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Tuesday 17th January 2023 Despite the brightly shining sun, this was probably the coldest work party we've had. Most of the ponds as well as the many patches of ground water were frozen over and everything was covered in a light layer of frost (which looked very pretty). Six volunteers arrived to find four Basildon Council workers already busy clearing the abandoned camp behind Lupin Grove. Two of the Society's members had done a litter-pick earlier in the day so attention turned to the other camp in the north east corner of the Reserve near Meadow Pond. As well as abandoned plastic bags, bottles and jars, a range of larger objects were removed from the two camps including a ladder, a tyre, a shopping trolley and several lengths of wood which looked like part of the old hand-rails from the Spanish Steps. Following the recent rains only Fox Pond is still short of water, but at least it's no longer dry. The overflow from Willow Pond continues to flow into the nearby drain via the small temporary channel dug out last month, which has successfully prevented water spilling out on to the main path. There was very little wildlife seen apart from some hibernating wood mice temporarily disturbed while clearing the litter from one of the camps, and a few larger birds - wood pigeons, a jay (flying across the cleared scrubland), magpies and a couple of mallards. Tuesday 21st February 2023 We had six volunteers for the February work party on what was a cloudy but fairly mild afternoon. No one turned up from Basildon Countryside Services (again) but we managed to keep ourselves busy. The main task was to remove the dead leaves clogging the ditch which drains the overflow from Puckles Pond. When cleared, it flows under both woodland paths and into the sluggish stream on the north side of the Reserve (which eventually runs into the River Crouch). All the ponds are full, with the exception of Fox Pond which is still less than half its usual size for this time of the year. However there are few signs of life in the water - if anyone spots any frogspawn, please post here! (We see it so rarely in the Reserve that it's something of a mystery why we still have plenty of frogs.) The cherry blossom is now out and provides a welcome splash of pink and white amongst the trees, but the recent cold weather has delayed most of the early spring flowers, which must be a disappointment for the bumblebees already waking up from their hibernation. These will be impregnated queens that have survived the winter in holes underground, and are now looking for nesting sites to start their colonies. Tuesday 21st March 2023 The work party that never was! Though not for lack of people - three volunteers, a couple of Society members to wish us well, and two BDC workers. Unfortunately no one present knew the combination of the storage container lock so we were unable to access our tools. After chatting for a while, and as it was looking a bit like rain and a litter-pick had already been done in the morning, most ecided to leave it at that. However we did have a litter-picker and some bin bags, and it was decided to venture into the scrub behind Puckles Pond and clear out the various bottles, cans, plastic packets and foil wrappers which had accumulated there. It was very mild, and when the clouds cleared a little the sun peeped out, which eventually made for a pleasant afternoon. The Reserve is still looking sodden and boggy in many areas with more groundwater than has been seen for several years. Fox Pond is only half its usual size, but all the other ponds are full, especially Willow Pond, the southern end of which is almost visible from the central area by the bird-table. Spring flowers are starting to appear - dark and light purple violets along Plotlands Way, hairy bittercress by Prewer's Pond, daffodils in the East Meadow, a few primroses, chickweed, lots of red dead nettles, and early willow catkins swaying in the breeze. If you're visiting the Reserve look out for long-tailed tits in the trees near the main Eastfield Road entrance, great tits in the blackthorn along the woodland path leading east, and glimpses of muntjak around Dragonfly Loop! Tuesday 18th April 2023 Our six regular volunteers turned up despite it being a grey cloudy afternoon with a cold gusting wind. Two Countryside Services workers were already on site, and we helped them replace some broken boards on the Meadow Link boardwalk (which is now seven years old). We also cleared up a fallen tree on the High Ridge so that it no longer encroached on the path. Earlier in the day two of the Society's members had done a litter-pick. Every year we remove hundreds of bottles and cans as well as large quantities of discarded plastic and paper wrappers. It wouldn't solve the problem completely but perhaps litter bins by the entrances might help? Even though we are approaching May the Reserve is water-logged in many areas, but we still have no reported sightings of frogs or newts. The warmer weather has finally brought out our remaining Spring flowers including greater stitchwort (whose white flowers will soon be carpeting the sides of the walks), a few Spanish bluebells, and a patch of periwinkle (a climbing plant with purple flowers which can be found on the left towards the Eastern end of the Meadow Link boardwalk). The blackthorn and hawthorn are now blossoming, and the lovely pink buds of the occasional crab apple tree are starting to open out. All in all, the Reserve is looking quite pretty! Tuesday 16th May 2023 Seven volunteers turned out on a warm sunny day to be met by Warden Nick and an assistant from Countryside Services who were busy strimming around the central area and along the westward leading path. A litter-pick had already been done earlier, so the main task, as usual at this time of the year, was