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SOUTH EAST HERTS RSPB LOCAL GROUP E-NEWSLETTER Editor Mike Oakland June 2016 No. 59 Your Committee Group Leader Ron Hodgson are some species that are easy and Treasurer Steve Kiln straightforward to identify but also several Secretary Peter Finney species that look very similar and may be a Outings Barrie Stockwell challenge, but isn't that a part of the joy of Raffles Rosie Bell watching wildlife? And the birds are still around, Local Walks & it is just they are not as obvious at this time. Newsletter Editor Mike Oakland Flamboyant energy sapping displays and Membership Secretary marathon singing sessions take a back seat as & 100 Club Organiser Geoff Brown they desperately search for food for their Website Editor Andy Johnson growing and demanding nestlings. Many of the local sites that are good for birdwatching are also good for other fauna and The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds flora. Try Amwell Nature Reserve or Cornmill (RSPB) is a registered charity: England and Wales Meadows at Waltham Abbey for dragonflies; no. 207076, Scotland no. SC037654 Broxbourne Woods and Balls Wood/Hertford Heath for butterflies. If you want to find orchids, Latest News try the Orchid Discovery Trail in the River Lee Country Park or Blagrove Common near Sandon in the north of the county and to see one of the June and July tend to be a quiet time for the finest wildflower meadows in Hertfordshire, you birdwatcher. Do you mothball your binoculars and can't go far wrong with a visit to Hunsdon lounge on the couch watching Euro 2016, Meads near Roydon. Wimbledon and the Olympics or do you still go out and see what you can find? Birds are not the only creatures that fly. The summer months are an ideal time to get to grips with Britain's butterflies and dragonflies or even the planet’s only true flying mammals; bats. It is also a good time for flowers, with many of our meadows at their peak at this time of year. Scarce plants such as orchids can be found locally, with several sites in the area. Modern binoculars with their close focusing facility have made observing butterflies and dragonflies much easier. Although like birds, there Bee Orchids Click on the links for more details of the sites Watton and Bramfield and because of relatively listed above: poor soil it is good for wild flowers although goat's rue, an alien species, dominates the south Dragonflies & Damselflies heath, it was brought in in top soil. We walked http://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/amw across the south pit of the old gravel pit listening ell to the warblers in the hawthorn bushes, into Great Molewood, an ancient woodland down the https://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/en/content/cms/n hill to Waterford Marsh, along the River Beane ature/gardens-heritage/waltham-abbey-gardens- under the railway line and back up into the north cornmill/#wildlife-at-cornmill-meadows pit. A few of us also visited another old gravel pit nearby. Butterflies We saw or heard 34 species of birds, they were http://www.hertsmiddx-butterflies.org.uk/sites- fairly elusive due to the leaf cover but the new.php warblers were singing well and we heard blackcap, whitethroat and garden warbler. We http://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/balls- saw many red kites and buzzards and a single wood kestrel but there were many swifts and a few swallows. There were mallards, tufted ducks, Orchids & Wildflower Meadows coots, little egrets and a cormorant in the river. http://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/blagr Butterflies were scarce until we reached the ove-common north pit when the cloud lifted. In amongst the short bramble and the wild strawberry we https://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/en/content/cms/o spotted a few Brown Argus and to my surprise a utdoors/walks-walking/walking-routes/ware-to- couple of Painted Ladies. Right at the end we waltham-abbey/orchid-discovery-trail/ found the elusive Grizzled Skipper, a tiny brown and white butterfly. Altogether we had 9 http://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/huns butterfly species and two day flying moths. don-and-eastwick-meads Unusual plants were viper's bugloss, hounds tongue, cut leaf and dovesfoot cranesbill, Bats common storksbill, angelica and the rare orchid https://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/en/content/cms/w the rather drab looking twayblade. Other points hatson/go-batty/ of interest were the large number of the large Roman snails on the south heath and some banded demoiselle damselflies around the Local Walk Beane. Waterford Heath and Marsh The first event in June was the morning walk around Waterford Heath near