TAKINGS TOP £1,000 AT AUTUMN FAIR
Saturday 4 November 2006

While waiting for the clock to tick round to the ten o’clock opening time I realised it was probably my fourteenth Autumn Fair. The look of the Fair at the Freemantle Hall, Bexley, has changed over the years, partly because the number of members keen to produce goods for sale has reduced.

We have plugged some of the resulting gaps by inviting crafts people from outside the Group to take tables and donate a percentage of their takings. This arrangement has allowed us to continue running the Fair with a full and attractive hall, selling RSPB items and maintaining an important link with the local community.

A welcome addition at this year’s event came in the form of Ian Kent, a local wildlife artist. Ian, whose work you may have seen at this year’s British Birdwatching Fair, presented a varied collection of prints for sale with subjects including wolves, horses, big cats and many birds, one of which accompanied me on my journey home. Ian accepts commissions including drawings and paintings of family pets, and can be contacted via the Group.

Sales of RSPB goods on the day reached a satisfying £800 (sadly not all profit!) and takings from the stalls were well over £300, an excellent result.

We couldn’t even think of running Fairs without the support of our loyal band of volunteers who officiate at the door and run our stalls and the refreshment room. Sincere thanks to all.
Tony Banks

EARLY ARRIVALS "SHOT" ON WALK
Saturday 28 October 2006

Thirty five adults and four children were present by 10am for the Group's Feed the Birds Day Event.

Early arrivals at Footscray Meadows were "shot" by a local paper photographer.

Several bags of bird food were sold as well as a bird feeder for an early Christmas present.

The RSPB London Office provided booklets on feeding birds in the garden, and copies of a work book for children as well as entry forms for a competition to win a family holiday at Centre Parcs.

These were well received by our participants and many work-books were taken by adults for children and grandchildren.

There was also a display of cheap and easy to make bird-feeders constructed from small plastic bottles.

The walk in sunny weather looked promising but with the leaves still on the trees sightings of birds proved difficult. Highlights of the walk were a grey wagtail on the River Cray, a kestrel being mobbed by carrion crows and a cormorant tussling with a very large carp. The kingfisher proved elusive but a small group stayed to continue the search.

The walk ended across the former garden terrace of Foots Cray Place where the original tree planting on the terrace can still be seen although the remains of the house are overgrown.

It is the council's intention in the next few months to expose the footprint of the house and clear the garden terrace of unwanted vegetation as well as the steps to the former tennis courts indicated by the surrounding overgrown yew hedge.

(For a list of birds seen on the walk go to Recent Sightings)

John Turner

Preparing for the Feed the Birds Day Walk. Picture by
Bexley Extra (Copyright Kent Messenger Group). Buy this picture from kentonline.co.uk

Founder Member Doug Dies – 15 September 2006

Founder member Doug Marchant

Bexley RSPB Group are mourning the loss of founder member Doug Marchant who has died aged 88.

Doug attended the inaugural meeting some 26 years ago and continued to be an active member until he died suddenly. He was a regular both on Group coach outings and at monthly indoor talks. Doug particularly enjoyed midweek car trips to Kent and Sussex bird reserves.

His favourite reserve was Elmley which he loved visiting at any season. Some time ago he helped with reconstruction of the Spitend Hide there. He also took part in marsh harrier surveys on the Isle of Sheppey. On journeys Doug kept companions entertained with his favourite topics: his family, Welsh rugby, his war exploits on a Royal Navy minesweeper and previous birdwatching trips.

A former bank manager, Doug was brought up in Wales where he played a good standard of rugby. He was enthusiastic about all wildlife and never tired of recalling the time when he got up, threw back the curtains of his Joydens Wood home and saw a badger in his garden.

His enthusiasm for birdwatching can be summed up in one incident earlier this year.

While out with his friends at New Hythe Gravel Pits, Doug had a fall and cracked his head hard against a concrete path. He was very quiet and pale as he lay dazed, shocked and bleeding waiting for the ambulance. Worryingly he began to yawn frequently and showed signs of losing consciousness. A bird sang in the distance. Suddenly Doug roused himself and exclaimed: "Is that a whitethroat I can hear singing?" We knew he was going to be OK.

Doug was an "old school" birdwatcher. A stickler for thoroughness, he needed to note every spot, every mark and every detail on a bird before confirming identification.

His methods were an education and an inspiration to younger members.

He will be sorely missed.

Doug leaves a wife Jean and daughter Jane.

The Danson Festival 2006
Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 July 2006

The Group had a stand in the environmental tent concentrating on name gathering and new memberships but also offering a new selection of merchandise for sale, a tombola and RSPB information leaflets.

A "name the bird" competition for children proved extremely popular with 200 entries generating 100 applications for wildlife fun books via Wildlife Explorers.

World Cup football on the Saturday afternoon reduced visitor numbers but 300 name gathering cards were filled in with a number of membership forms issued.

Less comment on sparrows this year although sparrowhawks are obviously doing well in Bexley given the number of garden sightings.

Following the River Cray clean up kingfishers are apparently being seen there more often as well as on the River Shuttle and in Danson Park.

