Bexley Wildlife

Horses in the mist. Photo Karen Sutton

Dear Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve,

I hope this finds you all well and geared up for Spring/Summer. The bird
hide at Crossness is now complete and looking amazing. Although it hasn’t
had the official ribbon-cutting opening ceremony yet, it is indeed open
and I would urge you to come and take a look. You can’t fail to be
impressed as it is such an amazing building (two-story, octagonal in
shape), and what’s more, it is dry, warm and draught-free, unlike our
previous hide for those of you that were familiar with it. A wildlife log
book (ring binder) is located on the table of the ground floor, so please
be sure to record your wildlife sightings; I can’t stress enough how just
important your records are for the reserve.

We have a few events coming up that you may be interested in attending:

10am Weds 2nd April  – VOLUNTEER WORK DAY: Litter pick of the Crossness
Nature Reserve southern boundary path. As many of you know, this path gets
heavily littered as it gets windblown from the adjacent dual carriageway.
Come along and help us give this lovely path a spring clean. Norman Road
gates will be open for vehicular access to the reserve. Refreshments
provided

10am Weds 30th April  – VOLUNTEER WORK DAY: Vegetation raking of Long
Meadow. This large area will have been cut ahead of the work day, but if
the vegetation is left it will put too much nutrient into the soil and
promote the growth of thistles and nettle in an area that we are trying to
establish as a wild flower meadow, so please come along and help us rake
and remove the vegetation, giving the insect-friendly plants a chance to
thrive. Meet at the vehicle entrance to the Crossness Southern Marsh
(under the red fly-over on Belvedere Road; park on Belvedere Road or at
Southmere Lake). Refreshments provided

9am Thurs 1st May – MIDWEEK BIRD WALK with Ralph and Brenda Todd. Join us
for a morning bird watching walk of the nature reserve, identifying birds
by sight and sound, and taking full advantage of the new bird hide. Meet
on the nature reserve where the Norman Road gates will be open for
vehicular access. Refreshments provided

9.30pm Fri 30th May – AMPHIBIAN TORCH SURVEY of Crossness Nature Reserve
water bodies (some areas will be inaccessible due to bird breeding).
Several pairs of eyes are better than one, and torch surveys of water
bodies are fascinating; not only will we see newts in the ponds/ditches,
but it is a fantastic opportunity to see all sorts of other aquatic
creatures. The last time we did this, we were armed with nets and sampling
trays and probably spent more time enjoying the drama of water scorpions
and cased caddis-fly larvae, than we did identifying newts! It’s great
fun; guaranteed to bring out the child in you as well as helping the
reserve to gather more amphibian/aquatic invertebrate records. Bring a
good strong torch if you have one, or whatever you have to hand if not.
Norman Road gates open for vehicular access onto the reserve. No
refreshments provided for this event

9.30pm Fri 27th June – AMPHIBIAN TORCH SURVEY of Crossness Southern Marsh
water bodies (some areas will be inaccessible due to bird breeding). For
all the same reasons as above, feel free to join us for some nocturnal
activity on the marshes. We will be looking at recently-created water
bodies, so it’s anybody’s guess what will be revealed. Bring a good strong
torch if you have one. Meet at the vehicle entrance to the Crossness
Southern Marsh (under the red fly-over on Belvedere Road where you can
also park your car). No refreshments provided for this event

Jun/Jul (date and times to be confirmed) – CREATURES OF THE NIGHT Join us
for all things nocturnal on Crossness Nature Reserve. We’ll be setting up
moth traps and wine ropes with a lepidopterist, using bat detectors to
find bats, and having our eyes peeled in search of barn owl activity. This
is weather dependent with a warm, overcast evening being ideal for
mothing, so time and date will be confirmed nearer the time, but it is
worth registering your interest if you think you would like to attend.

10am Weds 2nd Jul – VOLUNTEER WORK DAY: Ragwort pulling on Crossness
Southern Marsh. Come and join us for some fun in the sun as we do our
annual ragwort pulling. Ragwort is the food plant of the Cinnabar Moth, so
we ensure that we retain plenty of this plant in the non-grazed areas, but
it is also toxic to livestock – and horses particularly – so we have a
duty to control it in the paddocks. The best way to do that is to pull it
up from the root by hand, and it needs as many pairs of hands as possible
to do this, so please join us at the vehicle entrance to the Crossness
Southern Marsh (under the red fly-over on Belvedere Road; park on
Belvedere Road or at Southmere Lake). Refreshments provided

Aug (date and times to be confirmed) – BAT WALK at Southmere Lake and
Crossness Southern Marsh. This is a lovely time to see bats out hunting,
and Southmere Lake provides great spotting opportunities with close views
of hunting Pipistrelles and Daubenton’s bats guaranteed. Meet at Southmere
Lake car park. Time and date to be confirmed as I am trying to get a venue
to do a presentation before we go out on the hunt. This event will also be
suitable for children; hopefully they’ll get away with a late night since
it will be the school holidays. Bring a torch. No refreshments for this
event.

Although it means that you are in no way committed to attend either way,
it would help me to have a rough idea of numbers that may come along to
these events, because it helps with the parking and catering arrangements.
So, even if you change your mind down the line, if you think you might
like to come along, please do drop me a line to let me know – thank you.

I look forward to seeing some of you at forthcoming events, or indeed
wondering around the reserve.

With kind regards

Karen

Karen Sutton – Crossness Nature Reserve Manager
Thames Water Crossness Nature Reserve
Crossness Sewage Treatment Works
Belvedere Road
Abbey Wood
London SE2 9AQ

Tel: 07747 643958
Email: Karen.sutton@thameswater.co.uk