The RSPB is a registered charity in England and Wales-207076, in Scotland-SC037654. It is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home. Chorleywood and District Local Group Newsletter No. 86 February 2018 www.rspb.org.uk/groups/chorleywood Group News Welcome to the first Newsletter of 2018. The RSPB has asked us to emphasise to our members the YES image on the right. You may have already seen this in Nature’s Home magazine. It is important. Due to new Data Protection Legislation that comes into force in May 2018, the RSPB needs you to actively choose to receive information from them and to tell them how you prefer to receive it. It is about you having control over your relationship with the RSPB. SO PLEASE OPT IN NOW Call 0300 777 2610 Mon to Fri 9am to 8pm If people have not opted in by May 2018, the Or go to rspb.org.uk/sayyes organisation will not be able to contact supporters about their work and will not be able to ask for article in last February’s newsletter about the support for special projects. The new law will mean Hertfordshire project to tag green sandpipers from that the RSPB can only contact supporters about Lemsford Spring Reserve, we will be visiting there their membership or their role as volunteers. The in March. Find out about the threats facing our local worry is that the RSPB could lose valuable support chalk stream, The Chess, on page 3. The river and funds. So please opt in now. needs our help. Please read about the serious problems that need to be overcome to save our Now that spring is coming, we would like to remind beloved local river. you to look out for screaming bands of swifts and The Committee individuals flying around at roof height. These birds are searching for nesting sites. Swift conservation societies need to know about them. Thereby, CONTENTS nesting sites can be protected. Do not submit Planned Thames Barge Cruise ……….. 2 sightings of swifts that are flying high or over water. The Chess Under Threat ……………….. 3 The birds should arrive to breed in this country around 7 May. Submit your results to Sam Thomas ……………………………... 4 www.rspb.org.uk/swiftsurvey. Maureen Dobbs ………………………….. 4 News from Local Reserves ……………. 5 We have a great programme of outings in 2018. A Newport Bypass …………………………. 6 Local and National Events …………….. 6 Thames sailing barge voyage on the Essex River Colne in October requires early booking (see Your Photos ……………………………… 7 page 2). We will visit the Radnage Valley in June to Outdoor Meetings Reports ……………. 7 study the chalk grassland flora. Also, following our 1 Chorleywood Group Cruise Lemsford Springs HMWT Reserve Update from Honorary Warden, on Thames Sailing Barge Barry Trevis Sunday, 28 October 2018 NB our planned visit date of 17 March 2018 Early booking for the Thames No more data has been obtained from the green Sailing Barge is needed sandpiper ringing project yet this year. Only one bird was tagged in the spring of 2017. Although it has returned sporadically this autumn, it has not yet http://www.top-sail.co.uk/day-trips-programme/ been caught to retrieve the tag. This will be easier to do once it does settle into a territory. In late 2017 Telephone: 01621 857567 two new site-loyal birds were tagged and it is hoped that data can be obtained from these next summer This is an advance warning for those wanting to join on their return. If more birds return, then two tags us in October 2018. We will be sailing again on one are ready for them, providing they can be caught, of the beautiful red sailed Thames sailing barges, before they depart to their breeding grounds next owned by Topsail Charters. This will be a 4-hour summer. This kind of study is, by its nature, a long- cruise along the banks of the River Colne from term data gathering exercise. In December 2017 Brightlingsea. We will be visiting a nearby nature there were nine green sandpipers at Lemsford reserve in the afternoon, which will give you a full Springs, of which eight are colour ringed, one being day’s birding for all the travelling. ringed on the Reserve in 2010. The cruise to book is called ‘Birds of the Colne Also please look out for colour-ringed little Cruise’ from Brightlingsea. It departs at 10.30am. egrets. This boat trip is part of our weekend away, but you No reports have come from the SW area of can come just for the sailing if you wish. If you do Hertfordshire, although 180 reports have been sent this, it is recommended that, due to the early start, in from other regions of the county. We need to you stay in the area overnight on the Saturday. note the colour and position of the rings, the digit on the ring and the time, date and location of the The saltmarsh and mudflats are home to hundreds sighting. Send to [email protected]. of godwits, dunlins, avocets, oystercatchers, brent geese, teals, wigeons and oystercatchers. Experts from Swallow Birding will be onboard to help. A late lunch of soup and granary bread will be served along with chocolate brownies and fruit. Those who wish to sail must book their place soon to avoid disappointment. Cost of boat trip £45. One of Lemsford’s ringed green sandpipers Photo: Barry Trevis Historic barges at Maldon Photo: Dave Smith Details of the full weekend event will be coming later from Tony Wright. 