Improvements at Cliffe Pools RSPB Reserve have been hit by a wave of vandalism. The Bexley Group made several financial contributions to Cliffe Pools where new gates and sign boards in the car park opened in August were vanadalised. The cost of replacements means funds earmarked for habitat improvement will have to be diverted.

New fencing and gates required by the planning consent were damaged by people using the car park for illegal motor biking and will be replaced in the spring once planning permission is received from Medway Council.

The information board in the car park has a trail map to help guide visitors around the pools. This has also been damaged apparently because someone is unhappy with the names of the pools used on that map. The pools have an interesting history and each one over time has been known by a variety of names. Before the sign was installed, the RSPB worked with the local community to understand and record these names as well as decide which should be used for the map to guide visitors around the site. Inevitably choices had to be made but the other names have not been lost. A trail leaflet will include more information about them and the Friends of the North Kent Marshes will produce a walks guide to the pools explaining these names and the stories behind them.

Further car park improvements are scheduled from volunteers helping with landscaping. The national event ‘Tree O’clock’ kick-started this work. Tree O'clock was an attempt to plant as many trees as possible in a single hour across the UK and Cliffe contributed 1,000 trees to the total. Work has also started on two winter-long projects: one to remove invasive buddleia so more wildlife-friendly plants can flourish and the second to clear vegetation from some islands to attract more breeding birds

In 2010 the the Pinnacle Viewpoint will be upgraded and a new one installed at Flamingo Pool allowing good views of wading birds. The works have been part-funded by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), the Douglas Glanfield Memorial Trust and the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation.

Cliffe Pools attract an exciting array of wildlife visitors. On 6 August there were 13 clouded yellow butterflies. Through autumn there were ruff, green sandpiper, common sandpiper, knot, 30 whimbrels and grey plover. An impressive high tide roost occurred on 22 August, with 747 avocets, 174 ringed plovers, 78 grey plovers, curlew sandpiper, 42 black terns, one white-winged black tern, 36 common terns, a Sandwich tern, little stint and knot. The largest flock of avocets to occur at Cliffe Pools was 1,034 on 10 September, which is about two thirds of the Thames Estuary passage population. In December the arrival of four shore larks on Flamingo Pool attracted birdwatchers from all over the south.

In the New Year visitors will be invited to participate in a survey at Cliffe, Northward Hill and Riverside Country Park to establish why people visit and what improvements they would like to see.

Eric Brown

When day dawned with fine, sunny weather and the prospect of a fine day ahead, the omens were very good for the annual Autumn Fair held in the Freemantle Hall, Bexley. Our volunteers responded in force and the hall was filled with goods and games of chance. When the doors opened the rush of clients began and we had a steady stream of visitors for the next two and a half hours.

Ken Saxby greeted 232 visitors at the door who paid admission fees of £69.30 (£37.31 in 2008) - a huge increase! The RSPB goods stall was staffed by Maureen Thompson, Roy Lewis, Patricia Large and Diane Lelliott. Their Christmas gifts, cards and bird feeders sold steadily raising £599.18 (£586.43 in 2008) of which only a portion is profit. Sales of bird food raised £25.00 compared with £46.50 last year.

The bottle tombola run by Anthea Reynolds was less popular this year and income fell from £106.05 last year to £65.40 while Chas Parr, aided by Shirley Haynes, had a slight increase on his lucky seven tombola from £68.05 to £75.50. The bird tombola run by Jeanna Turner took £33 (£20 in 2008), and in addition she sold pin badges worth £35.00. This proved very profitable, particularly helped by a collector who bought 15 badges. We also provided information leaflets from the RSPB collection.

The second hand bookstall, staffed by Stuart and Frances Banks, was overwhelmed by donations, some of very good quality, particularly the hard backs. These many bargains produced £106.90 (£37.40 in 2008). The home grown indoor plants were much appreciated and the stall staffed by John and Stephen Taylor took £31.90 (£37.19 in 2008). Vic and Kath White staffed the white elephant stall with many goods extracted from lofts, garages and the backs of cupboards and took £74.89 (£63.35 in 2008).

The refreshment room was very popular, staffed by Alan and Jean Mayes who worked tirelessly to provide an endless supply of tea and coffee with cakes and biscuits. Their efforts produced takings of £58.60 (£47.75 in 2008). The commission from guest stalls selling home made cards, jewellery, key rings, watercolours, sewed goods, home-grown vegetables, and home-made jams and pickles provided additional income of £26.35 (£10.20 in 2008).

