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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: Ruxley Gravel Pits
Willow Emerald damselfly colonisation of Bexley takes a leap forward
The Willow Emerald damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis), a recent natural colonist of the UK, was first found in Bexley in September 2016. Now into its second known flight season here, it has been found at three more sites in the Borough … Continue reading
Willow Emerald damselfly found at Ruxley, on Bexley’s doorstep ….
The Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis), one of Britain’s newest natural colonist species, has been found and photographed by bicycling birder Ian Stewart at Ruxley Gravel pits on 6th September. The identification, and status as the first record of the species … Continue reading
Ruxley Gravel Pits 2015 Bird Report
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Ruxley Gravel Pits Nature Reserve – 7th February report
It was a cold crisp morning when ten volunteers ventured into the gravel pits. They worked in two groups cutting down saplings and small trees as well as fighting their way through the inevitable bramble. Because of all the exertion an early lunch … Continue reading
Thirteen turn out in snow to crack on with Ruxley nature reserve vegetation management
The first snow of the winter didn’t deter the working party of 13 people at Ruxley Gravel Pits on Sunday 17th January. It was interesting to see the footprints in the snow and the tracks across the frozen icy water where the birds … Continue reading
Ruxley team strengthens link with other local conservation groups
The Ruxley Gravel Pits Nature reserve team, which works at this SSSI on the River Cray just over the border in Bromley, hosted a visit to the site by members of other hands-on conservation groups on Tuesday 8th December to … Continue reading
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Ruxley workparty opens up wet areas
Although Sunday 5th December turned out unseasonably warm the volunteer numbers were slightly down. We divided into two parties working from different sides of the nature reserve, pushing back brambles and buddleia to open up the wet areas. The plan is to meet … Continue reading
Carry on coppicing – Ruxley team thins out Willows
Remembrance Sunday turned out to be a good day for the working party at Ruxley Gravel Pits Nature Reserve. The water levels were unexpectedly low despite some heavy rains during the week. The nine volunteers got stuck into hacking back the saplings which … Continue reading
Second ‘BW’ social a rather smaller affair
Twelve people came to the second ‘Bexley Wildlife Social on October 14th, whilst another half dozen found themselves unable to attend at the last moment for various reasons. We heard from Martin Watts and Linda Graham about the management of … Continue reading
Ruxley working group numbers grow – 14 help at September 27th event
Sunday 27th of September saw a glorious Indian summer day for the Ruxley Gravel Pits Nature Reserve [RGPNR] working party crew. Participation had increased to 14 people, who got stuck into the season’s regrowth of plants that would gradually shade or … Continue reading