2 River Chess Under Threat! This article was written with the aid of the River Chess Association and their secretary, Kathryn Graves. See www.riverchessassociation.co.uk, The River At our October outdoor meeting, we were shocked Chess, near to see the state of the River Ash as it passed Chesham through Little Hadham, East Hertfordshire. Below is swimming pool, a photo showing the river bed. This was as dry as a Nov. 2017 lawn and cut an unnatural gash through the Photo: Carol countryside where there used to be a chalk stream, Smith with all its varied life forms. The river had been dry in this area, since 2008. However, it is in ‘fine fettle’ lower downstream to quote our guide, Jonathan Forgham. Below is a list taken from the River Chess Association website of the dangers the river is facing: The River Ash in Little Abstraction. The abstraction of water from the Hadham chalk aquifers appears too great to leave enough Photo: Carol remaining water to fill the springs that feed the river. Smith Therefore, the environmental needs of the River Chess are estimated to be met only 35% of the time. In our area, we use 176 litres of water per day per person, compared to the UK average of 148 litres per day. The Chess in Chesham has dried up in 2009, We took the next photo when I visited Chesham in 2011/12 and 2017. Chesham is identified as being November 2017 and found the River Chess almost a key area for housing development in the near as dry as The Ash. future, meaning, of course, more abstraction. Both Thames Water and Affinity Water are taking This provoked the question: Could the Chess water from the River Chess aquifers. Both have end up like the Upper Ash? The thought was agreed that ground water levels are very low. In horrifying. During November 2017, the Chess was 2017 the Environment Agency’s borehole in Ashley dry as far as Lord’s Mill. Chalk streams often do dry Green recorded the lowest groundwater level ever. out. They are sometimes called ‘winterbournes’ These records began in 1982. because they flow more reliably in the winter. Their water comes from underground aquifers that usually fill up in the winter rains. Low rainfall. The river water comes from springs that are fed from the groundwater that is held in I decided to investigate to see if our river was ‘safe’. chalk aquifers. These are filled with a time lag from After all, there seems to be a healthy watercress the rainfall in the catchment area. Low rainfall farm along the river and surely there could not be means reduced river flow later in the year. October any pollution from the Chesham Sewage Works. Or 2017 provided only 33% of the average monthly could there? rainfall, compounding an already very low level of groundwater. The River Chess Association is My starting point was the River Chess Association pressing for water restrictions to be put in place, (RCA) website. This provided a mine of information. which should be activated when such low It was shocking to discover that our beloved Chess, Environment Agency levels of groundwater are which we expect will always be there, is suffering recorded. They believe that to save the Chess, if no on many different fronts. water restrictions are ordered, pumps must be turned off, downstream of Chesham. 3 Pollutants. With little rainfall and great amounts of The River Chess Association abstraction, pollutants in the river become more Aims & Objectives concentrated. Run off from farms and roads ends up in the river, as does the effluent from Thames Waters Chesham Sewage Works. Surprisingly, the The River Chess Association was formed in 2009 latter is beneficial, because it adds to the flow of in response to growing concerns about the water! However, there have been several incidents environmental pressures faced by the river. The of untreated sewage being allowed to enter the aims and objectives of the association are as river.