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Tuesday 15th January 2019 Four volunteers met up with Ranger Mark for our first work party of 2019. It wasn't too cold and didn't quite rain - not bad for January! The main activity was clearing up the small amount of debris left behind after the massive flailing operation carried out by contractors to open up the areas either side of the main paths and the Boardwalk. This should encourage a greater variety of flowers, which in turn will hopefully attract a larger number of butterflies and other insects. At this time of the year litter usually hidden by the undergrowth becomes more visible and more accessible. We found quite a lot of rubbish which had been dumped over the fence separating the Reserve from back gardens in the Bramble Tye / Thistle Close area. We collected some of it and hope to pick up the rest at the next work party. All the ponds except Prewers now have water in them, but only Meadow Pond could be described as reasonably full. It's now unlikely that they will dry out completely, but if the water levels fall too low and there are heavy frosts, then their aquatic populations of crustaceans, worms, snails, nymphs etc could be threatened. Birds to look or listen out for if you're taking a walk through the Reserve are blackbirds, blue tits, chiffchaffs, great tits, jays, long-tailed tits, magpies and wood pigeons. (Reports of sightings for animals and flowers not already listed for 2019 on the web site's wildlife page are always welcome.) Tuesday 19th February 2019 There was a good turnout of six adult volunteers and also three children, which made for a pleasant change. On our wildlife walks, I've noticed that children often spot things which adults miss, partly because they're closer to the ground, but also because they tend to be more alert and have sharper senses. Ranger Mark investigated yet another incursion into the Reserve from the builder's yard which borders the Eastern edge. Although we've not had any reports of problems with dogs from the yard running loose in the Reserve for a while now, the dumping and possible burning of waste rubbish from the yard still happens from time to time. Meanwhile the majority of the volunteers determinedly fought their way through the blackthorn to the area behind Thistle Close and started to clear up the litter which we'd come across at last month's work party. A range of household goods had been thrown over the fence including cutlery, ornaments, clothing and toys. By the end of the afternoon we'd filled six large bin bags which we took back to the central area, for them to be collected by the Council. At last the ponds have started filling, and they should be full enough for the frogs and newts to breed in. We don't have many frogs, but in previous years spawn has been seen in Willow and Puckles Ponds, and with the current spell of warm weather now is a good time to start looking for it. Also the warmth may have brought out some butterflies - red admiral, peacock, and comma have all been recorded in the last week within a few miles of the Reserve. Tuesday 19th March 2019 It started out as a lovely sunny day for the five volunteers who turned up for this month's work party coordinated by Ranger Mark, but it clouded over later. The recent rain had left the ground very wet with some waterlogged patches visible in the wooded areas. Three of us braved the blackthorn behind Willow Pond to remove the remains of a 'camp' (burned out chairs, bottles, cans etc), while the other two continued clearing the drainage ditch which goes from Puckles Pond to the little stream running along the north east border of the Reserve. Meanwhile Ranger Mark did some renovation work on the Spanish Steps, refixing one of the protective edge strips which had come loose. Spring flowers are now starting to appear. Our small patch of primroses is in bud, violets and white dead nettles can be seen along Plotlands Way, daffodils are flowering in the East Meadow, and overhead are lovely displays of willow catkin. Although we had the first newt sighting of the year and saw a huge buff-tailed bumblebee queen, we are still awaiting our first butterflies. A useful project would be to cross-reference butterflies and moths seen in the Reserve with plants which their caterpillars feed on (and similarly for other insects such as sawflies, whose larvae look like caterpillars but have more prolegs). Caterpillar food plants found in the Reserve include nettles (red admiral, peacock, comma), wild grasses (gatekeeper, meadow brown), ragwort (cinnabar), and birds-foot trefoil (common blue). Tuesday 16th April 2019 Ranger Mark was again on hand to lead the five volunteers who turned out on a sunny but not particularly warm afternoon. The main task was to do some renovation work on the Noak Steps (the ones furthest away from the A127 entrance to the Reserve). The other job was to replace the notices by the ponds warning visitors that it was once again the season of the newts, whose habitats are protected by law against disturbance. (Newts were seen in three of the ponds, but the water was quite murky and we still haven't had a definite sighting of a great crested this year.) Wildlife was more in evidence this month with the Spring weather bringing out the butterflies (including brimstones, painted ladies, peacocks and red admirals), and a pair of mallards possibly taking up residence in Puckles Pond. These are less often seen on the Reserve, partly because Willow Pond has shrunk considerably over the years, to the extent that for most of the year it is now two separate pools of water. Flowers to look out while walking round the Reserve are chickweed, garlic mustard and violets (Plotlands Way), greater stitchwort (along the Woodland paths), periwinkle (towards the far end of the Boardwalk), and germander speedwell (in the central grassy area). Tuesday 7th May 2019 A couple of volunteers turned up for this interim work party called at short notice by Ranger Mark to finish off jobs from 16th April. The weather turned out to be better than expected with the sun