21/2/2011: Northumberland (Heath ....) / Erith - golden Gorse and booming bird

There was a Common Gull on North Heath Recreation Ground.

In Erith Cemetery (east side) were circa 40 Redwing making quite a lot of noise, but being quite skittish, 5 Chaffinch, 2 Greenfinch, 2 Magpie, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Great Tit, Blackbird and lots of Wood Pigeon. There were about 70 Starlings in Poplars between the cemetery and Carlton Rd.

I went a little further up Brook Street to Hollyhill Open Space, first because I could hear a Song Thrush there, and second, because I wanted to check whether the Gorse were wild single-flowered plants, or the double-flowered cultivar which I'd previously found the ones by Gravel Hill at Hall Place North to be.

The Song Thrush was singing from a copse at the foot of Hollyhill, but I couldn't get a visual on it. The song was echo-ing within the valley, making it sound very loud indeed, and even more difficult to get a precise fix on the bird's location. There's a good chance it was the same individual heard singing from the Brook Street allotment site recently.

The Gorse, in a stony, apparently weeded 'shrub bed' was all single-flowered, and had recovered from the burning a couple of years ago. At this time of year the way huge numbers of Common Stork's-bill carpet the ground really stands out, and I was able to spot some of the Bird's-foot (Ornithopus perpusillus), which I knew was also listed as being present on the site. Both the latter species are classed as 'notable' for London.

The site as a whole is decribed as 'former heathland' in the 2004 draft 'Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation in Bexley', which raises questions and possibilities in respect of the Council's existing and re-written Heathland Biodiversity Action Plan. This talks about increasing the amount of heathland in the Borough, but in immediate practical terms, or any site-specific prescription for future action, fails to look beyond extending that within Lesnes Abbey Wood.

Edge of the Gorse bed on Hollyhill Open Space, looking south across the eastern section of Erith Cemetery. The three blocks of flats in the right distance are near the southern end of Brook Street.

Looking east-south-east over the Gorse bed at Hollyhill Open Space, across the land-filled and re-greened Erith Quarry site to the right beyond the houses. There's a glimpse of the River Thames in the distance, just left of centre, whilst the church spire in the centre of the picture is that of Christ Church, Erith.

3+4/2/11: Perry St farm / Is horse grazing a problem at TRW?

3/2/11

Today I was down near Thames Road Wetland for a meeting with two fellow members of Bexley Natural Environment Focus Group to discuss our collective response to the Council's draft Biodiversity Action Plan re-write.

I checked out Perry Street farm from Gascoyne Drive on the way there. There were 5 Pied Wagtail. A minimum of 133 Starlings were in and around a Bramble thicket in the middle of a field. Most of the birds could only be seen in silhouette, and there were probably others hidden from view.

Something must have spooked the Gulls roosting on the industrial redevelopoment site on Thames Rd., down near the 'Jolly Farmers' public house, as a huge 'cloud' of something like 200 birds took to the sky.

At Thames Rd Wetland there was a male Chaffinch, male Blackbird, a Robin, 3 Mallard and a couple of Coot. 3 Blue Tits seemed to be finding something to eat amongst the Reedmace seed heads.

Very close (8-10 foot) views were had of 2 brown 'Warblers', also foraging in the reedmace. They had a light eye stripe and light grey underparts. I am advised that these would have been Chiffchaffs, a new record for the site.

Long-tailed Tit and 2 Collared Doves were along By-way 105.

On the way to the 'Bear and Ragged Staff' in Crayford for a post-meeting drink with one of my BNEFG colleagues, we spotted 2 Grey Wagtails in the town-centre Riverside Gardens.

4/2/11.

Some management work at TRW today.

I had been concerned by the impact of horse-trampling in the 'Brookweed zone', noted on the 3rd. Horses aren't supposed to be on the site, but every now and again someone puts them out there. Said person(s) even renewed the barbed-wire fence that keeps them on the east side of the Wansunt. Except that there were also fresh droppings and hoof-marks along the Thames Rd bank of the larger part of the site, to the west of the Wansunt. This section is not completely fenced and therefore horses could potentially get onto Thames Rd and cause a serious accident .........

Anyway, the fact of the matter is that the Brookweed survived grazing activity by up to 3 horses last winter before I knew it was there, so I guess in the long run this process might conceivably be beneficial. But still, this is where I regret not having made the time to count and map Brookweed rosettes last season. If I'd done so I'd be in a position to start making a proper assessment. Taking a 'better safe than sorry' approach (given that I can hand-weed the Brookweed zone to reduce competition from more thuggish plants anyway), I wove bits of cut Bramble stem through the Rushes around which the Brookweed grow. Time will tell if this will work.

