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ARE FRIENDS ELECTRIC? BATTERY BRUSHCUTTER BRINGS MORE POWER TO THAMES ROAD WETLAND VOLUNTEER'S ELBOWS ....Readers of previous posts about this site will by now be familiar with the proportion of our time being taken up with trying to control Reed (Phragmites australis) growth, which outcompetes other species, leading to a monoculture, as well as speeding up the drying out of the site by reducing water depth through a rising rootmat and production of large amounts of leaf and stem litter.
Since we first started rotational cutting a few years ago, all Reed management has been done manually, with either slashers, shears and/or scythes. None of these kill the Reed, which grows back quickly, and needs cutting again - rather sooner and more frequently than volunteers can fully manage, which has led to some grumbling from the seasoned veterans who come dowm most weeks. Just to illustrate the point, thanks to rising temperatures, new Reed growth had put on around a foot in height in just the one week since our previous event.
Help is now at hand. After succesful trial last December, using machines kindly brought down by Braeburn Park (LWT) chief Simon Hawkins, which showed that battery brush cutters could deal with dense stands of dead winter Reed stem, that we could get a sensible period of use off each battery charge and that noise levels were acceptable, Thames21 has now met our request for such a device - which also means we can nomially use renewable energy and not petrol - and it was put to use for the first time last Friday (12th April). Volunteer Ray, who is currently the only one of us who has previously had the necessary training in brushcutter use, pronounced himself well pleased with the device.
We're hoping that cutting fresh stems below the surface will start to 'drown' the plants (as shown by academic research), significantly slowing re-growth. This will also reduce the total amount of biomass that needs stacking on our already gigantic 'compost heaps'.
While the new kit dealt with the cutting, other volunteers were freed up for raking out cut material along with accumulations of silt and partially rotted material, helping to restore more depth to the water.
On another positive note, we had an excellent turnout of 10 volunteers, on what was yet another sunny day at the site, plus our staff suport worker Michael O'Neill. Due to the 12th being in the easter school holiday period, we were able to welcome a school student with her father, as well as our older contingent. She saw her first Lizards, and was amongst the group that also saw a pair of Buzzards fly over. Thanks to Clare, Ian, Alex, LIz, Elio, Chris, Amelia, Ray and Pamela
Our next staff-supported event will be in June. Message Ray Hudson <rayhudson28@gmail.com> for details of the smaller volunteer-led sessions prior to that, which alsio take place of Fridays.
Photos by Michael O'Neill.
Chris Rose, Volunteer Site Manager.
Friends of Foots Cray Meadows - photography competition.Entries can relate to any aspect of the wonderful public open space that is the Foots Cray Meadows, its beauty, its landscape and its wildlife.
Closing date is 1st June 2024. Photographs must be submitted in digital form. Up to 5 are allowed per entrant.
The winner will receive a £50 Amazon voucher plus a mounted copy of their winning picture and a year’s free FFCM membership.
Only FFCM members can enter, but anyone wishing take part is invited to join the group - cost is £5 per year per household. For details of the competition and membership, see:
Photography Competition 2024 | Foots Cray Meadows
www.footscraymeadows.org
The Friends of Foots Cray Meadows (FFCM) committee invites you to take part in our inaugural Photography Competition 2024. With just a camera or your mobile phone, you have the exciting opportunity t...
DATE FOR YOUR DIARY - RUXLEY GRAVEL PITS CLEAN-UP EVENT** Please share to anyone who may be interested in helping **
From: Lucy.Sawyer-Boyd@kent.gov.uk <Lucy.Sawyer-Boyd@kent.gov.uk>
I am organising a big volunteer litter clearance day at Ruxley Gravel Pits on Friday 2nd August.
This large Site of Special Scientific Interest is usually closed to the public, but the River Cray flows through the site and brings with it lots of litter.
We will be attempting to remove as much of this litter as possible.
I am inviting several different groups to take part and hoping to make a big impact.
Whilst most of the area is in Bromley, the northern edge falls within the London Borough of Bexley.
Please feel free to forward this to any individual contacts and local volunteer groups who might want to get involved.
Many thanks.
Best wishes.
Lucy Sawyer-Boyd
Partnership Officer, North West Kent Countryside Partnership,
Hall Place, Bourne Road, Bexley, Kent, DA5 1PQ
Tel: 0300 0410589/ Mobile:07809334071
HOLT HOSTS NATIONALLY RARE PLANTS INITIATIVE AT LESNESEstate Manager Ian Holt reports that Lesnes Abbey Woods volunteers, working with Dr Mark Spencer, have recently sown both
Tower Mustard (Turritis glabra) and Copse Bindweed (Fallopia dumetorum) seed in an effort to aid species recovery.
Until its discovery at Lesnes in 2018, the last known Tower Mustard record for Kent (where it was believed to be extinct) was in 1964. It has declined nationally, especially since the 1930s. The seed has good longevity in the seed bank, so it can reappear years after it was last seen.
Thanks to a book about the woods by Marriott, which provides lists of species present at the site in the early 1900's, we know that Copse Bindweed was present back then. Ian says he thinks they have identified where the Copse Bindweed was last found. Volunteers have helped clear this area of vegetation, and a mature oak at this location has also fallen, so the team is hoping that increased light levels will encourage germination from the seed bank. There is one case from Kent where the species came back after 124 years.