to cut back the side-growth and overhanging foliage along the walks. There was also some renovation work done on the Noak Steps, and a list was compiled of further repairs needed on the Spanish Steps and the two boardwalks. The May blossom of the hawthorn is in full bloom, and together with the abundance of cow parsley and greater stitchwort along the paths, many of the hedgerows are now predominantly white instead of their usual green. All the ponds are looking good, though so far frogs and newts have only been seen in Meadow Pond. Despite the Society been told in September that that the mains water leak had been fixed, Willow Pond remains twice its usual size, stretching from within a few feet of Bridge Street to the edge of the central area - strange! There have been two reports this month of a greater spotted woodpecker, the latest being a sighting in the tall willows bordering Plotlands Way, so listen out for the sound of drumming if you are entering the Reserve via the Eastfield Road entrance. Tuesday 20th June 2023 There'd been some rain in the morning, but the sky slowly cleared and when the sun came out we were grateful for the light breeze. The six regular volunteers were met by a couple of workers from Countryside Services who had already strimmed the edges down both sides of Plotlands Way. In the course of the afternoon they reattached the netting on what remains of the dipping platform at Puckles Pond and mended some of the broken boards on Meadow Link. We did some further strimming along the boardwalks, and also cut back the side-growth along the Western footpath . The Reserve is now a mass of colour with all the summer flowers coming out. The delicate purple flowers of the tufted vetch dominate the lower hedgerows, but in the more open areas can be found yellow rattle, goat's rue, perforate St John's wort, buttercups, ox-eye daisies, agrimony, trefoils, creeping thistles, mallow and even the occasional red poppy. As the afternoon warmed up the butterflies appeared - mainly skippers, blues and speckled woods, with just one red admiral being sighted. The ponds looked nice, but only Meadow Pond seems to be flourishing, attracting many insects including several species of damselfly. The pond vegetation is a good mix of soft rush, broad-leaved pondweed and great reedmace, similar to how Willow Pond looked before we had several years of below average rainfall - it's now several years since water lilies last flowered there. Tuesday 18th July 2023 We had five volunteers this month, turning up on a cloudy humid day to find Warden Nick already strimming in the central area near the storage container. A litter-pick had been done earlier, so as usual during the summer months the main task was to cut back the new growth encroaching on the paths, mainly brambles and blackthorn. We also removed 25 nitrous oxide metal gas cannisters than had been dumped in Rosebay Pond by the Eastfield Road entrance. Apparently the discarded blue flasks are becoming a common problem in Basildon parks and public spaces, but it's probably the first time they've had to be cleared from the Reserve. Most of the ponds were in fine shape, apart from Fox Pond which was completely dry. Meadow Pond is full of life, but as the typha (great reedmace) takes over there's very little open water to be seen, with branched bur-reed, false fox sedge and club-rush flourishing in the shallower areas. At some point it will probably need digging out again. Willow and Puckles Ponds are covered in bright green duck weed, which the ducks enjoyed scooping up as they trawled through it. Despite the lack of sunshine there were lots of butterflies to be seen, with red admirals mainly along the High Ridge, peacocks in the meadows, and small and large whites fluttering around the hedgerows. In addition to the flowers mentioned in last month's report, many more are now in blossom including bindweed, black horehound, hedge mustard, knapweed, mugwort, nipplewort, teasel, water mint, willowherb and wood dock. Also delighting the eye is the pink carpet of herb Robert lining the side of Plotlands Way. (Herb Robert is named after the C11th French monk Saint Robert of Molesme, and has many traditional medicinal uses.) Tuesday 15th August 2023 It started out warm with a mild breeze, and gradually became hotter throughout the afternoon. Again we had just five volunteers (and sadly no new faces amongst them). The main task was to assist Warden Nick and two others from Countryside Services in fixing loose slats on the Meadow Boardwalk and replacing several of the boards. We also did some cutting back along the sides of the paths, and there was the usual litter-pick. Both sets of steps up to the High Ridge need attention, so maybe we'll do that at the September work party. The ponds are much the same as last month - Willow is full, Fox is dry and there are varying amounts of water in the others. Late summer flowers are now in bloom with a splendid display of fleabane dominating the meadow area on the Eastern side of the Reserve. We have two patches of honeysuckle in the woodland area; one has flowers but no berries, and the other has berries but no flowers! We still have plenty of butterflies fluttering about (especially blues, whites, skippers and speckled woods) but not many dragonflies or damselflies. The hedgerows are already bearing their Autumn fruits - blackberries, elderberries, haws and sloes are ripening fast, and a few fungi have appeared including a patch of bright red Russula in Lupin Grove (though it's ten years since lupins were last seen growing there). Tuesday 19th September 2023 This was our first work party starting at the new time of 12:30pm. It was changed in order to fit in better with the practices of Countryside Services, who start and finish earlier than in most jobs. The day was cloudy and a little windy, but despite