BROOK MEADOW CONSERVATION GROUP 2003 Summary of the week’s news and wildlife observations from Brook Meadow Week 52: December 22-28, 2003 WILDLIFE OBSERVATIONS FOR WEEK 52 Water Rail On Wednesday morning I had a lovely surprise while standing on Lumley Road looking and listening for birds when I spotted the unmistakable features of a Water Rail (long red bill, slate grey face and chest, streaked brown back and white barring on the flanks) picking its way gently among the vegetation along the edge of the Lumley Stream. I got into the shallow water and stalked it for a while, taking snaps with my camera, but as I edged towards it, so it moved off in the opposite direction, eventually disappearing into the dense vegetation on the side of the stream. This was only my second sighting of a Water Rail on the Brook Meadow site, the previous one was also on the Lumley Stream on March 25th this year. They could be one and the same bird. The Water Rail is a common resident bird of Great Britain, though very difficult to see due to its secretive, skulking, behaviour. They are more numerous in winter when native birds are augmented by immigrants from the continent. I suspect this one was not local since I think we would see more of it, so it could be Dutch or even Scandanavian. Also, feeding in the same area of the stream was a Grey Wagtail which tolerated my approach more readily. Bird song No change in the birds singing on Brook Meadow this week with Robin, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Collared Dove all in good voice. Ralph Hollins reported an early Blackbird in full song at a Chichester city centre car park before Christmas. It is always worth listening for them at dusk in a warm, sheltered urban environment. Other birds I had an interesting encounter with a Little Egret on the River Ems. Again, I did some stalking with camera at the ready and managed to get a few snaps of it feeding in the river. Other birds seen on the meadow included Grey Heron, Moorhen, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Long-tailed Tits, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and Great Spotted Woodpecker. On Wednesday I noticed a large flock of about 100 Starlings roosting in the tall trees on Lumley Road. Plants With a couple of exceptions flowering plants are getting very difficult to find on Brook Meadow. I could only find 7 in flower this week, plus the usual grasses. The two exceptions were Winter Heliotrope which are now also smelling nicely along the river banks and Common Gorse on the causeway. There are several fresh plants of Annual Mercury along the edge of Palmer's Road Car Park. I found leaves of Lesser Celandine, but could not find any flowers. There is a lush growth of plants in the river near the outfall on the north bend, mainly I think Fool's Water-cress and Stream Water-crowfoot (Ranunculus pencillatus). There is no change in the state of the Hazel catkins on the three trees in the north east plantation from last week. However, Ralph Hollins did find some open in Havant last week, which he thinks may be a species imported from countries to the south of Britain where their biological clocks are set to a different ‘time zone’ from those native to Britain. The red Willows shine in the afternoon sunshine as you walk down Seagull Lane. There is a Cherry tree in blossom in a garden at the bottom of Seagull Lane. Fungi The second growth of Agrocybe cylindracea on the Willow stump by the North Bridge is now almost gone. However, there is a nice new growth of the pretty pink fungus (Merulius tremellosus?) on the old Willow stump near the S-bend in the river. Other wildlife Our Moles are still very active as evidenced by lots of fresh molehills springing up around the meadow. I saw what must have been a large Brown Trout moving around in the shallow water of the Lumley Stream on Sunday afternoon. OTHER LOCAL WILDLIFE NEWS Emsworth Millponds I counted 18 Tufted Duck on the Town Millpond this week along with about 40 Mute Swans and 100 Mallard. Tufted Duck are winter visitors to the millpond and numbers are likely to build up to around 30 in the new year. The regular 2 Cormorants, 2 Little Grebes and about 50 Coot were on Slipper Millpond while on Peter Pond the Mute Swan family were down to just 2 cygnets. These final two will soon be despatched as the pair settle down in their territory again. ENVIRONMENT NEWS Tree surgery We were expecting Cedar Tree Services to come to Brook Meadow on Dec 24th to remove the unsafe Willow in the north east