19/3/11: Pining for Coal Tits as Starlings vanish

Another roundabout sortie to the local shops on a sunny spring afternoon.

I have been hoping to find Coal Tits and/or Goldcrest in the large pines on the east side of Erith Cemetery for some time and, after exercising a fair bit of patience, I was rewarded with long-lasting views of a pair of Coal Tits foraging and, at one point sat still preening in close proximity to one another.

Other birds seen were Great Tit, Blue Tit, 2 Long-tailed Tits, Blackbirds, Robin, Carrion Crows and 3 Magpie. House Sparrows were heard by the gatehouse. The absence of the Starlings from the nearby Poplars was evident, but I did eventually stumble upon a rather bemused-looking lone individual which was very tolerant of my approach. Overall, species numbers were down on visits earlier in the year.

Grape Hyacinths were coming up in the gravelly tops of several memorials and I could only assume that they hadn't got wider traction on account of frequent mowing. A few moments of intensive searching found a couple of leaves of Birds-foot, mirroring its occurence on Hollyhill Open Space on the other side of the same valley.

The 'laughing' call of a Green Woodpecker and drumming of a Great Spotted Woodpecker were heard emanating from the nearby Erith Quarry site, and the stand of Gorse towards the north-west corner could be seen in flower through my binoculars.

The Council has lately made some improvements to the 'front' part of Northumberland Heath Recreation Ground with patches of Crocus and Daffodils in the grass, and several newly planted trees. But there is still much scope for improvement in terms of wildlife-friendly features - a strip of unmown grass round the margins would help. There were 2 Long-tailed Tits in the evergreens near the car park - where the native Gorse in the shrub bed - was flowering nicely and a Pied Wagtail and a couple of Starlings flying over, plus the usual House Sparrows and Carrion Crows. Starling numbers have suddenly declined markedly in this area too. Presumably most were winter immigrants.

I had been thinking earlier in the day that, after a long period of largely overcast weather (albeit with little rain) it felt like the sort of conditions in which one might get to see a butterfly and, lo and behold, there was a Peacock on the wing in the 'rear' section of the site - though nothing for it to feed on across the swathes of closely mown turf.

October and early November - Cray/TRW wildlife round-up

Observations made 7th, 14th, 20th, 28th October and 4th November 2010

7/10:

A Common Fumitory and Wild Carrot were by a car park at the Thames Rd end of Howbury Lane, along with Spotted Medick.

At Thames Road Wetland, Reed Sweet Grass and Water Mint were noted. A Peacock butterfly was seen, also a Small Copper (from memory a new record for the site) and an inquisitive Migrant Hawker dragonfly. A 22-spot Ladybird was found. 6 Marsh Frogs and a couple of Common Lizards were spotted.

Whilst wading in the water to clear some areas of Greater Reedmace, groups of Lesser Water Boatmen were seen in open water (there are two families embracing these, Corixidae and Pleidae - I'm not sure which group these specimens fell into). Lesser Water Boatmen swim on their fronts, and Greater Water Boatmen species swim on their backs. A fresh Water Vole (UK, London and Bexley Biodiversity Action Plan priority species) latrine was found.

Fresh Water Vole Latrine at the margin of a patch of Reed Sweet Grass, on Thames Road wetland

14/10:

Reed Canary Grass was noted by the Cray along Footpath 106. 2 Goldfinches were feeding on a Spear Thistle seed head. A Greater Spotted Woodpecker was calling from a very exposed position at the top of an exotic garden conifer. A Jay was seen flying across the river at the Barnes Cray Road end of the footpath.

A Greater Celandine was in flower by the culvert taking the River Wansunt under Maiden Lane.

There were 30 Mallard (including two black hybrids with white breasts) downstream of the Maiden Lane bridge over the Cray.

There were 7 or so Fennel seedlings around the adult plant on the eastern part of the Sewer Embankment by Thames Road Wetland. Sycamore leaves here were heavily infected with Tar Spot fungus. A flowering Black Nightshade was at the eastern end of the TRW site, by the trackway. There was some Self Heal in the pallet yard.

Sycamore at TRW, heavily infected with Tar Spot fungus

Black Nightshde in flower, TRW

On the flat section of the TRW, next to Thames Rd, were Parsley Piert, Buck's-horn Plantain, Shepherd's Purse, several Hemlock, Black Medick, two Sun Spurge, Fat Hen and Mugwort. A Geranium pyrenaicum, White Campion, Bristly Ox-tongue and Narrow-leaved Ragwort were in flower, along with a lot of Ribbed Melilot and White Melilot.

