newsletter NO 97 WINTER 2019 The RSPB is the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home. Newsletter Editor: Linda Tagg 3, Carpenter Way, Potters Bar, EN6 5PZ Tel: 01707 656715 email: [email protected] GROUP LEADER’S COMMENTS Ian Sharp In Welcome to the winter newsletter which as always contains many interesting articles. In May we had a guided break in Northumberland and by the time this newsletter is this published we will have had another guided break in Portland Bill. In between we had summer which seemed to pass quicker than ever this year. I hope you enjoyed yours. Issue You can read a brief report of the Northumberland trip on pages 8 & 9. News Group Leader’s Comments……....1 Celebrating 50 years of local groups In the summer newsletter I mentioned that Group Activities this year we are celebrating 50 years of local Coach Outings……………..….…...3 groups. On Sunday 29 September the four Group Holiday Northumberland..8 groups local to this area: South East Herts, Local Bird Report………………….6 North East London, North West London and Contributions Potters Bar & Barnets, together organised a Celebrating 50years of Local Groups at Rye Meads Some Nature Notes……………..2 family orientated day of activities at Rye Save Beane Marshes…………….2 Meads. Our contribution was a children’s quiz and a cake stall plus volunteering in the Pymmes Brook…………...…….10 car park and hides. Unfortunately the weather was poor so despite the event being Barnet & Enfield Swift Group..10 well advertised the turnout was low. Nevertheless, there was an excellent atmosphere and we raised £90 on the cake stall. My thanks go to the Notices members who supported the event and all those who Local Group Website…………….12 made cakes and jars of jam and chutney. All money raised Newsletter Copy Date………...…12 at the event will go towards building the new Kingfisher Data Protection ………..…………12 hide at Rye Meads. 100 Club & Application Form…..12 Forthcoming Events & Keeping in Volunteering awards Touch……………….……………..12 We all know that any successful group relies on willing volunteers to take on a range of roles. We should never Advertisements take their contributions for granted. Within the last year Minuteman Press….………….…...5 three members received awards. Last newsletter we Covers Outdoor Store…….……...11 reported Pam Wright (10years) and Joy Rowley (5years). More recently, John Rowley, who maintains the eNews Group Website: John Rowley Receives his Swift and website, received his 5year Swift Award. As well as www.rspb.org.uk/groups/ Award his headline role, like Pam and Joy, he supports group pottersbarandbarnet or just search for activities in many other ways too. Potters Bar and Barnet RSPB I would also like to thank Lesley Causton who has organised our quizzes for several years and has recently decided to stand down. I am delighted that Gina Palazzetti has The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a agreed to take on this role. Lesley is still treasurer for the group, a role which seems to registered charity: come with many headaches. Lesley has been able to donate £5000 to RSPB from the England and Wales no. 207076, money raised over the last year. It is great to know that all the activities we enjoy also Scotland no. SC037654 contribute to supporting RSPB with many of their projects. Any advertisements enclosed with I hope you all have a good Christmas and New Year and I look forward to seeing you this newsletter are not specifically at our regular Wednesday and Friday meetings over the winter. Remember, we endorsed by the RSPB or the Potters don’t have specific membership of the local group. We welcome everyone, Bar & Barnet Local Group members and non-members of RSPB alike. SOME NATURE NOTES by Derek Baker and stayed still for a while, it was so peaceful. Then I noticed a wren foraging among some dead wood on the ground. As I Derek has been kind enough to share his notes from walks in watched another flew in. Eventually I counted possibly six to some of our local open spaces. eight birds, all unaware of me. One came very close, then Forty Hall grounds 31 March joined the group and started feeding another - so it I was lucky with tree creepers again today - a sighting as I was a family. A robin joined them for a moment. reached the New River, also several more familiar garden birds. Later a song thrush singing from a nearby bush and, Woodberry Wetlands 12 July still in sight as it flew into a tree’s upper branches above me, Wimbledon men’s semi-final day and very warm; I rather it continued loudly with a most lovely