the forecast the rain held off. By the time the six volunteers arrived, warden Nick and his assistant were already there with tools at the ready, including an improvised wooden carrying frame! The Spanish Steps have now been made safe with three of the steps repaired and the Noak Steps also received some attention. The renovation work on the boardwalks continues with some of the metal slats on the boardwalks being reseated. There was also the usual cutting back of side-growth along the paths, which focussed on removing the overhanging branches on the approach to Puckles Pond, and trimming the encroaching brambles and blackthorn along the side of the boardwalk leading to Meadow Pond. The recent rain has ensured that Puckles Pond retains a small amount of water, but Rosebay and Fox Ponds are both dry. Willow Pond is very full, presumably because of the nearby mains water leak earlier this year which may have had a lasting effect on the surrounding ground water. Meadow Pond is little more than a mass of great reedmace, so dense that the water is barely visible. There are fewer butterflies to be seen in the Reserve at this time of the year but speckled woods and small whites still flutter about when it's sunny. Many of the summer flowers have now disappeared, with the remaining patches of yellow fleabane and purple knapweed providing a splash of ground colour. Higher up are the impressive large white flowers of the hedge bindweed and the colourful purple/yellow flowers of the woody nightshade (also called bittersweet), a straggly climbing plant, which grows along the sides of the High Ridge. Our most prominent Autumn floral display comes from the Michaelmas daisies by Prewers Pond whose white buds are just beginning to open. On the east side of Plotlands Way look out for the small white round fruits of the common snowberry, and almost impossible to miss are the masses of red haws throughout the Reserve, which as always provide a spectacular display. Tuesday 17th October 2023 We had five volunteers turn up on a sunny though slightly chilly afternoon. Despite no one from Countryside services being in attendance (due to an oversight), we managed to find plenty to do. There was the usual cutting back of the side-growth along the paths, and much of the graffiti was cleaned from the map and notice board by the A127 entrance, the remainder being left for the Basildon graffiti team to deal with. A litter-pick had already been done earlier in the day, but while Rosebay Pond was dry it was an opportunity to remove the bottles and cans and plastic containers that had accumulated there, as well as some nitrous oxide cannisters. (New legislation on nitrous oxide coming into effect next month may put an end to that particular problem.) The willow tree in the middle of the pond has grown quite large and it really should be removed. It blocks out the sunlight and will also be sucking up lots of water. Apologies for the unsightly plastic bag and its contents which remains near the centre of Willow Pond and the tyre in the middle of Puckles Pond. Hopefully by the time of the November work party (if not before) we'll have an extendable boat hook for dragging floating rubbish towards the bank and/or a grappling iron attached to a rope which can be used to pull stuff out of the water. This year seems to have been good for nuts and berries, with our oak trees covered in acorns and plenty of sloes on the blackthorn. Beneath the old apple and pear trees much of the fruit has fallen to the ground, but it's many years since they last produced edible crops. Many of the more colourful insects have now gone - hibernating, migrated or died - with just a few red admirals fluttering around the white dead nettles, and the occasional dragonfly to be seen. Sighting of the day was a cormorant flying past overhead. The first time a cormorant was recorded in (or rather over) the Reserve was in 2020, possibly because previously we weren't looking up enough! Tuesday 21st November 2023 We had a grey cloudy day for the the last official work party of the year. It started off with a faint sprinkling of misty rain but later cleared a little allowing glimpses of sunlight to fall on the browns, golds and yellows of the Autumn leaves still left on the trees - very pretty! There were five volunteers again this month. Services Supervisor Frank Street, Warden Nick and a couple of others from Basildon Council eventually turned up, so we left our litter-picking and set to work strimming and raking up the grass in the East Meadow. All in all it seemed a bit of a token effort for the benefit of one of the workers who was undergoing supervisory training. Still it was a start, and no doubt the rest of the meadow will eventually by done, possibly using a large cutter rather than by hand. Recent rain has ensured all the ponds have some water in them, but only Puckles is filled to the brim. However it was heartening to see clear water in Meadow Pond which last month looked like it was in danger of being taken over by typha and reeds. One of the Reserve's mysteries is the 'duckweed cycle'. Sometimes, as now, Willow and Puckles Ponds are completely covered with it, and other times there's not a hint. Perhaps a 'duckweed calendar' is needed to try and make sense of it! We rarely get an abundance of fungi, but there's a reasonable display of shaggy inkcaps in the Cleared Scrubland, and sulphur tufts can be seen along the woodland paths. Other species to look out for include honey fungus, polypores (bracket fungus) and clustered bonnets. Friday 15th December 2023 Three of the regular work party members decided to have an impromptu work party, strolling round the Reserve doing some litter-picking and cutting back. The Reserve was very quiet, and following recent rains,the ponds were all in good shape, apart from Fox Pond which is below its usual level. |