There's no indication that the feeding itself does anything other than take out the tops of the Rush clumps (see picture below), and this may give the Brookweed more early season light. But the trampling pressure is clearly pretty significant - and might be the main explanation for why most Brookweed appears to grow hard up against the bases of the Rushes where there is less of an impact.

Horse-trampling and Rush grazing in the 'Brookweed zone' at TRW

I also did some more work on extending a deepening my 'dune and ditch' system east of the Wansunt, part of a process of increasing cover and micro-habitat variations to encourage invertebrates and help Common Lizards colonise more of the site. As part of this endeavour I re-arranged the piles of Reedmace pulled out last year into a 'dead hedge', piling up bits of rubble at intervals to provide Lizard basking sites. The Reedmace will rot over time, but if we keep adding to the linear 'heap', a low banking will eventually be created.

Pulled Reedmace being used to create a 'dead hedge' to provide more cover for small creatures of various sorts in the exposed eastern end of the TRW

There had been around 20 Goldfinches along By-way 105 earlier in the day, and there was a female Pochard on the Cray here.

Around 28 Teal were on the water in the farm fields south of of Thames Rd Wetland.

On the way home, there were about 43 House Sparrows in the roost hedge on Thames Rd, by the 'Imagination' building, and a further 36 or so in the tree they use on Perry Street roundabout.

27/1/11: North Heath birds shun cold north wind

Not much showing itself in a grey afternoon, characterised by a cold northerly wind.

Northumberland Heath:

There were 2 Redwings at the school on Brook St, the closest ones I've seen to where I live so far this winter. At North Heath Recreation Ground 10 Wood Pigeons were feeding on the grass. c60 Starlings were intermittently wheeling over the western ('rear') section, and 15 House Sparrows were congregating around a feeder in adjoining garden. 50+ House Sparrows and 2 Blue Tits were in Erith School hedges, along Avenue Rd.

Erith Cemetery (east side):

Very little about. 2 male Chaffinch were seen, around 50 Wood Pigeon which were behaving rather restlessly and frequently taking flight - perhaps scaring off smaller birds in the process - a couple of Blackbirds, 2 Carrion Crows and some Magpies.

19/1/11: North Heath Rec and Erith Cemetery birds include Redwing and Greenfinch

There were 15 Wood Pigeon on North Heath recreation ground, around 60 Starlings - mainly in a large tree, but also on house chimneys and TV aerials - where the gardens of houses on Brook Street form part of the park's boundary, and also at least 8 House Sparrows here.

Further along Brook Street, in the eastern part of Erith Cemetery, there were 6 (and possibly one or two more) Redwing - of which I've seen none so far this winter, except on or by Crayford Marshes and, very pleasingly a group of 12 Greenfinch. The latter most probably make use of the nearby Erith Quarry site, which is now mainly secondary scrub. 14 House Sparrows were utilising a feeder in adjoining garden. There were also 20+ Wood Pigeon, 4 Ring-necked Parakeet, 3 Magpie, 2 Carrion Crow, several Starlings, Blue Tit and a Robin.

17/1/11: Crayford birds, high water and a load of rubbish

Having had a meeting near Crayford Way to discuss Bexley Natural Environment Group's submission on the Site Specific Allocations part of the Council's draft Local Development Framework, and the future of BNEFG in the wake of the unexpected death of its Chairman, Jeremy Cotton, over Christmas, I took the opportunity to check out the river and TRW.

Following heavy rain and, no doubt, a contribution from ground saturated by previous snow-melt, the Cray was the highest I'd ever seen it ...

The dry Reedmace stems (centre in the above photo) mark the normal margin of the river

The Cray passing the Riverkeeper Volunteers yard by Footpath 106. The tufts of vegetation sticking out of the right hand side of the river mark the normal extent of the water.