recital; people walked expected the birds would be in hiding, and yes, all seemed past but none looked up. I moved on and could still hear its rather quiet. To escape the heat, I found the woodland walk. song for quite some time. A sign of movement and, through the glasses, a sighting of a A wren amongst the shrubbery by the path: a glimpse of tail, nuthatch for a little while before it flew. On the reservoirs a glimpse of head, but never the full bird! Near Myddleton there were the usual suspects: lesser black-backed gulls, House, two long-tailed tits. Later on my route a little egret. tufted ducks, a heron and many cormorants, while on the I walk Forty Hall regularly but not often seen so many birds. other side of the reserve, a song thrush, and a young robin. A lone greenfinch tried the empty feeders. I stopped again on Gillespie Park 6 April the woodland path for a while. In the trees, a flock of house This small reserve, close to Arsenal station is not usually very sparrows and a party of tits- mostly blue tit and great tit. A good for birds, but today I found small bird in a nearby tree, flicking its way round the blackbird, robin and a variety of branches, was my first unaided sighting of a goldcrest. tits. Most pleasing, however, was a mistle thrush, which I identified Walthamstow Wetlands 13 September for the first time without help. It First a walk in the Paddock, trying to ignore the noise from was high in a bush, light brown nearby building work. Birds twittering but little showing. On with extremely dark spotting all my own advice, I stopped walking and stood still and quiet. over its front. Soon long-tailed tits flew into a tree above. They took no Wild Hedgerow: Dan Powell RSPB Green parakeets hogged the notice of me and carried on, about six of them. I tried the feeders, the smaller birds came now and again, including same tactic again and was successful, spotting blackbird, wren greenfinch, until the parakeets bullied their way back. and a jay with a berry in its beak. Nearby and alerted by the song, I was able to catch a quick By the North Reservoir a young starling peeping from a bush, view of a blackcap and further on a pair of jays on the path and flocks of goldfinches. On the water, coot and herring ahead. gull; and a grey wagtail next to the water. By the South Reservoir, not much, but keeping still for a while I was lucky Trent Park 11 June with a great spotted woodpecker. I wandered into one of the wooded areas on a makeshift path SAVE BEANE MARSHES This conservation campaign near Hertford has been brought to our attention by Elaine Eyles. Beane Marshes is an area close to Hertford North station. The river Beane is a chalk river and this mineral rich waterway and its adjacent reedy marsh provide an important habitat for a range of fish, insects, mammals and wild flowers. It was only last June, that local residents discovered that some of the land by the river was coming up for auction, and a number got together to try and protect it from development and save it for the community. The core of the group is four local residents and they set up a company: Beane Marshes Conservation Group Ltd. Through support and fundraising from their community, and a crowd funding campaign, they have already raised enough money, (of the total required), to negotiate the land’s withdrawal from auction to purchase it for the community, and to put down the necessary deposit. The total fund needed is estimated to be £165,000, and so far about £100,000 has been raised. They have recently succeeded in setting up a charity- “Save Beane Marshes” which will help with fundraising by giving access to grants and Gift Aid. Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (HMWT) are involved and are interested in the site; they have agreed in principle to take on the management once the land is purchased. For those interested to know more, there is a well organised web site: www.savebeanemarshes.org.uk with information about the scheme, contact details, updates, and links to their Facebook page. There is also a link to a new YouTube video, narrated by Dr Tom Day of HMWT, which explains why the Beane Marsh is so important. You can also access the video directly through the link: https://youtu.be/DZwmmkrFXW0 . 2 SUNDAY COACH OUTINGS by Elaine Eyles Summer Mid-week outings: Joy Rowley, Jenny Arnold, Gillian Barlow & Elaine Eyles. Photograph Wicken Fen: Bruce Bennett Titchwell Marsh RSPB Sunday 14 April of natural coastal habitats. The main route alongside the Palm Sunday and an early morning start in crisp cold weather.