Wildlife Circus

At the indoor meeting of Surbiton and District Birdwatching Society, members shared their best birding moments in written form or screen presentation. Thinking it was about time I did a bird post - having recently  covered everything from glow worms to fish, I asked Simon if he would mind being my guest-blogger, as his writing was so evocative, I was transported straight to the coast, almost watching the same birds.  I used to go to Langstone with my late uncle - we were both members of the Hampshire Ornithological Society- who were lucky to have Chris Packham as their President. Chris is doing a 'Walk for Wildlife' 22.9.18 look out for the publicity, I hope you will all go. I like Simon's writing because he delights in everything from geese to gulls, not just the rarer species; he has the same conversations with himself as we had, when trying to identify waders. If you like his account then read J.A Bakers account of the Peregrine; see what you think. 'Hig...

  Ham Lands is a mass of yellow buttercups as well as white hawthorn and cow parsley; with three species of buttercup in the first meadow north of the  Thames Young Mariners. Buttercup identification features  are in a handy guide produced by the BSBI on Twitter below.    During my walk I heard sedge warbler in the burnt out reed bed, many dunnocks and blackcaps and > 15 song thrush territories over the two sides of the Mariners; this fell short of the usual standard walk but was sufficient to confirm that this is still one of London's top sites for song thrush. A common tern was flying over the lagoon despite the water sports and a brief kestrel appearance over the grassland. Sadly only a few whitethroat and no hirundines were seen at the moment .

  Yesterday, Richard Jefferies exited his blue-plaqued villa at Woodside, 296 Ewell Road, opposite the former St. Marks school(built on Tolworth Common during his 5 year  residence). Here he wrote, ' The copse adjoining the back gardens of Woodside was visited by pheasants, which sometimes strayed into the neighbours’ gardens. Early in the March mornings he woke to the ‘three clear, trumpet-like notes’ of a missel thrush ringing out from the copse. From his window in the evenings he could hear partridges calling. Stone-chats perched on the furze bushes of Tolworth Common. He strolled towards Tolworth Broadway and Greenway, followed by 30+ participants keen to locate RJ's observations from 'Nature Near London'; first published as a series of articles in the Pall Mall Gazette for the commuting public. In 1920 the very same paper celebrated his work by reprinting excerpts from his regular column - along with joining instructions for his walks - by tram and motorbus-b...

  Many participants on our afternoon stroll, had been on a morning litter pick, around the snowy, service roads on the Sunray Estate; they had a jolly good turn out despite the obvious weather - related- inclemencies. After meeting at the Court Farm Garden Centre Cafe (aka as CFGCC) we took the Old Kingston Road, overlooking  snow covered fields; and saw the kestrel, twice. I imagine however that the kestrel saw a lot more of us. There was a brief discussion on Mercy - we couldn't remember how to avoid straying snowballs, but fortunately our young assailant had a familial enemy in his sights. According to Wikipedia, 'Mercy' is a regular game and is more popular when played in the snow. Players must use the basic mercy stance: twisting fingers, pushing to the ground - whilst of course - avoiding snowballs. The person who says 'Mercy!' or gets floored loses the game. We used to say 'Uncle' but no doubt you will have your own version and the safe wo...

The second  walk in the series presented by myself and walking artist Lucy Furlong, was designed to highlight features in the Tolworth Edgelands and it's environs. The edgelands are a window through social and cultural history; as well as being a reservoir for the shyer species of animals and birds, such as badger, deer, kestrels and buzzards etc. Tolworth was an inspiration to the nature writer - Richard Jefferies (see previous post), and we followed in his footsteps, as well as navigating the informal pathways and desire lines made by  animals, birds, and people. Tithe maps and the tithe apportionment are sound  documents for historical research regarding past land use; as well as dissertations available in the Local History Room (at the back of the Guildhall); one comprises a series of interviews with staff that lived and worked in the Worcester Park. This included the silk printing mill whose remnants exist at the Bristows haulage yard and until 2017, the mill w...

On Friday team members from Natural England and DEFRA,  from  the south-east and London regions, descended on Tolworth Court Farm Moated Manor on an awayday; to assist us with the ongoing management of the site. Elliot gave a tool talk, prior to participants extending the dead hedge along the boundary with the Hogsmill footpath. Materials were procured from a local woodsman who delivered to us before the day began.   Hazel faggots  and stakes were unloaded and taken to an area under where the previous group - a Duke of Edingburgh award scheme- had finished. By the end of the day our compost toilet had a coat of protective paint and the hedge had increased substantially in length. dead headge Panisha and Robbie painting the compost loo    Participants were surprised at the amount of bird life present as we watched jays,  woodpeckers and kestrels; as well as a number of small birds such as goldfinches.   Many thanks to particip...

During a wet Sunday morning seven of us met at Tolworth Court Farm to survey the hedgerows. We used a standard methodology, as well as recording sheets provided to us during a training session at the Lower Moles office (Horton Country Park) earlier this Autumn. This required a qualitative analysis of the hedgerow from 'soup to nuts' i.e.: measurements of height, length, depth, canopy cover, species, evidence of nutrient enrichment, management, presence or absence of features including banks, fencing or 'nodes'. We found that the hedgerows were: species rich (ash, oak, willow, birch, alder, hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, dogwood and field maple) absent in invasive species; surprisingly absent in sycamore; recently managed, evidenced by the brush cutting of brambles; recently planted or 'gapped' (by field maples and dogwood); exhibiting some coppicing of willows; and as we reached the end of the first field, increasingly 'unimproved' with a marked abs...