5/3/11: Richmond and Barnes: Fallow Deer, birds and heathland

Off to Richmond Park today for a London Natural History Society meeting about the ecology of the Fallow Deer in the park.

There were 2 Jays at Barnehurst station. From there I went to North Sheen station.

In the environs of the Sheen Gate at the park were 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Mistle Thrush, 13 Redwings, Ring-necked Parakeets and a large number of Jackdaws. On the nearby Adams Pond were- 5m + 3f Mandarin Duck, 2 Egyptian Geese, 2m + 1f Tufted Duck, Common Gulls and Black-headed Gulls.

The leader gave us lots of interesting facts about the Fallow Deer, which he has studied for several years, on a tour of their favourite locations, including one of the prime rutting areas, and showed examples of antlers at different ages. The Red Deer were also seen at fairly close quarters.

LNHS members watch Fallow Deer at Richmond Park

After the meeting I went off on one of my long, roundabout walks back to another railway station. Not far from Richmond Park, on Priory Lane, I found a colony of the plant Claytonia perfoliata spreading out from under a garden fence and slightly overhanging the pavement - only my second record of the species in London.

On Barnes Common (the section south-west of Barnes station) were 1 Jay, Great Tit, Blue Tits, Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Wood Pigeon and Magpie. On a retaining wall by Barnes Station were several Hart's-tongue Fern and some Ivy-leaved Toadflax, and by the station approach lane were a number of Greater Celandine.

Along Rocks Lane things got more heathy, with old ant hills - often with Sheep's Sorrel and in one case a couple of Birdsfoot - and Broom plants. Further up the road, near Old Barnes Cemetery, were several Gorse in flower and lots of Silver Birch.

Old ant hill on Barnes Common, with two types of Moss

Gorse in flower on Barnes Common

At St. Mary Barnes Church there were several Greater Celandine.

On Barnes Green pond were (the now near-obligatory for certain parts of the capital) 2 Egyptian Geese, 2 Greylag, 2 white domestic geese, 7 Canada Geese, c25 Tufted Duck, lots of Mallard, 4 Coot, 1 Moorhen and, on the banks, feral Pigeons.

I then made my way to Barnes Bridge station via a quick look at the Thames as it began to get dark.

25/12/10: ducking out of Christmas bags Kingfisher and Pochard

Urghhhhhh. I really can't stand the even-more-over-consumption-than-usual-fest that is 'Christmas,' nor getting bored stiff in other people's over-heated houses for hours on end. Not to mention the wall-to-wall rubbish on the telly.

I did my bit by visiting my brother and his family in the morning, counting 82 Wood Pigeon on or in the vicinity of Barnehurst Golf Course.

There was a Jay, 3 or 4 Long-tailed Tit, 2 pairs of Blackbirds and a Blue Tit in his garden on Mayplace Rd East.

A Mistle Thrush was in a tree in the grounds of Crayford Manor House.

Heading for the River Cray there were 12 Lapwing, 40 Starlings, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Long-tailed Tit and a Jay with an acorn in the St. Paulinus/Manor Rd. field.

There were 2 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Blackbirds, a small group of Chaffinch , Feral and Wood Pigeon and 3 Collared Doves along Footpath 106, where I managed to slip over on snow by now compacted to ice, bruising my elbow :-(

By the Maiden Lane bridge 2 Redwing - still few and far between around here at the moment - were in a bush, and 2 Great Tit were nearby.

3 Ring-necked Parakeets were chasing each other over the Willow Carr along By-way 105. A male Pochard - possibly the one that was around last winter - was on the river by the Thames Rd bridge in the company of a few Mallard. Then something of modest size came speeding towards me, low and straight under the bridge and upriver. It took me a moment or two to realise it was a Kingfisher, and I caught sight of a confirmatory flash of blue as it went past.

2 Goldfinch were around the Sewer Embankment. Not much was happening on Thames Road wetland which was completely frozen up. I was there long enough to see a Lapwing come down on the flat adjacent to Thames Road on two separate occasions. On the second I was close enough to see the bird actively foraging. It may or may not have been the same bird, as two had been doing some aerial 'combat' over the nearby park a short while earlier, and later on two were seen in the Council depot car park over the road. This is the first time I've seen the species actually using the site, rather than just flying over it.

A Wren and a Dunnock were observed in the bowl of the Wetland itself. A fly-over Cormorant was seen.

Three groups of Starlings were seen at the southern end of the marshes, the largest, of 37 birds, was over the Viridor site.

A couple of Teal were on Crayford Creek. I though of trying to make it to Moat Lane, but the light was fading and enough people had been along the path to ice it up under their footfall, so I took the safer option and headed back towards Thames Rd., lingering in the area where I saw the Bearded Tit last Friday. After a while 1 or 2 Bearded Tit were heard calling from the large embayed area of reed bed on the Dartford side. Although the sound appeared to be emanating from the margin of the bed near the water, it was now dusk, and try as I might, I couldn't see anything moving in the gloom.

