriate packageand enable us to better understand the relationship and interaction between crossingoptions and Silvertown Tunnel. Any new crossings need to carefully consider their role in local and strategic traffic contexts so that all impacts are properly identified and understood.

Posted in Belvedere, Bexley Council, Planning, River Thames, Thamesmead | Leave a comment

Shuttle team clears 10 sacks of rubbish from river

Friends of the Shuttle met on 9 October 2014 and carried out a successful litter pick along a stretch of the river between Crofton Avenue and Penhill Road.  The group collected 10 bags of assorted rubbish (including 5 bags of recyclables), assorted bits of ironware and a fishing rod. Despite the rain the team tackled a blockage in the river which was caused by a cherry tree that had been cut down and dumped in or by the river.

With all the hard work put into clearing the river it is pleasing to see further evidence of wildlife as we spotted two common Carp and approximately 30 Roach and Rudd.

Action will be planned in the coming weeks and months to remove the fallen tree between Penhill and Sidcup golf course, and to deal with the sighting of Himalayan Balsam between Albany Road and Penhill Road.  The group’s next event will be held on 23 October 2014 and further information can be obtained by contacting fots-thames21@hotmail.co.uk.

 

Posted in River Shuttle, Rivers, Volunteering | Leave a comment

Great Skuas and Little Gulls off Bexley. Redwing influx gets underway.

Mike Robinson who frequently covers the Thames path in the Crossness area, spotted three dark coloured birds midstream on October 13th.  Alerting Bexley birdwatchers, he went on to say ‘The pictures are awful but I’m inclined to think the birds were Skuas (all dark Gull type birds).  In my in-flight picture, we can see what seems to be white at the end of the wings (unless it’s something in the water).  I looked Great Skuas up and they do have the white at the end of the wings.  That being said, I’m not familiar with Skuas of any kind.’

Bexley Bird Report author Ralph Todd responded on the 14th with the news that 11 Great Skuas had indeed been seen heading up the Thames, also 20 Little Gulls, from the Rainham side. Ian Stewart went out and saw at least one Skua and some Little Gulls in the vicinity of Erith Pier.

Ralph went on to say that “this is quite an unusual occurrence but happens every year or so if the weather conditions in the Channel/North sea are poor as they were yesterday.”

Two Great Skuas on the Thames off Bexley, 13th October 2014. (Photo: Mike Robinson)

Two Great Skuas on the Thames off Bexley, 13th October 2014. (Photo: Mike Robinson)

There was a big influx of Redwings on the 14th,  a bird that comes south to Britain from Scandinavia as the winter closes in. Steve Carter had 40 over his garden. Within 15 minutes Ralph had had around 100 over his in Bexleyheath and Ian Stewart saw some 500+ over his home in Sidcup.

Posted in Bird watching, River Thames | Leave a comment

East Wickham Open Space species records for 2014

Moira Scottow of East Wickham Conservation Volunteers has circulated a list of species recorded at the site this year, compiled by team member Del.

There is an array of trees, scrub and seed-bearing plants, so a good list of birds can be found, including Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Greenfinch and Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers. Sparrowhawk and Kestrel have been recorded during 2014.

The butterfly highlight was Clouded Yellow, and Ringlet was seen again at what appears to have been one of the earlier colonisation sites for this rapidly spreading insect in the Borough. 20 species of butterfly were recorded in all.

The Jersey Tiger moth, which has got everywhere in 2014, was also seen.

Scrub and grassland create good wildlife habitat at East Wickham Open Space (Photo: Chris Rose)

Scrub and grassland create good wildlife habitat at East Wickham Open Space (Photo: Chris Rose)

Posted in Bird watching, Butterflies, East Wickham Open Space, Recording | Leave a comment

Date set for road bridges meeting

Transport for London is promoting the idea of two road bridges across the Thames into Bexley. As previously announced here (see October 7th posting) London Assembly member Darren Johnson AM (Green Party) will host a public meeting on river crossings. This will be at City Hall on November 18th, starting at 9am for 9.30.

Professor of Sustainable Transport John Whitelegg, whose academic case did much to help sink the previous East London River Crossing (ELRIC) scheme has been invited, but it not yet known whether he can come.

