Two of our group members visited Cliffe Pools recently and they report that, after parking in the RSPB car park at the bottom of Salt Lane, they were refused entry to the reserve by workmen. I have contacted the RSPB Reserve Office and they have supplied me with the following information. Dumping of rubbish on […]
The Chase – a wildlife gem between Romford and Dagenham, covering 48 hectares and with a mix of habitats. Shallow wetland, woodland, grassland and the river Rom. Five of us meet on a sunny, warm autumnal morning in the tranquility of The Chase, in a corner of Dagenham, away from the hustle and bustle of […]
Thankfully the rain promised for the South east stayed clear of Dungeness till we were leaving. The day was cool but bright when we set off from the lighthouse hoping to see a variety of gulls frantically feeding on the ‘patch’. But it wasn’t there! The upsurge of warm water from the power station had […]
On Tuesday we had our second “bee” walk, organised for us by Nikki Gammans of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. (The first was at Dungeness RSPB reserve). We were met at Cliffe Pools RSPB reserve by Rosie of Buglife and, after an introductory talk, we set off armed with nets and plastic pots. To begin with […]
During lunch, at our recent trip to Sevenoaks Reserve, Derek introduced the topic of the proposed Swanscombe Recommended Marine Conservation Zone (as you do!). If, like me, you thought that Marine Conservation Zones are all about dolphins and sea horses, then think again! The Thames, between Greenhithe and Swanscombe (Broadness Point) has been proposed as […]
Fifteen of us met and decided to walk along the sea wall as the tide was on the way in. We saw little grebe, cormorant, black headed gulls, heron, avocet in flight, coot, moorhen, mute swan, lapwing, starling and a mediterranean gull. Pied wagtails were busy foraging among the rocks. A wasp spider was seen […]
Our bumblebee walk at Dungeness on Saturday produced a worker bumblebee that had collected green pollen. I thought this was really odd (the green colour that is). A google search revealed that Rosebay Willowherb has green pollen. So today I went in search. And it does! I burst open an anther (pictured) and out popped […]
We recently had an indoor talk from Dr. Nikki Gammans of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust on bumblebees. At the end of the talk she said that she would be happy to arrange for our group to visit Dungeness RSPB reserve to find out more about bumblebees and the conservation work being carried out to reverse […]