shining for most of the afternoon. We added an extra wooden support post to both sets of steps, and put up warning signs by Willow Pond (deep water, and beware of the newts). The large spreading lilac bush on the way to Fox Pond is in full bloom, while the ground flora along the High Ridge and the sides of the woodland path is now dominated by the white blosom of the greater stitchwort. The mallards seem to be settling in Puckles Pond (but no sign of a nest yet) and there was a moorhen in Meadow Pond (at the far end of the boardwalk), the first one recorded in the Reserve since 2015! Tuesday 21st May 2019 Only three volunteers came along for this month's work party, despite it being the loveliest of days, warm and sunny with just the slightest of breezes. As usual Ranger Mark was on hand to direct activities, the first of which was to investigate a tent that had been put up deep within the wooded area behind Fox Pond. After some discussion we decided to take the tent down, but leave it there, giving its owner the chance to take it away. This isn't the first time that we've had to deal with people, presumably homeless, who have decided to set up home in the Reserve. It makes one wonder just how many people are living 'in the wild' in this country. We then continued with the more mundane task of keeping the paths clear, cutting the nettles encroaching on the start of the woodland path, and clipping back the briars brambles and blackthorn along the boardwalk approaching Meadow Pond. Unfortunately the signs that we put up recently by Willow Pond have again been vandalised and need replacing, probably a task for the June work party. It looks like the best place to put them is in the middle of the pond. Though the water level at present isn't very deep it means putting on waders and venturing into the deep mud at the bottom of the pond, always slightly hazardous. The summer flower that most characterises the Reserve is the vetch which is now coming into flower. Mainly various shades of purple but occasionally white, it can reach a height of five feet before dying back in the Autumn. There is still some confusion about which species it belongs to, but Jim Bishop (who is the closest we've had to a plant expert) identified it primarily as fodder vetch. However there is so much variation in colour and size that it's probably hybridised. Other flowers have not fared so well over the years. The lupins which flourished in Lupins Grove were flooded out two years running and are unlikely to return. Yellow rattle, alcanet, the common poppy and yellow loosestrife are less common than they were, and I didn't see any water lilies in Willow Pond last year. Flowers that have become better established include goats rue, dog violet, fleabane, garlic mustard and greater stitchwort. The main purpose of the cleared scrubland area is to allow a rough meadow to develop and thus encourage a wider variety of flowering plants to grow in the Reserve. Tuesday 18th June 2019 This looked like it was going to be a busy afternoon, with four volunteers, a Viking 6 Rotary Mower, various other equipment and a couple of Basildon Council workers on hand for Ranger Mark to organise. Unfortunately it wasn't long before it began raining heavily, so the strimming and grass cutting ceased, and after a while spent huddling in the storage shelter we decided to call it a day. Our only success was to replace the deep water warning sign in the centre of Willow Pond before the downpour started. Last month I was bemoaning the lack of yellow rattle, not having seen any last year, but a large patch appears to be flourishing in the central area (alongside the cleared scrubland). Yellow rattle is considered an aid to species diversity because it is semi-parasitic on the roots of grasses, and this helps gives other meadow flowers more of a chance to thrive. It's also the food plant for several species of caterpillar (including those of the rare grass rivulet moth) as well as a favoured source of nectar for bumble bees. (The UK has 25 bumble bee species, including 6 species of cuckoo bumble bees, which do as they are named - lay their eggs in the nests of other bees.) The summer flowers are now blossoming, with the purple pink and occasional white vetch coming into full bloom. Other flowers that can be seen in the Reserve at this time of the year include white campion, mallow, ox-eye daisies, black medic, meadow vetchling and hedge woundwort. Tuesday 16th July 2019 It was a glorious sunny day, but the heat and humidity wasn't ideal for outside work. Nevertheless four volunteers turned out to be met by Ranger Gary and a couple of assistants, courtesy of Basildon District Council. The plan was to have a major strimming and mowing session, but although the equipment was on hand the fuel for them wasn't available, so we continued as best we could using hand tools. As is usual at this time of the year, the primary task was to cut back the brambles, blackthorn, dog roses and nettles along the pathways, the boardwalks and around the platform at Meadow Pond. Meadow Pond is the only pond which currently looks reasonably healthy - Fox and Willow ponds are completely dry, and Puckles Pond is quite low with its surface almost invisible beneath a thick layer of duckweed and algae. The warm weather brought out lots of insect wildlife, especially butterflies, mainly marbled whites, large whites, skippers and meadow browns. There were also damselflies and dragonflies on display, but the only species we managed to identify for certain was a ruddy darter. The flowers are now at their most colourful. While walking through the Reserve you can see the purples and blues of vetch (which now dominates the East Meadow), black horehound, great willowherb and spear thistle, the yellows of creeping cinquefoil, fleabane, bristly ox-tongue and ragwort, and the whites of the field and (larger) hedge bindweeds. Harder to spot, but worth the effort of searching for in the dryer grassy areas, are the small red flowers of the scarlet pimpernel. Tuesday 20th August 2019 There were four volunteers this month, with