In any case, this is an opportunity to start forging a much-needed co-ordinated campaign on this issue.

To register your interest, please e-mail  “Rachel Carlill” <Rachel.Carlill@london.gov.uk> and put ‘register’ in the subject line.

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Bexley Council jacks housing-building numbers five-fold – with little regard for sustainability or transparency

Hands up who has noticed that the Council has increased the number of additional houses it thinks could (read should) be built in the Borough from 4,545 by 2026, with 438 of these in Belvedere, to 22,000, with 11,000 in Belvedere by 2030?

The former figure appears at Appendix A on p108 of the Local Development Framework, the job of which is to provide the ‘justification’ for the broad thrust of the Council’s planning decisions. The document was agreed as recently as two and a half years ago following a period of written public consultation, and a hearing in public where further questions could be asked and properly argued over. The proposed housing allocation was accepted as adequate by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate.

The latter numbers, representing a 22-fold increase within Belvedere, and what at a conservative estimate would result in a 20% increase in the Borough’s total population over the 2011 census, appear without explanation, in Bexley Council ‘Growth’ strategy – ‘Our emerging vision’ leaflet, on which public comment was sought up to 5th September.

The obvious question is where are they all going? The number of houses now being proposed for the Erith Quarry Site of Importance for Nature Conservation is 700. We cannot see from Google Earth imagery of the Borough where an amount of undeveloped land anywhere near equivalent to 30 times that is going to come from. The Council has calculated that the need for industrial land will fall, so that some of it will be released for other purposes. But it is still a major stretch to see how this many more dwellings can be accommodated, which raises concerns for open spaces. Or is the Council banking on lots of high-rise, even though it has just had the Larner Road estate demolished?

@belveder Park' - yet more fields of what were once Erith Marshes lost to 'development'. A awful lot more of these will be needed to cram 11,000 more dwellings into the area.

‘Belvedere Park’ – yet more fields of what were once Erith Marshes being lost to ‘development’. An awful lot more of these will be needed to cram 11,000 more dwellings into the area.

Bexley Natural Environment Forum is pressing the Council for detail, having only received answers so far that are vague or stretch credulity. Strip out the jargon and Council officers are claiming that these are simply illustrative figures, based on a ‘density matrix’, and that they have not identified any specific sites for all these buildings. Yet they are also spending our money working on plans for ancillary ‘development’ to go with this construction spree. You do not have to be the most brilliant mathematician in the world to know that to derive a figure from a density multiplier you need to put the number of units of area into it, i.e.: number of square metres x density (amount of units per square metre) = number of units. We think there has to be a figure for the number of square metres, and that there must therefore be a list of measured pieces of land on the ground. So we have asked again for a list of those places which the Council thinks could/should have housing put on them in this period.

The cynic might argue that the purpose of publishing such figures in the public domain is to provide some future cover of the ‘well we did consult people about this’ variety, especially if it can then be trumpeted that the ‘actual’ figure turns out to be lower. Claiming that they are essentially ‘speculative’, whilst failing to point out the massive hike from the LDF figures, or being specific about exactly where they will go, has the benefit of making it less likely that anyone will notice and start complaining in time to stick enough spanners in the works.

The Council says it ‘remains committed to maintaining its existing network of valued open spaces and is a key member of the South East London Green Chain and the Mayor’s London-wide Green Grid Network.’ The simple answer to this claim is: Viridion Park (yet another imminent loss of land to ‘development’ when we should be re-building the Erith marshes Metropolitan Site of Importance for Nature Conservation), Erith Quarry (Bexley Grade 1 Site of Importance for Nature conservation which the Council seems happy enough to see a large part of covered with 700 houses) and Bexley By-pass (still supported by Bexley Council despite the fact it would tear through another SINC site and destroy the tranquility of Churchfield Wood). We suggest that the Council’s idea of ‘valued’ (or what is valuable in a non-monetary sense) is flaky at best, and not to be relied upon by those who really want to protect and improve these places as indicating that the Council will be similarly inclined.