Maiden Lane bridge with the water nearly touching the underside of the roadway

Negative impact: large numbers of plastic bottles and cans, presumably dislodged from places on the riverbank where they had been inaccessible to River clean-ups, or hidden in summer vegetation growth, were now strewn all along the banks by By-way 105

The water level in the Wansunt, where it crosses Thames Road Wetland, was up compared to normal levels, but not as noticeably as on the neighbouring Cray

Water levels on the TRW pools were not much higher than normal, though they had crept outwards up the shallow banks a bit, and in this photo were getting the Brookweed's feet wet in amongst the clumps of dark green rushes (just left of centre)

25 Goldfinches were seen along By-way 105 by the River Cray, and there were a couple of Coot on the river near the Thames Rd bridge, as well as 2 more on the TRW 'lake'. Looking south from the east end of the Sewer Embankment, a Little Egret was spotted in the distance, following a Grey Heron west over the farm between the Cray and the Dartford Loop railway line. There were 10+ Teal and 3 Moorhen on a watery field here.

Circa 240 Starlings were on the electricity pylon at the junction of Thames Rd and University Way. More Teal, 12 Shoveler and 2 Mute Swan were on the flooded fields on the Dartford side of Crayford Creek.

7/1/11: Erith Cemetery flora and avifauna

Went into Erith Cemetery on Brook Street for the first time, on this occasion the eastern side.

The flora was to some extent typical of the dry, sandy soil in this part of Bexley Borough. There was a huge amount of Common Stork's-bill (Erodium cicutarium), a small amount of Bird's-foot (Ornithopus perpusillus), Sheep's Sorrel, Parsley Piert sp., quite a lot of Mouse-ear Hawkweed, Henbit Deadnettle and a lot of Sedum acre and Sedum (probably) album, the latter two presumably escaped out of the gravel on top of some of the graves.

3 Goldfinch were seen, circa 44 Starlings in Poplars between here and Carlton Rd., Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, House Sparrows, Carrion Crow and about 25 Wood Pigeons.

On leaving, House Sparrows were heard in bushes in the western section.

Towards dusk about 34 House Sparrows were counted flitting into shrubbery by the car park in Northumberland Heath recreation ground.

18/11/10: Counting Starlings over Thames Road Wetland

OK, so not quite up to the numerical standards of tonight's Autumnwatch, but whenever I see a fair few Starlings I try to get a count, given that I know indigenous numbers have declined dramatically.

On November 16th, at dusk, I was particularly pleased to see a flock wheeling several times over Thames Road Wetland (of which I am Site Manager), and I was able to get a 'side on' mobile phone camera picture - albeit a rather distant one.

The speed of the birds and size of the flock meant that I'd been unable to get a visual count estimate of the numbers of individuals at the time, so I cropped the photo down to the margins of the flock and printed it out. Whilst the image of each bird was not particularly sharp, I was able to number all the birds and, with reference back to the somewhat sharper on-screen image, resolve how many birds were present in the surprisingly few image 'overlaps'. I came up with a total of ................

231 birds (or possibly 230)

Interestingly, this is considerably more than my 'on site' guesstimate, which I rejected at the time, and also for an estimate based on application to the photographic image of the sort of rapid, rather 'jumpy' and 'finger-pointing' count I've used in the field before, which came up with about 80.

So if you want to get a more accurate count for a flock of birds that you can get within one frame - and still blow up to a decent size and reasonable resolution - you don't need a fancy camera to do it.

Here, as a matter of interest, are the original photo, and the cropped version that was printed out to do the numbered count :-

Flock of Starlings over Thames Road Wetland at dusk, 16th November

Starling flock cropped and enlarged out of the preceding photograph, printed out, then counted by numbering all the individuals in the resulting image. It still doesn't look like 231 to me ....... but cameras don't lie!

7/10/10: Crayford Creek exotics and missing Marsh plant

The land-filled 'landward' end of Crayford Marshes, along Crayford Creek, has long been known for its 'exotics'. There are a number of such records in Rodney Burton's 'Flora of the London Area' (published by the London Natural History Society in 1983).

A few more were gleaned today. On a bund of clay-ey spoil by the 'entrance' to the marsh (TQ 53026 75581), were the following garden escapes, all in flower ........

Ice Plant (Sedum spectabile)

and a red-flowered single Dahlia (foreground) with two substantial yellow-flowered Marvel of Peru (Mirabilis jalapa) behind, left.

My actual 'mission' was to search for any remnant of the very rare Marsh Sow-thistle (Sonchus palustris), for which the bank of the Creek was a well-known site. Indeed Burton says that there used to be a 20 yard strip of it. Armed with a grid reference provided by someone who had recorded it there in the past, I checked some tens of metres along the bank either side of the stated location. As thoroughly as I thought prudent, at any rate - given that this involved 'wading' up to my thighs in flattened Phragmites, and a blanket of Cow Parsley, Nettles and decaying Hedge Bindweed, such that I could not see where my feet were going and I was concerned I might disappear down into some hidden, wet and deep ditch. But there was no sign of the Sow-thistle which, it has been alleged, was deliberately destroyed by persons with development proposals in mind.