Ranger Mark returning to organise the activities. The main task was strimming the sides of the walkway leading to the Western side of the Reserve. Meanwhile a couple of us used hand tools to clear overhanging growth (mainly brambles) along the Woodland Path. The warm and sunny weather brought out plenty of dragonflies (hawkers and darters) and butterflies, mainly 'whites' and 'blues'. (The large white has more black on the tip and along the edges of the upper wings than the small white; the blue butterflies are best identified by looking at their underwings.) The summer flowers are starting to die away, including the vetch and the golden rod (which again put on a splendid display behind the Prewer's Pond bench), but purple loosestrife, mallow and red bartsia still provide splashes of colour. The ponds are in a sorry state, with only Meadow Pond and Puckles Pond containing any water. The latter does however have plenty of frogs (good news for the grass snakes), but there is also a large patch of swamp stonecrop, which despite its pretty bright green colour is generally considered bad - it's an invasive species from Australasia that outcompetes other plants. The storage container now has an information display explaining the various biodiverse features which adorn its outer wooden cladding. Already the 'solitary bee chambers' and 'insect hotels' are being put to good use. Hopefully the sedum roof will provide pollen for foraging bees in the early summer, and shelter for smaller invertebrates. Tuesday 17th September 2019 Again we had lovely weather for the work party, sunny and mild. And again, Ranger Mark was on hand to organise the four volunteers who turned up. The invasive swamp stonecrop in Puckles Pond continues to spread, but Mark decided its removal is best left to specialist contractors, so our main task this month was to clear away the vandalised hand rails from the Spanish Steps - the whole of one side had to be taken down. We also cut back new growth that was encroaching on the platform by Meadow Pond, and took down a tent in the cleared scrubland area. The main dipping platform at Puckles Pond is now gone, and there are no immediate plans for it to be replaced. It's expensive to maintain, and doesn't get a lot of use. However the wooden walk which approached it is still there, so it's possible to get a good view of what's left of the water. The recent rain has come just in time to stop it drying up completely. This is the best place to see frogs in the Reserve, though the ones we saw were covered in duck weed which made them hard to spot. The ponds have been a major feature of the Reserve for so long it's easy to take them for granted, but most of them now dry up for long periods over the summer months. Even Meadow Pond, which is once again chock-a-block with typha (great reedmace), looks like it may need digging out at some point. Despite the lateness of the year there were plenty of butterflies about, especially speckled woods, and also a few whites, but this is the second year running we've had no reports of any small tortoiseshells. These should be fairly common as the Reserve has plenty of stinging nettles which is the main foodplant for their caterpillars. (Large tortoiseshells used to be common in the UK 100 years ago, but are now considered to be extinct, though occasional sightings of migrants are recorded.) Tuesday 15th October 2019 Although the previous couple of days had been rainy, the afternoon of the work party was very pleasant. We had five volunteers this month, with Ranger Mark as usual coordinating activities. The most important job was to do some more renovation work on the Spanish Steps (the ones closest to the A127 footbridge entrance). There was also some cutting back to be done, mainly brambles. Of our seven ponds, three are dry and two are just muddy (though still attractive to frogs). Only Meadow Pond continues to retain any depth of water. We bemoan the continual vandalism of our 'Deep Water' signs, but fortunately their absense isn't currently endangering the public. The weather probably wasn't warm enough to tempt out any late-flying butterflies, but some dragonflies were about (including a common darter and a migrant hawker). A few ground flowers struggled to provide a splash of colour (herb robert, bristly ox-tongue, fleabane, hawkbit and bindweed) but October's best displays are the large patch of Michaelmas daisies behind the bench near Prewer's Pond, and the vast array of haws alongside the Meadow Boardwalk. There were also a surprising number of fungi to be seen (more than I remember in 2018), a reminder that the only fungus foray the Reserve has hosted was twenty years ago! Tuesday 19th November 2019 Ranger Mark was on hand to welcome the five volunteers who turned up for what was our last work party of 2019. The afternoon stayed dry but the ground was wet following recent rain. There wasn't much to do around the Reserve, so the opportunity was taken to tidy up the storage container. Meanwhile a couple of us were dispatched to Lupin Grove to clear away the encroaching shrub and small saplings. Lupins haven't been seen there for a long time following two consecutive years when the area was covered by ground water for long periods, but it's a pleasant glade and is worth keeping free from blackthorn and brambles so as to encourage some of the smaller woodland flowers to grow there. Meadow Pond looked fine, but the other ponds were either dry or little more than large puddles. If this continues then perhaps a choice will have to be made whether to artifially maintain the levels of water, or treat them as 'occasional ponds' which are expected to be dry for much of the year but will hopefully last long enough for our frogs and newts to breed in. Almost all the flowers have now disappeared apart from the white dead nettles, a few clumps of cow parsley not yet gone to seed, and the occasional straggly hawkweed. To compensate we have lots of autumn fungi including honey fungus, candle-snuff fungus and a splendid display of clitocybe in the areas alongside the woodland paths. |