Doubtless people were making the same statements about protecting everything we value about the area in the 1930s, just before much of it got covered in swathes of housing, and have continued to do so since, as ever more of it has been concreted over and the next crowd ‘save’ the most valued bit of what’s left for a few more years. What is being pursued in reality, based on the fixation with ‘growth’, is limitless development with a dollop of delusional ‘you can have your cake and eat it’ on slapped on top.

Meanwhile, the Council is still developing its follow-on Detailed Policies and Sites planning  document, based on the ground rules laid down in the LDF. The consultation on that closed in September 2013, but it won’t be until next year that this is examined in public. BNEF is calling for a proper public debate on the strategic implications of Bexley’s inflated house-building proposals, and for residents to have  a further opportunity to submit written comments on DPAS since it follows that this document will need to be significantly altered if these numbers are accepted, and we ought to be able to have our comments on these revisions on the record.

Much of Belvedere is on the floodplain, and London is seriously water-stressed. The DPAS draft fell way short of delivering anything like true sustainability with the numbers of people we have already, so is likely to prove wholly inadequate for a vastly larger task (if that cannot be stopped) without major outside pressure. We do not share Bexley’s ‘don’t worry, something will turn up’ view of the future when it comes to water, food, clean air and renewable energy supplies or nature, which is in dire straits.

At the LDF hearing we listened to Council officers telling us what a good job they had done in holding down the number of dwellings projected in the plan to what they thought was a reasonable limit that would avoid excessive ‘over-development’. The Council now needs to explain how it suddenly finds that 22,000 houses is acceptable.

As far as we can see this is being driven by the ‘Further Alterations to the London Plan’ , a 354 plage document that almost no one in the Borough will have read, handed down by Boris ‘there is no alternative to more urbanisation’ Johnson, and bound up with TfLs proposals for two road bridges over the Thames into Bexley and other schemes to guzzle ever more resources.  We doubt people who voted Boris/Conservative in the 2012 GLA or 2014 Borough elections thought they were getting this, indeed our online research of the relevant manifesto and public policy documents for these elections can find no mention of future housing targets for Bexley, just a 2014 comment that 5,000 houses were being built here already.

Whatever the case then, Boris and the Conservatives clearly now see Bexley, which still has a relatively good supply of greenery, as a prime building site, and are giving every impression of wanting to avoid an open debate on this and to ensure that as few people notice as possible before it’s too late.

[Chris Rose]

Posted in Bexley Council, BNEF, Erith Quarry, Housing targets, Planning, Sustainability, Thames bridges | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Thames 21 river conservation events October – December 2014

Events River Cray Catchment Thames 21 – October to December 2014.

Michael Heath (cap) and his team at the Old Mill, April 8th 2014.

Michael Heath (cap) and his team at the Old Mill, April 8th 2014.

Here are the autumn early winter events for Thames21 on the Cray. We have now fully started the Veolia Environmental Trust funded project for the River Cray at Foots Cray Meadows with days set aside in the programme.  With the arrival of winter we may suspend the building of the marginal bank areas and take on spilling to repair damaged river banks, insertion of new deflectors, positioning of coir rolls to protect erosion hotspots.

New skills to learn here and some of these days will be training sessions I will keep you informed through my weekly blog!

Follow this link for this week’s blog. http://www.thames21.org.uk/?p=11734

Creating new marginal areas within the river in the warmth of late summer

Although this will take up a number of days we will continue with other activities elsewhere on the river and I welcome suggestions for other activities. There may be additional events as we identify other river reaches needing work or a cleanup. As always the weather and other logistical issues may affect events so do contact me prior to the event. Details of the public events will also be on the Thames21 websitehttp://www.thames21.org.uk/events/ .

Many Thanks
Michael
Scheduled Events

Tuesday 21st October 2014. In Stream Clean up River Cray Byway 106 removal of rubbish collecting on river bed. Meet at Thames21 Depot, (100m along Byway 106 walking from Barnes Cray Road towards Crayford) DA1 4NR. 1030 to 1500. Please contact Michael prior to this event.

Tuesday 28th October 2014.  There is an independently organised Bird Walk on Foots Cray Meadows 9.30 – 12.30 – meet in Leafield Lane off North Cray Road DA14 5EB. The walk’s leaders Ralph and Brenda Todd will take us to look for late autumn/early winter migrants in addition to checking out what is along the river and at Five Arches.