corner, but they did not turn up. Andy Skeet of HBC said they could not make it because of the failure of a second climber (required by Health and Safety regs) to arrive for work. The cutting will now be delayed until the New Year. I asked Andy whether he could spare the horizontal branch on the Willow on the river bank since it was much loved by local lads for swinging on, but Andy thought it would probably have to come down as the large tree was leaning on it. Tree Preservation Orders Frances has discovered there are several trees on Brook Meadow subject to tree preservation orders (TPOs) given under TPO 0871. They include the Lombardy Poplar near the entrance from Palmers Road car park, an area of Crack Willows in Palmers Road copse (0.02 Ha), an area of Crack Willows and Sycamores (0.12 Ha) extending from the northern part of Palmers Road copse northwards along the western banks of the River Ems up to the S-bend in the river and a Sycamore on the edge of the industrial estate. It is surprising that the Willows along the north path are not on the list since they are some of the best and also the Western Balsam Poplars in Palmer's Road Copse. Litter and vandalism There has been more dumping of garden waste near the Seagull Lane gate. I also found an electric drill and a pair of garden shears dumped on the meadow, but neither was worth keeping. The broken fence has been repaired alongside the footpath that goes past the south gate of Brook Meadow, presumably by Havant Borough Council. There were more broken vodka bottles in the underpass under the A259 when I walked through on Sunday afternoon, resulting from the now regular weekend drinking sessions, probably of underage youth. The walls and ceiling are also covered with graffiti. The local police certainly are aware of the problem. Both Frances and I have reported the problems and I met a local chap who said he had spoken to the police on three occasions and was angry that nothing had been done to put a stop to this vandalism. River Levels The River Ems has been very low this winter, but on Sunday it was flowing well following the rains. Parts of the South Meadow were flooded as usual. BROOK MEADOW CONSERVATION GROUP WEB SITE For photographs of Brook Meadow and its wildlife plus news about the work of the conservation group – go to the Brook Meadow Conservation Group web site at http://www.hants.org.uk/brook-meadow/ For this week’s photos go to http://www.hants.org.uk/brook-meadow/bmcg-current-photos.html Week 51: December 15-21, 2003 GROUP NEWS FOR WEEK 51 Membership We have had 4 more renewals in the last week bringing the total membership to 243. If you can’t think of what to give someone for Christmas why not give them membership of the Brook Meadow Conservation Group – only £3 per person. Committee meeting The Committee met on Wednesday 17th December at Tony Wilkinson’s house. We were pleased to welcome Verity Ingram who gave us advice on the terms of the licence from Havant Borough Council for the group to manage Brook Meadow for the next 15 years. We have decided to put the licence on hold and to ask the Charity Commission whether a licence is really necessary for registration. Verity also advised us to look closely at our indemnity insurance to make sure we were well covered for any claims for injuries during workdays. We are, but we need to be very careful. Marian Forster’s artwork On a much happier note the committee received Marian Forster’s wonderful artwork for the new interpretation board. We were all bowled over by it and agreed that Marian has created a most beautiful work of art for the group which should certainly go on permanent public display. I have put a photo of Marian’s picture on the web site at http://www.hants.org.uk/brook-meadow/bmcg-current-photos.html There are also photos in the three signcases on the meadow. The final stages of making vandal proof copies for the final board to go up in Palmer's Road Car Park are being followed through by Louise Ward of Havant Borough Council. Next committee meeting has been brought forward one week to Wednesday 14th January at 7pm at 11 Bridge Road. ENVIRONMENT NEWS Felling of unsafe Willow Andy Skeet of Havant Borough Council has informed me that Cedar Tree Services will be removing the old unsafe Willow in the north east corner of the meadow on Wednesday 24th December. Andy has had to ask them also to carry out some very significant pruning to the Willow on the stream bank which is in contact with the target tree, as it also is breaking up.