7/9/10: More from Barnehurst and Cray valley - with Lizards and new TRW invert records

A sunny morning as I set off for more volunteering work on the River Cray.

Breasting the hill on Barnehurst Golf Course there were a lot of Roesel's Bush Crickets buzzing in the grass at the margin of the 'rough' (wildlife area). A quick search yielded a 'visual' on one specimen just to be sure. A great view of a Jay carrying an acorn in its mouth was had on the eastern margin of this patch. A Chiffchaff was heard calling from the mature Poplars here.

Pellitory-of-the-wall living up to its name at St. Paulinus Church, Crayford

An 'escaped' Antirrhinum was also in growing out from the wall here

By the Cray along footpath 106 were Trifid Bur-marigold and various 'escapees' such as single plants of Wheat, Oats (presumably from bird seed) and a Hollyhock.

Down at the Thames Road Wetland (TRW) one of the self-appointed 'Conservation Grazing Managers' had reappeared, and was happy to follow me around the east end of the site - which is cut off from the rest by the River Wansunt and a short stretch of barbed wire 'fence' - but he wasn't quite trusting enough to let me get the punk 'bling' of Burdock seeds out of his mane and tail.

The inquisitive TRW 'Conservation Grazing Manager' sports a mane full of Burdock seed heads

Here on the east side of the Wansunt I added another two species to the TRW tally, a female Wasp Spider in her web, and Long-winged Conehead Crickets at the margins of a Reedmace bed.

Female Wasp Spider (Argiope bruennichi), and her shadow, on the east bank of the Wansunt, at TRW, in the late afternoon sun

Elsewhere in the valley of the Cray today, a number of Common Lizards were seen basking on various bits of 'rubbish'.

Three adult Common Lizards bask together on a discarded black plastic bin

A juvenile makes use of the thermal properties of an old tyre

14-19/5/10: Barnehurst miscellany - from Jay to Pignut

14/5: Jay seen from train window in cutting just west of Barnehurst station. An infrequent species in the area. Brooms in flower towards Bexleyheath. Very dark-flowered Lilac before Falconwood (most 'escapes' are pale-flowered forms).

15/5: Holly Blue butterfly in the garden, Wood Mouse in the compost heap. The native Broom deliberately planted in the garden is flowering well.

18/5: Holly Blue in the garden again. An adult Common Frog after dark.

19/5: Brown Rat on edge of old Pitch and Putt course by Bursted Wood. Several Swedish Whitebeam saplings (from street tree seed, no doubt) in the wood. Thyme-leaved Speedwell and a couple of the umbellifer Pignut (where the grass hasn't been cut around Daffodils) in the grassy area between Erith Rd and the hospital turn-off, Bursted Wood.

6/3/10: Erith School to Erith Quarry

22 Starlings over Northumberland Way.

1 Goldfinch in a tall tree in the grounds of my old school - Erith School - on the Ramsden Rd. boundary.

15 House Sparrows seen (and others heard) in the hedge around the school on the Ramsden Rd. corner, and part way along Avenue Rd.

Erith Quarry:

1 Robin
27 Wood Pigeon
Magpie
1 Jay
Blue Tit
Long-tailed Tit
2 Great Tit
Blackbird

Great views of a Kestrel hovering over the site.

2 Foxes.


3 patches of Common Reed (Phragmites australis) on 'dry ground', as above.

Large patch of Fennel plants found.

Some Japanese Knotweed.

Looked at north-west corner this time. Delighted to find another bit of 'heathland' (hurrah).




Several large Gorse - but some have suffered relatively recent and heavy vehicle damage, as in the lower picture.


A number of native Broom plants (above) in several locations nearby.


Also this substantial young Pine that looked self-seeded. Some Poplars. Plus 2 Cotoneaster.


Several clumps of Sedum (probably reflexum) found (pictured above) in the foreground of the following view.

16/1/10: Apsley in Dacorum, Herts

I had to go to Apsley in Dacorum Borough, Hertfordshire, to run a training session.

There was a large number of what I took to be Common Whitlow Grass along an otherwise fairly bare edge to a closely mown verge, on the London Road by the 'Dunelm Mill' premises.

A Barbarea sp. (American Land Cress) was in a grass verge by the industrial estate on Kents Avenue.

In a wide grass strip on Stationers Place, leading towards the canal, there were quite a few large, badly frosted Goats Rue, and a lot of Vetch type plants in the turf - possibly Hairy Tare (although there were 6 pairs of leaflets on the sample I picked).

Behind platform 1 of Apsley station there was a lot of Ox-eye Daisy, some Wild Carrot, Common St. John's Wort and Black Horehound amongst other things.

The binoculars enabled me to get a positive ID on a couple of Jays high up in trees bordering parkland over by the 'down' side of the line, despite the gloomy conditions.

There was some Gorse at the top of the cutting side before Watford junction, and a long stretch of it, with Oak and Silver Birch, immediatly south of Bushey.