Wednesday 29th October 2014. In Stream River Cray Habitat Enhancements at Foots Cray Meadows. As mentioned above the intention is to continue during the winter months with a variety of tasks, these will be set prior to the session. We will be on site from 1000 to 1500 come along and join in. Our meeting point will be 0945 at the Leafield Lane Gate onto the Meadows, Leafield Lane DA14 5EB (Off the North Cray Road beside the old Scout Hut) or at the end of Water Lane (off the North Cray Road beside Loring Hall/White Cross Inn) DA14 5ET.  Contact me prior to event for confirmation of activities and location.

Wednesday 5th November 2014. In Stream River Cray Habitat Enhancements at Foots Cray Meadows. (Veolia Environmental Trust Funded Project) Details as at Wednesday 29th October above.

Thursday 6th November 2014. 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.

Friday 7th November 2014. Thames21 volunteers to assist Hall Place Gardens, Following on from our clearance of the River Cray at Hall Place in June we shall be working with the grounds team to enhance the raised river bank as a wildlife habitat. Meet Hall Place Gardens, Bourne Road, DA5 1PQ.  1030 – 1430

Tuesday 11th November 2014 – Winter Equipment Audit at Thames21 Depot, (100m along Byway 106 walking from Barnes Cray Road towards Crayford) DA1 4NR. From 1030 to 1500.

Wednesday 26th November 2014. In Stream River Cray Habitat Enhancements at Foots Cray Meadows. (Veolia Environmental Trust Funded Project) Details as at Wednesday 29th October above.

Wednesday 26th November 2014. Bexley Natural Environment Forum starts 1900 at the Marriott Hotel Bexleyheath contact Chris Rose (Vice Chair BNEF) by e mail to chrisrose@gn.apc.org<mailto:chrisrose@gn.apc.org> to secure a place. This is an umbrella body for Friends of Parks and Open Spaces groups, local wildlife experts and conservationists and sustainability campaigners in the Borough. The Forum works to protect, restore and enhance habitats and biodiversity across Bexley.

Wednesday 3rd December 2014. In Stream River Cray Habitat Enhancements at Foots Cray Meadows. (Veolia Environmental Trust Funded Project) Details as at Wednesday 29th October above.

Thursday  4th and Tuesday 9th December 2014 Thames Road Wetland  meet 1100 Thames Road (River Cray Bridge) DA1 4RF. The wetland was created in 2007 by the London Borough of Bexley. This compact site of 2.4 ha (6 acre) presents a number of management challenges. Never-the-less it packs a large and impressive punch in terms of the species to be found here. Noted for a list of plants that are uncommon in London and Kent, it hosts twelve species of Odonata, seven species of reptile and amphibian, and a growing suite of breeding and visiting birds, including the only Bittern recorded in Bexley last winter. Being an urban wetland the site needs to be tended to each autumn to retain its variety of habitat. Finish 1500

Thursday 18th December 2014: Join Friends of the Shuttle and River Cray Volunteers – Seasonal Social. An informal get together and celebration of our work.  Venue tbc 1300 – 1700

December Christmas Walk Erith to Crayford start 1100 Morrisons Supermarket Erith.  A brisk walk away from the troubles of Christmas shopping and along the Thames Date and destination to be confirmed.

2015

Thursday 29TH January 2015 we shall be joining with The Friends of the Shuttle for a big winter clean up of the Lake at Danson Park.

To get involved or for more information, contact Michael Heath michael.heath@thames21.org.uk<mailto:michael.heath@thames21.org.uk> or ph: 07968 805 751.

Michael Heath
River Cray Project Officer
Thames21 – bringing London’s waterways to life

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

August 2014 was the hottest August on record

Global climate: August 2014 was the hottest August on record.

Download the PDF file .

The report for July 2014

Download the PDF file .

 

Prime Meridian is published as part the outreach programme of the Ecospheres Project – Earth Campaign. The purpose of the Earth Campaign is to highlight the vital importance of scientific research for safeguarding human communities world wide from the impacts of environmental change.
This newsletter may be copied and distributed freely by any organisation engaged in raising awareness of environmental issues or for general educational purposes.
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