Many thanks to Sylvia, Brian, Maureen, Roy, Jenny, Alan, Tony, John and Jeanne for their efforts over a sweltering weekend. Over £100 was raised for the RSPB.
Maurice Ewart

ELTHAM GANG RAISE £100
Sunday 28 May 2006

A squad of five volunteers helped to raise £100 for the RSPB at a family day at Eltham Well Hall Pleasaunce.

Chas Parr's tombola raised £70 and the rest was inserted into the RSPB donation box.

Helping Chas out by chatting to potential new members were John and Jeanne Turner, Brian Fagg and Gill Page.

It appears to be suffering from leuchism, a condition where reduced amounts of pigment in the plumage occur, giving the bird a washed out appearance.

To be labelled albino the bird would have to be completely white.

The photo was taken in April 2005 but neighbours reported seeing it again in April 2006.

Website editor Eric Brown watches as two happy youngsters pose with the cuddly rooks they won on Chas Parr's tombola stall. (Picture;Tony Banks)

Visitor numbers dropped at the Annual Plant Fair but those who did venture through the doors at Freemantle Hall, Bexley, spent freely.

A total of £657 was raised for the RSPB, down £33 on last year.

The 20 pence admission charge brought in £37.50 collected by Alison Mayes on the door.

Visitors spent £444 at several stalls selling plants, flowers, shrubs and small trees.

Chas Parr took £72.55 on his tombola and raffle while refreshments run by Jean Mayes and husband Alan earned £30.

The committee would like to thanks all those volunteers who supported the event.

HOUSE SPARROW TOPPLED

Picture: Sam Shippey

The House sparrow has lost its title as the most popular bird in Bexley gardens.

Results of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch survey for 2006 indicate the starling has overtaken it.

These results confirm that the house sparrow is indeed in serious decline.

The starling was reported from 5.49 per cent of the gardens surveyed while the house sparrow appeared in 5.32 per cent of the gardens.

In Bexley the rapidly spreading ring-necked parakeet has already overtaken the robin in the top 10.

A total of 1,403 people took part in the Bexley survey, an increase of over 400 on 2005.

The most prodigious London Borough was Bromley with 2,754 returning survey cards to the RSPB.

Eric Brown

Picture: Tony Banks

Gordon Allison, of the North Kent Marshes RSPB team, buys a raffle ticket from RSPB Bexley Group treasurer Maureen Thompson at the Group's monthly meeting last week (March 17).

Gordon's number didn't come up but he still left with a major prize.

He received a cheque for £5,000 raised by Group members partly from raffles like the one run monthly by Maureen and Roy Lewis.

Other top Group fundraisers were an annual Christmas Draw run by Brian Fagg, which raised a record £1,900, Maurice Ewart's 100 club, the tombola stall run by Chas Parr at various fairs and open days and coach trips organised by Tony Banks.

The Bexley Group, which has around 3,000 members based between Blackheath and Bean, have asked that the cash be used by the charity to help fund a birdwatchers hide at the new Cliffe Pools RSPB reserve.

BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH
Hall Place Gardens
Saturday 28 January 2006

The group event to encourage local participation in this nation-wide happening proved a huge success.

Arriving at Hall Place to set up two telescopes and our stall, it was gratifying to see the feeders, set up three weeks previously, were being used by a variety of birds on a cold but sunny morning.

Three volunteers - John Turner, Tony Banks and Maurice Ewart were joined later by John Hawkins. After midday, relief arrived when Gill Page, Julia Maynard, Anthea Reynolds, Brian Fagg, Jenny Morgan, Jeanna Turner and Pat Hawkins appeared at various times.

An encouraging 50 families or groups turned up and 50-80 birdwatch cards and 28 name gathering cards were distributed.

Pre-event stories in local newspapers and circulars in local libraries paid dividends as several people arrived specifically to collect a form or to use the telescopes. We continued our run of media exposure when a photographer turned up to take pictures of warmly clad volunteers which appeared in the local press.

It was gratifying to see the pleasure that children and young people gained by looking through a telescope at birds on the feeders.

These included blue tit, great tit, long tailed tit, house sparrow, green finch, chaffinch and goldfinch while on the ground beneath were blackbird, song thrush, robin starling, dunnock and wood pigeon. Other birds seen in the vicinity were ring-necked parakeet, carrion crow magpie, jay, collared dove, mallard, Canada geese, grey lag geese with sparrow hawk, cormorant and black headed gull flying over.

Starlings pictured by Sam Shippey

Huge thanks to all volunteers who helped on the day, particularly to Tony who came up with the idea and helped me set it in motion.

John Turner

On Saturday morning, 21 January I drove to Northward Hill RSPB Reserve and joined a small group of people on the rising ground below the wood. We were gathered together to plant more than sixty oak trees as a memorial to Carole Winship, a much loved and respected member of our group for many years.

Both Ralph Todd and Michael Winship spoke about Carole, her love of the natural world and her commitment to the RSPB, and one of the trees close to the path was planted by family and friends.

Family and friends of Carole Winship plant oak trees in her memory at Northward Hill RSPB Reserve on Saturday 21 January 2006

I had to stop when I had planted only four trees, and left the working-party regulars still busy in the winter sunshine.

In time the trees (already well over 6 feet high) will mature and Winship Wood will become a haven for wildlife. Yellowhammer and chaffinch will sing from the branches, perhaps badgers will dig below the roots, and visitors will be able to enjoy the shade and the view of the grazing marshes below.

Tony Banks