The good weather aided our profits; the total income of £566.84 exceeded expectations, and was £99.09 above last year’s figure of £467.75. The profit was £516.84 after deducting expenses (£50) compared with a surplus of £407.75 in 2008.

A photographer from the News Shopper went away happy with pictures of young visitors Tom and Sarah holding birds from the bird tombola. They also went away delighted with presents of finger puppets

Our thanks are extended to all our loyal volunteers whose enthusiasm was unabated particularly Tony Banks who organised the event and Chas Parr who organised the volunteers. We look forward to the next fair in the spring.

John Turner

The Group's Feed the Birds Day event was plagued by rain but still attracted a steady stream of visitors eager to see birds at Hall Place, Bexley. There was an overcast sky and steady light rain fell making it impossible to erect the usual stall outside. Fortunately, carefully made contingency plans allowed a move to set up a display inside the visitor centre.

At 10.30 the rain ceased and telescopes were set up and trained on feeders moved to the new position in the hedge along the River Cray. Early volunteers included Stuart Banks, Sylvia Say, John Hawkins and John and Jeanna Turner. Diane Leliot also appeared later.

Despite the poor weather the public appeared steadily throughout the morning and enjoyed seeing goldfinches, greenfinches, chaffinches, blue tits, great tits, a greater spotted woodpecker and parakeets on the feeders. Also seen were a sparrowhawk, grey wagtail, pied wagtail, long tailed tit, wren, starling, house sparrow, dunnock, robin, jay, magpie, black headed gull, carrion crow, moorhen, greylag and Canada geese and mallard. An acrobatic grey squirrel displayed its skills in leaping on to one of the feeders from a nearby branch but had not planned his escape route. When challenged he fell short trying to leap to the trunk of the tree.

Over 50 people took free booklets on bird feeding and cards to apply for the information packs “Wildlife in your Garden”, as well as information about the RSPB and the Bexley Group.

Thanks to all those who volunteered and made the morning a success despite the weather.

John Turner

The dry summer has led to lower water levels in the pools, which favours wading birds like the avocet. The RSPB believe that it may be a bumper winter at the site for other waders like dunlin, black tailed godwit and curlews. Dunlin numbers could reach 5,000.

Birds like dunlin and avocet could be forced to seek new wintering grounds if plans for a Thames Estuary airport go ahead. London Mayor Boris Johnson, who is backing the plan, suggested last week that some of the funding could come from China.

The avocet is one of the UK’s most celebrated conservation successes and was officially adopted by the RSPB as their logo in 1970. The avocet was declared extinct in the UK in 1842 and didn’t start breeding again until 100 years later. Through the hard work of the RSPB and other conservation organisations there are now over 870 pairs of breeding avocet across the UK and nearly 4,000 over-wintering. They have bred at Elmley RSPB reserve for some years.

Visitors will get a great chance to view avocet and other birdlife at the RSPB’s Cliffe Coastal Safari Event on 1 November. As part of Kent Coastal Week, the RSPB have organised a series of activities at the sea wall, aimed to help people discover more about what hovers above, crawls upon and lurks beneath our shores.

The event is free and will be signposted from the B2000 on the day. For further details about this event please ring 01634 222480 or visit www.rspb.org.uk/northwardhillevents.

Of the £6,730 contributed by the Bexley Local Group to the RSPB in the last fiscal year, £2,068 was raised by community fund raising which involved two schemes. The money from these two schemes goes directly into the coffers of the SE Regional office for conservation work in south east England.

RSPB Pin Badges The Exotic Kingfisher The Popular Robin The Rare Osprey

The metal pin badge scheme requires a member to take responsibility for a box of badges placed in a locality of their choice, collecting money donated for badges and replenishing the stock of badges on a monthly basis. The suggested donation for the badges is £1 and banking of the money collected is simplified by the pay-point system at post offices.

Popular badges are the robin and other garden birds as well as more exotic birds such as the kingfisher and birds of prey such as the osprey and red kite. We are advised by the RSPB that the more successful places for boxes are garden centres, florists, supermarkets, visitor attractions, family pubs, tea shops and restaurants.

