ISSUE 1NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2006 An Introduction elcome to the first Newsletter of the Friend of Foots Cray Foots Cray Meadows is Bexley Council they have the infrastructure W Meadows, I hope you find it both informative and to deliver the day to day management and necessary control of the enjoyable. I would like first to outline the development and meadows. Given the demand to meet the varied expectations of us current position of the group. Around this time last year Bexley all, the exercise of maintaining the open space with finite resources, Council took soundings as to the public appetite for this group. is a daunting and often thankless task. A vibrant and effective There followed a series of public meetings, the success of which friends group can be, I believe a worthwhile and effective addition to both identified a need for this group and a healthy supporter’s the Council’s Parks and Open Space Team. My thanks here to base. Interested persons further met up to discuss and form the Mark Taylor for his continuing logistical support to the group during group. There came a point when the talking needed to stop and this ‘set up’ period. With a fully functioning group this partnership the willing band just had to get started. We did that by forming needs to continue, our successful group working together with local an interim committee and spending considerable winter night communities and other groups who visit the meadows will become hours; identifying the aims of the group structuring the an integral part of how the authorities engage with users of the committee, writing a constitution and building a programme of meadows. My aspiration is that we will become a respected events and activities to make the group into a viable organisation advisory group: supporting, questioning and above all contributing ready to hold an Annual General Meeting and build on success. to the upkeep of the meadows. Our first contact with our supporters came with the public Our contribution will be the key measure to our success. We meeting last June. Followed by the tree walk in August. will do so by: actions and events, by seeking independent The programme is well under way and this newsletter is one finance for and delivering locally inspired projects which are of many key stages of our development. You will get an insight compatible with our aims. By earning the accolade ’the voice of from the articles by my committee colleagues, the content of this the meadows‘. Our exciting first project is a Wildlife and Visitors newsletter, our events and future activities, of the enthusiasm, Centre for Foots Cray Meadows. Working with the Parks and abilities and commitment of the group’s first committee. For me Open Space Team we are planning to renovate part of the utilities the meadows are a beautiful open space close to my home, all building situated near the old stable block. This will become a too easy to take for granted with a passing glance at the wildlife base for group activities by us and other organisations. Our long and environmental issues. The Friends of Foots Cray Meadows is term aim is to be able to open the centre; staffed by volunteers, a personal opportunity for me to increase my awareness, and for people to learn more about their visits to the Meadows. The contribute to my neighbourhood and natural environment. Friends now have over 100 supporters on the list. Foots Cray Meadows are a magnificent landscaped open space I believe the formation of the Friends, is an exciting which has survived to nestle within the suburban sprawl at the outer opportunity for the Meadows. My special thanks to my limits of South East London. It serves us well and deserves our committee colleagues for getting us this far. There is so much protection, we the public should have access, and we do: to go for more to do. We are committed to developing our full potential a walk, to walk the dog, for wildlife appreciation, for tranquility, for a and meeting the challenge of our aims and objectives. Only with family picnic and even riding a pony. This then is the basis of our your continued support and participation, will we make a aims and the challenge for the Friends of Foots Cray Meadows. difference for the local environment and communities in and Which I like to sum up as Conservation, Learning, Responsible around the Meadows. Please join us today. Management and Sensible Public Use. The statutory authority for Michael Heath Chairman Views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Committee or Bexley Council (unless otherwise stated). October 2006 A Love of Foots Cray Meadows the trees for the next planned public event we had a brief walk with the tree expert who was to accompany us, on Saturday 22nd July. Then to start our program off we held a public walk themed ‘Know Your Trees’ on Friday 11th August. Again we were all very pleased when over 60 people turned up – especially considering it had threatened to rain all day! Another great highlight was a though Friends of Foots Cray Meadows have only been A running officially since March 2006, we have already managed a few public events and a few more events for committee members. We agreed an ‘in progress’ constitution on March 1st 2006 and since the one thing that all the committee members have in common is a love of Foots Cray Meadows, the first thing we thought to do was to get to know each other during a walk around the area. We did this on Saturday 22nd April and also visited the proposed Wildlife Information Centre for the first time too! Our next priority was to let the general public know we were Grey Heron flying over our heads, as if on cue, just as Ralph was up and running so we planned our first public meeting for 7th directing our attention to the skies above as numerous House June. We were all quite surprised but very pleased when over 60 Martins were feeding! Even though the attendance figures were people turned up and for the most-part seemed to share our similar to our public meeting there were still some new people views of what would benefit the Meadows. We got many more and again we got some new supporters’ details. The Friends supporters’ details on the night and gained some useful contacts now have a supporters list of over 100 and we hope that for other events going forward as other sympathetic local groups following this newsletter many of these will become fully fledged were represented. members, will this be you? As all the committee members agree the best way of We would like to thank many of you for your support so far promoting and preserving the Meadows is to get people out and hope to see you at the upcoming events where we can enjoying them we plan to have many outdoor events every year. continue to enjoy this beautiful place and share ideas on how So the committee members could be generally informed about best to both preserve and improve it (details under “Dates for your Diary”). Siobhán Trethewey Secretary 2 October 2006 Wildlife Notes eptember heralds the official start of autumn but in recent Blackbirds, Starling S years seasons have become blurred for wildlife and for us. being the most obvious. For some migrating birds autumn has always begun in July, but Along the River Cray and around Five Arches you will also see for most significant changes begin now. During our “Tree Walk” in changes. During the summer months the duck species will have August we noticed how the trees were being affected by the been in eclipse plumage (when males moult all their colourful long, hot, dry summer – leaves turning brown and branches feathers and look much the same as the dull females). The two being dropped. Over the next few weeks those leaves will most obvious species around Five Arches are Mallard and Tufted change colour into beautiful golden browns eventually dropping Duck – by the end of October the males should once again be in to reveal open woodland spaces. During October and November their best dress ready for another breeding season with courtship look for the growth of fungi in the shaded damp areas – or join display being seen as early as January. They might be joined by the field trip on November 11th to discover the variety and their Pochard (grey with reddish brown head). Little Grebe numbers names. Also on our walk we noticed House Martins and Swifts, will have increased by now and between 8-12 have been seen the former feeding above the trees the latter making their last around the island and upstream vegetation – they tend to be feeding forays before departing for the southern hemisphere. quite secretive, diving for a few seconds popping up close to the Swifts are amongst the last of the summer migrants to arrive, banks. The colourful Kingfisher along with Grey Wagtails become early May and the first to leave with the last usually being seen more obvious as the need to feed in shorter days becomes more during mid to late August. Swifts, long angular sickle like wings intense. Winter is also the time to look for the elusive Water Rail, and completely dark in appearance, are remarkable birds skulking along the edges or amongst damp areas turning over spending almost their entire lives on the wing: it is thought some leaves for food – similar to the black Moorhen (red/yellow can spend 3 years flying without coming to land, even sleeping bill/forehead) but brown with a long, red, down-curved bill.