Former Marsh Sow-thistle site, now a mat of Common Reed and coarse 'weeds'

Mayweeds and Bristly Ox-tongue brighten up landfill capping on Crayford Marshes

Looking across Dartford Creek (the River Darent) towards the flood control barrier near the Thames, showing the flat, open character of the marshes. The low rise on the horizon, in the centre of the picture, is part of Essex, on the north bank.

Further on, the was a small patch of Tansy in the footpath, and a larger one not far from the fence in a neighbouring field. A Little Egret took flight from the Dartford Creek.

Along Moat Lane several Geranium pyrenaicum, Common Toadflax, Spotted Medick and a single White Melilot were seen. There were two Mute Swans on Howbury Grange moat.

Towards dusk now, around 80 Starlings were wheeling over Slade Green station.

29/7/10: Broadway, Hall Place North, Shenstone Park and Martens Grove

Late decision to go into Bexleyheath, so left home in a rush forgetting to take mobile phone (aka digital camera) with me, hence the lack of pictures in this posting.

There were about 50 Starlings on the roof of The Mall on the Broadway.

At Hall Place North a (probable Hawker) Dragonfly circled round several times, but was against the light and would not settle for identification.

There were groups of juvenile Blue Tits and a couple of definite Greenfinches (which flew off in a flock of 12 birds which may have been con-specifics).

A Red-tailed Bee and a Carder Bee were feeding on one of the Bird's-foot Trefoil patches in the close-mown turf. There were quite a number of Red Tails on the good stand of Black Knapweed that was flowering in one of the unmown areas.

Butterflies were few in number, with only a white, a Meadow Brown or two and a Gatekeeper seen.

Clematis vitalba was in the Old Road/London Rd triangle where the Gas Holders are, and Ash was becoming prevalent here.

Moving into Shenstone Park, which I haven't been through since my running days back in the 80's, I suspect, were a lot of the usual plants of mown and unmown grass for this neck of the woods. The large number of Limes and Ash were notable features, and I was interested to see a couple of Walnut trees and some nice 'specimen' Hornbeams.

Green Woodpeckers were heard and seen - there may have been 2 or 3 different individuals.

Heading into Martens Grove a number of Elm were noted and a good view of a Wren was had. Field Maple, Hornbeam and a Beech were noted. There was a run of Swine Cress (Coronopus squamatus) by the path near the St Stephen's Rd entrance.

13 Starlings were over the south end of Barnehurst Rd, and 35(+) over the junction of Bexley Rd and Brook St.

A result of this peregrination is that I have identified 3 more areas that look promising for White-letter Hairstreak butterflies, though it's getting a bit late in the season now to have the best chance of checking for presence.

9+10/9/09: On the way to the Cray - via Thames Road

I hadn't been along Thames Rd since the 'improvement' works were in hand (aka how to increase road traffic - build it/widen it and they will come ....).

At that time there was a lot of bare earth along the verges with numbers of (Sea) Beet and 'cabbage' (Rape?) plants. I also found a single Common Fumitory.

On this occasion some Common Toadflax was still in evidence. There was a very large number of Wild Carrot seed heads on the site of the former Engineer's 'encampment' by the Perry St roundabout. Ox-eye Daisy was on a bank between the houses on Shearwood Crescent. Also half a dozen Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea), pictured below. This plant seems a lot less common in the north east of Bexley (this being my first record of it in the Borough as far as I can recollect) than its near relative Weld.

Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea) flowering on a bank by Thames Road.

The area around the eastern end of Crayford Way was good for Starlings and House Sparrows. There were 16 Starlings on TV aerials at the Thames Rd end of Iron Mill Lane and 48 (possibly including some of the former by now) on roofs at the Crayford Way end of Mill Place. There were around 30 Sparrows (apparently finding food on the ground) at the end of an alleyway at the eastern end of Crayford Way, and more than 26 in an Escallonia by a bird feeder at 170 Crayford Way.

The alien Rosemary Beetle, a spreading alien that damages Rosemary and Lavender, was spotted on Lavender in Crayford Way. I have previously recorded it in several loactions in Barnehurst and Bexleyheath.