As a back up, seed collected from London's only current Copse Bindweed site has been sown in pots . At the moment the
plan is to tend to any successful seedlings and then sink the pots into the ground in the wood. If plants emerge from the Lesnes seed bank, the pots will be whipped out and used elsewhere.
Mark Spencer is co-ordinator of work to produce a new atlas of wild and 'escaped' plants in London, and has also been behind the recovery of the nationally scarce Marsh Sow-thistle, having fortuitously saved seed from the last individual in the capital at Crayford Marshes. This was subsequently destroyed. Plants from these seeds were planted out at Thames Road Wetland where over the ensuing 13 years the population has thrived and increased in numbers.
Pleased to see Thames Road Wetland s 1st Green Hairstreak of the year at the Thames21 workparty on 12/4.The site was excavated to form the wetland in 2007, and the wildlife has been closely monitored by myself starting in 2010. This species was first seen here in 2016. It tends to form small colonies, and from memory I've only ever seen 2 or 3 t at a time here, so it's always a minor relief to find it's persisted through another winter.
The adults are usually found along the south-facing Thames Road bank, and the larvae are likely to be feeding on the Gorse and/or Dogwood at this location, and possibly the Bird's-foot Trefoil up by the road, though this has suffered badly in the last couple of long dry springs.
Peacock, Comma, Brimstone, Speckled Wood and unidentified 'small' Whites were also out on this date.
Chris Rose. Volunteer Site Manager.
Category Archives: Litter
FoTS launches expanded programme of events: group to fill environment/wildlife action void at Danson and take on maintenance of the Old English Garden
Committee member Mandy Stevens writes: Following our successful litter picks in and around Danson Park lake (which drains into the River Shuttle) earlier this year and last summer, we have been discussing with Bexley Council whether we could run other conservation … Continue reading
Cray Riverkeepers to launch boat blitz on lower Cray wash-out litter problem
As previously reported on BW, the lower Cray beyond Maiden Lane bridge is suffering from the large amounts of litter that gets washed into it as a result of the bankside undergrowth in which it was trapped dying back during … Continue reading
Posted in Cray Riverkeepers, Environment, Fish, Litter, River Cray, River Thames, Rivers, Thames21, Volunteering
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Two Cetti’s Warblers winter along lower Cray
Two Cetti’s Warblers were again heard along the lower Cray on Monday (March 9th) , one in the scrub between the Cray and River Wansunt just below Maiden Lane, and one on Thames Road Wetland. The species first bred in … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, Crossness, Litter, River Cray, Rivers, Thames Road Wetland
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Crossness team clear major roadside eyesore
Today (Feb 27th), despite a cold and frosty start, the sun shone on 9 of us as we undertook a major litter pick adjacent the Crossness Southern Marsh. Some recent illegal grazing under the flyover next to the southern marsh, … Continue reading
Friends of the Shuttle volunteers remove rubbish from more Council open spaces
Another productive Friends of the Shuttle river-cleaning event took place today (12th February) at Crofton Avenue, Bexley. 15 bags of waste and recyclables were collected by 8 volunteers braving the chilly weather. Our haul also included a child’s car seat, a … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, Litter, Open spaces, River Shuttle, Rivers, Volunteering
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Friends of Crossness reserve clear litter eyesores
Crossness Nature Reserve Manager, Karen Sutton writes: The public footpath that runs along the bottom of the Crossness Nature Reserve, is a pleasant wooded path with plenty of Ash, Hazel and scrub. Unfortunately however, the path gets heavily littered with … Continue reading
Posted in Crossness Nature Reserve, Erith Marshes, Litter, Volunteering
Tagged Southern Marsh
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New budget consult: opportunity to support open space ‘maintenance’ reductions over sell-offs, plus more recycling and new energy-saving/light pollution measures
Bexley Council is consulting on further budget-savings proposals which could save open spaces, increase recycling and cut carbon emissions and light pollution, thereby benefiting wildlife and people. The deadline for responses is February 20th. It’s important that as many of … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley Council, BNEF, Budget, Consultations, Environment, Land sales, Light pollution, Litter, Open spaces, Parks, Recycling
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FotS Danson clear-up garners headlines
Last Thursday’s (Jan 29th) very well supported, and clearly much-needed, clean up in and around Danson lake, organised by the Friends of the Shuttle, has been reported by the News Shopper: http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/bexley/11770062.Litter_pickers_collect_68_bags_of_rubbish_from_Danson_Lake/ This event has shown, as did the one … Continue reading
Posted in Bexley, Friends of the Shuttle, Litter, Parks, River Shuttle, Volunteering
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Two weeks to second FotS@Danson lake clean-up – sign up now!
Friends of the Shuttle is looking forward to its second mass litter pick of Danson Park Lake at the end of this month, after the successful ‘premiere’ last June. The water from the lake flows into the Shuttle in Bexley … Continue reading
Posted in Friends of the Shuttle, Litter, Parks, River Shuttle, Volunteering
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