Ahead of the next Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve newsletter, a preview of the site’s summer records has now been received from Manager Karen Sutton. Thanks are due to volunteer Roger Taylor for spreadsheeting the raw data.
Insect highlights were the rare Great Silver Diving Beetle (already covered in a separate story on this website) and a Clouded Yellow butterfly, a species very infrequently seen in the Borough.
Yellow Wagtail, Spotted Flycatcher, Mediterranean and Yellow-legged Gulls were notable birds. There were peak counts of 50 House Martin, 55 Linnet, 22 Meadow Pipit, 35 Pied Wagtail and 1,000 Starling, with numbers of other species starting to reflect migratory movements, such as 29 Swallow, and the settling in of prominent winter species with 155 Shelduck and 550 Teal.
A couple of Seals were seen off the site and there was another Weasel sighting.
PLEASE THINK ABOUT HELPING OUT AT THIS HUGELY IMPORTANT SITE FOR NATURE IN BEXLEY Ffi: Karen Sutton 07747 643958 / Karen.sutton@thameswater.co.uk £10 life membership of the Friends gets you into that fab two-storey bird hide …..
New Southern Marsh pool and boardwalk, with Crossness works wind turbine in the distance. (Photo: Chris Rose)