17/4/10; Cowslips, birds and burning on the Cray and Darent

Bird numbers and species continue to dwindle on the drying flooded fields by Bob Dunn Way. Today on the 'south field' a Coot, a couple of Shelduck, 3 Mallard (one with ducklings), 2-3 Lapwings and 26 Starlings. In the 'north field' a Grey Heron landed and there were two pairs of Gadwall.

The GOOD find of the day was a patch of Cowslips with around 70 flowering stems between them:

Cowslips on Dartford Marshes

The BAD and the UGLY was this huge polluting fire on land to to south of the Cray, as I made my way back past Thames Rd Wetland at dusk.

Black smoke spreads across the Cray and well to the north of Crayford Way.

These pictures were sent to the Cray Riverkeeper Co-ordinator who was going to report the incident to relevant authorities. By contrast, two PCSOs on the river footpath who had come to see what was going on were disinclined to take any action.

On a more positive note, there were several Bats along the Cray riverside now it was dusk. One flew close around my head several times coming, maybe, within 2' of me. Appeared to be Pipistrelle sp.-sized.

There was a Fox playing with a plastic bottle on the grass at the bottom of Perry Street, not at all bothered by passing pedestrains or being strafed by the headlights of vehicles coming round the roundabout.

4, 9 and 10/3/10: Marshes amalgam - more on flooded field birds

After each of the Riverkeeper sessions I took the opportunity to check out the flooded fields by Bob Dunn Way (they're actually just over the London border in the Borough of Dartford, which is in the county of Kent).

Flooded fields looking north to the Thames. Darent Flood Barrier in left distance. (About half of the total flooded area is pictured here).

The Duck species present were largely the same on all three days, but there were masses of gulls on the latter two dates.

The bigger counts were made on the 10th when I ventured part way up Bob Dunn Way, as well as along the Cray embankment, and was therefore able to survey the whole site.

On this last date there were:

17 Lapwing
circa 32 Teal
15 Gadwall
7 or 8 Shoveler
4 Shelduck

There were also two squat, shortish-billed waders, and a couple of longer-legged ones which had a white belly, a white tail showing in flight, and may have been some kind of Sandpiper (this is where my birding skills start to fall apart).

22 Starlings flew over Bob Dunn Way and a solitary Little Egret was foraging in the large shallow pond south of this highway, before it crosses Dartford Creek and near the end of Sandpit Rd.