3/2/10: Clandestine ops in Erith

OK folks, this post contains some pictures and wildlife records from a Metropolitan Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. But it's a former landfill site, fenced off and supposed to be out of bounds. In reality loads of holes have been made in the fence and that rather useful Google Earth thingy shows the place covered with trackways. I couldn't resist a bit of a look because when I was about 11-13-ish and my Dad had an allotment (site long-closed) next to it, it was still an old quarry and I used to go down there to find newts in the ponds. I won't name the place, but if you're squeamish, look away now. And I'll wait for a heavy knock on the door .....

Before we get to that, here are pictures of a Gorse-covered bank at the foot of Birch Walk, behind warehouse-type retail outlets on Fraser Rd - there's a lot of Buddleia got in there too - and a patch of Wood Sage.

There's also some Hart's-tongue Fern on what appears to be a filled-in arch over what may have been a bridge over a railway line out of the quarry. This is an infrequent plant in these relatively dry parts.

Site X (there was plenty of evidence of other people having indeed been on here lately, including trailbike tyre tracks) was dominated by Hawthorn scrub, with quite a lot of Roses. There was a large swathe of Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum) in one area, and another plant with a smaller specimen growing under it, some considerable distance away. This non-native must have got here as seed. There were also a number of Pyracantha shrubs. 3 Fennel were sprouting close to one another. Dried seedheads indicated the presence of Wild Carrot, Black Knapweed and Teasel.

Animals seen included a Fox and - as firsts for me in the local area for some years - a Goldfinch and a Chaffinch.

Spanish Broom on a former landfill site in Erith


Pyracantha is established here too

Fennel re-sprouting here early in the season

10 and 17/9/09: Crayford Marshes miscellany

This post covers the route from the 'Jolly Farmers' public house on Thames Road, along the western bank of the Rivers Cray and Darent and then along the track leading to Moat Lane and Howbury Farm in Slade Green.

Passing under the railway line, there were around 140 Starlings flying back and forth between the Viridor waste disposal site and a telecommunications mast on the other side of the road.

As an access route onto what ought to be a flagship site - being one of the largest swathes of continuously open land in the Borough - the footpath out onto the marshes starts its life as a scrappy, ugly affair, squeezing its way between redundant machinery and spoil heaps on either side.

One is soon confronted with this view. I can't really remember what it was like back in 1979 when I filled oil cans in a now-closed factory nearby in the summer holidays, but it wasn't like this ....

Quite how building up this land fits in with all the official statements about the importance of what little is left of the marshes, and the modern view that we need to be able to buffer floodwater is beyond me.

The path is lined for a long distance on the 'landward' side with a shallow ditch and this ugly bund of what looked to be clay (and perhaps silt), which must be fairly new because it was generally quite sparsely vegetated. One of the plants I did find on it was a single specimen of Fool's Parsley, my third record for the Borough. Also an Opium Poppy, Coltsfoot and a Wild Carrot.

Salad Burnet (front left) was quite frequent along the side of the path.

Also present in some numbers were Fennel plants, here catching the evening sun.

The Salad Burnet, Fennel and plentiful Perennial Rocket provided rich pickings for a tasty, and free, salad.

Wild Clary (Salvia verbenaca) was fairly abundant at the sides of the path too. This was my second location for it in Bexley Borough, but this time it wasn't being prevented from flowering by a mad mowing regime.

Other plants along the riverside path included Sickle Medick x Lucerne hybrids (see separate posting), Goat's Rue, Horseradish, one Musk Mallow, some Black Knapweed, a couple of White Campion, and a modest-sized Swedish Whitebeam in fruit.

Along the lane towards Howbury Fram were English Elm, one Field Maple, Hops and Horseradish.

On the 17th I saw two Grey Wagtails in the deeply canalised section of the Cray by footpath 249 that leads out onto Dartford Marshes along south/east side of the river.