Hertford, known for its population of the scarce, and sadly declining, Grizzled Skipper butterfly. Steve Kiln reports: 9 people joined Steve Kiln on a walk around Waterford Heath and Marsh. It was a lovely day but a bit cloudy at first. Waterford Heath is now a nature reserve for Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust but 20 years ago it was an active gravel pit. It is on a ridge so there are good views of the Beane Valley and towards Grizzled Skipper (photo by Steve Kiln) Car Outing to The Lodge and Broom recommended by Mick Oakland. There were at Gravel Pits least 3 lakes that we were able to view and wheat-fields and woodland. As mentioned in the May Newsletter, it was agreed Some of the paths were not well used and hard at the Group Meeting to change the venue for the going but we finished with a good list and felt June car outing from the Isle of Sheppey to an that it was worth the effort. Cuckoos were alternative site. The Lodge, the RSPB’s calling and one posed in a large tree not too far headquarters and reserve in Bedfordshire was from us and others were seen in flight. chosen, with a visit to the nearby Broom Gravel Yellowhammers were showing well and we Pits later in the day. disturbed a grey partridge. Barrie Stockwell reports: At one smaller lake Barrie commented that it Four members of the group, led by Barrie, met up looked ideal for kingfisher and one appeared at The Lodge. It was cool for June but not wet as seconds later. we started. Ruth had seen a jay near to the toilets Towards the end of the walk a green woodpecker and 2 mistle thrushes were seen close to the car was seen perched on a fence post and as we park. approached our cars a red-legged partridge was Along the Sandy Ridge Trail we heard warblers also seen on a post. singing and were trying to confirm if it was garden warbler or blackcap. We quickly found that it was both as they sat in adjacent trees singing against each other. From there we took the trail through Indoor Group Meeting the Quarry. It was energetic with many steps both Ted Bell was our host for the final Indoor up and down but we did add more birds to our list. Meeting of the season, as our Leader was on More were added at the Meadow Hide including holiday on the remote Shiant Isles off the west two stock doves close to the hide. We ate our coast of Scotland. Perhaps ironically not such a sandwiches outside the visitor centre and watched bad thing, as under the circumstances being the feeders. saddled with the moniker “Mr R. Hodgson” might not be a good idea this week. Ted introduced local wildlife photographer, Bob Johnson and his talk 'Solo in Tanzania’. The story of Bob’s two week holiday in Ndutu and the Serengeti accompanied only by local guide, Bildad. Bob’s fantastic photos and videos not only showed us some of the African wildlife we are familiar with from natural history documentaries but also many of the less well known creatures that inhabit this amazing area. We had a mixture of still photos, action sequence photos and videos, often accompanied by background music. Amusingly, this included a series of images of wildebeest, also known as 'Gnu' in native African language, cleverly linked to a rendition of “The Gnu Song” sung by Flanders Stock Dove (photo by Andy Johnson) and Swann. A wonderful presentation, and I am sure we will After lunch, following a brief look at the meadow be seeing more of Bob and his marvellous across the road, we drove the short distance to photos in the not too distant future. Broom Gravel Pits. A new venue for us all but Again the Group was able to make a donation to the RSPB’s coffers, with members choosing to Programme of events for 2016/17 sponsor the Society's Reedbed Project. The South East Hertfordshire RSPB Members During the interval the 100 Club was drawn, with Group programme for 2016/17 has now been former Group Leader, Terry Smith's number first finalised and sent for printing. We have our usual out of the bag followed by Ann Waddingham as variety of events; wildlife talks at the Indoor runner up. Meetings, our Local Walks programme and If you would like to be in our monthly draw outings further afield. However, due to poor contact Geoff Brown, Tel: 01992 468031 or see attendances and cancellations on past outings, Geoff at the meetings. we have decided to run just three coach trips this season: Rutland Water in November, Cley in March and an old favourite, RSPB Pulborough Local Walk Brooks in May. In addition there is our very Evening stroll at RSPB Rye Meads popular Quiz in February, and February also sees The last event on our calendar for this season was our annual visit to Tollesbury for the Beached an evening walk around RSPB Rye Meads nature Bird Survey.

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