Narrow-leaved Ragwort in flower, TRW, beside Thames Road. Bristly Ox-tongue in front of it.

Ribbed Melilot (yellow flowers) and White Melilot flowering together on the TRW site by Thames Rd

Later a Jay was seen in a garden on Dartford Rd., and approximately 52 Starlings heading east over the railway line. A large Tomato plant with fruit was growing outside shops opposite the end of Heath Rd.

20/10:

There was a Common Darter dragonfly at TRW, and another along By-way 105 as I headed for the Riverkeeper Volunteers yard. There was a Red Admiral on Footpath 106 by the yard. Heading back to the Wetland, there was a Fox on the north bank of the Cray.

On the 'lake' at the Wetland were a Coot and 4 Moorhens. Also a male and female Teal - a new species record for the site.

28/10:

Thames Road Wetland - Great Tit, Blue Tit, 1 Chaffinch, a Robin and several Goldfinches along the Sewer Pipe Embankment. About 20 Black-headed Gulls on the 'lake'.

A Red Admiral was fluttering in the Willow (believed to have been poisoned during Giant Hogweed control operations) along By-way 105.

About 21 Canada Geese were flying west. A large Common Frog was in the Riverkeeper Volunteers yard.

Back at the Wetland a Darter landed on a dumped fridge on the Sewer Pipe Embankment and 8 Long-tailed Tits were at the east end of the site. 9 Ring-necked Parakeets flew over late in the afternoon.

A Darter dragonfly and a Dipteran fly share a perch on a dumped fridge at TRW

After working on the Wetland I went over to the south end of Dartford Marshes, but there were no ducks on the flooding fields yet. Around 92 Canada Geese flew up from the east side of the River Darent, and flew low over my head. OK they're not native, but there was still something majestic about the experience!

4/11:

A flock of 23 Goldfinches were flitting about at the east end of Thames Road Wetland early this morning.

Reedmace removal operations revealed another Water Vole latrine,, though not as fresh as the one on 7/10.

I went out onto Dartford Marshes again, and in the by now very gloomy conditions, made out 10 (most likely) white-rumped Greylag Geese on one of the flooded fields.

18 and 22/4/10: Barnehurst butterflies

In the garden:

18/4/10 - a Green-veined White

22/4/10 - a definite Peacock ID (probable sighting of this species a few days ago also), also a 7-spot Ladybird.

8/4/2010: Small Tortoiseshell bonanza

Well OK, not quite, but I was delighted to see two Small Tortoiseshell butterflies chasing each other over a nettle patch near the Old Manor Way entrance to Barnehurst Golf Course on this sunny afternoon. I was on my way to do some Great Crested Newt surveying. But frankly, these things are a lot harder to find by far at the moment. Two is about as many as I've seen in the whole of the past four or five years. One can only hope that the cold winter might have pegged back the parasite that it's thought might be responsible for their decline down here in the warmer south. The last time I saw any number together - as was usually the case when I was a teenager back in the 70s - was several years ago up in Lancaster.

Also down at this end of the golf course was a Comma.

Later on I saw what were probably three different Peacock buterflies at the Thames Rd wetland site, two of which were busy chasing each other about.

20/7/09: Peacock parade

More Peacock butterflies in 4 days than I've seen in the last four years:

16/7 - 1 in the shrub bed above the road on Gravel Hill

17/7 - 1 on plot 16, Grasmere allotments, Barnehurst

18/7 - 4 on one Buddleia bush, Ridge Rd., Winchmore Hill in Enfield

20/7 - 1 on Buddleia in my Barnehurst garden

The sad fact of the matter is that 4 Peacocks in one garden at one time wouldn't have been 'news' when I was a teenager back in the 1970s ......

13/07/09: Peacock in the greenhouse

Another species of butterfly that was fairly common in my youth, but is now rarely seen in my Barnehurst garden, is the Peacock. One had got itself into the greenhouse this morning and took a while to find its way out again. Buddleia was where I usually saw these fantastic insects, but as in recent years, there has been next to no butterfly action on my 'Butterfly Bush' from one day to the next.