There are currently 30 boxes in the membership area from small retail outlets to hotels and restaurants. The most successful in the last financial year was Robert Dyas Hardware in Bexleyheath, which raised £787 followed by Kelsey’s Farm Shop in North Cray with £321 and the Co-op Chemist in Welling with £178. A new site is The Hall Place Visitor Centre which opened earlier this year and is turning over a regular weekly income, raising £161 since April. This shows great promise for the full year total.

Tricia Large started pin badge box minding two years ago and now looks after a number of boxes in the Bexleyheath area including the successful Robert Dyas box. She has been an inspiration and raised the profile of pin badges in the area as well as the profits.

Suggestions for new sites are always welcome and volunteers to look after sites are doubly welcome. If you are interested and have a site in mind please contact me, John Turner, our co-ordinator, Laura Hurt or Brighton-based RSPB South East Region Community Fund Raising Officer Emma Kelman on 01273 775333.

Some people prefer to have a small collecting box in the shape of a robin in which to gather their own contributions or those of a family or outlet.

The larger version of these collection robins are placed in Thompson’s Garden Centre in Welling which raised £467 last year and two new sites at The Hawley Garden Centre and Stuart’s Garden Centre in North Cray. These Robins are minded by committee members Chas Parr and Maureen Thompson.

John Turner

Saturday proved to be sunny but very windy which caused some problems in erecting our roller banners and pergola. The stall offered our bird tombola, bird book sales, pin badge sales and information leaflets. These were looked after by Jeanna Turner, Diane Lelliott, Julia Maynard and Sylvia Say. RSPB sales were in the capable hands of Maureen Thompson. Name gathering cards were completed by an enthusiastic public encouraged by John Turner.

Jenny Morgan and Roberta Cave arrived in the afternoon to help with the stall as John Cave and Jeanna took over name gathering. John Turner led an illustrated, walking, talk on the birds that could be seen in Hall Place grounds with a dozen participants. Giving this talk gave the group a free stall saving a fee of £80. Birds seen were ring-necked parakeets, carrion crows, wood pigeons, magpies, mallard, Canada geese, a grey lag goose and a robin. The talk also covered migratory birds seen in spring – chiffchaff, willow warbler, blackcap and whitethroat and winter visitors such as redwing and fieldfare as well as resident finches and tits.

Sunday produced cooler, calmer weather and a bigger attendance. Name gatherers were John Turner in the morning and Alan Mayes in the afternoon assisted by Jeanna Turner. Sales were in the hands of Alan and Jean Mayes in the morning, while Diane Lelliott looked after the tombola and pin badges. At lunch we were relieved by Dorothy Stocker and in the afternoon our volunteers were reinforced by Roberta Cave and Shirley Haynes. Shirley is a new volunteer who proved to be a breath of fresh air in cajoling the public to part with money without offending them.

We gained one new member and seven application forms were taken away with information about RSPB membership.

John Turner substituted a talk on the work of the RSPB in place of the walking talk. This concentrated on the Kent reserves and the Bexley Local Group. A number of listeners took away information on our activities.

The weekend resulted in 171 name gathering cards being completed, 168 adults and three children. Seventy five of the adult cards also pledged their support to the “Stop Killing Birds Of Prey Campaign”.

A total of £160 worth of goods was sold, the same as at the Danson Festival, whilst £59 was raised on the bird tombola, and an additional £39.50 on pin badge sales and donations- slightly lower than at Danson. Unfortunately, a £5 entrance fee and lack of parking limited attendance which in turn limited our own activities.

I should like to thank all the volunteers mentioned above for their time and efforts in raising such a good sum for the RSPB and hopefully the interest generated by the name gathering will result in some more new members.

John Turner

We set up optimistically in sunshine but the 10 am start was too early for many members of the public. The weather cooled by midday and the afternoon proved to be cloudy but people still turned up in large numbers. Maureen Thompson sold steadily from her goods stand, while Diane Lelliot ran the bird tombola which proved to be so popular that she ran out of calling birds. Stewart Banks ran the children’s competition enthusiastically and also sold second hand books.

The public were assailed with the offer of free booklets by John and Jeanna Turner with 94 signing up on the name gathering cards - 80 adults and 14 children. The Stop Killing Birds of Prey Campaign had a substantial following and 49 of the 80 adults signed up for the petition on the name gathering cards.

In all over £198 was taken for the day – £38 on the bird tombola and £160 on sales - a very rewarding effort. In addition £28.70 was contributed via pin badges. A children's identification skills competition attracted 88 entrants. Congratulations to the prize winners – Mia aged 11 who won the book prize and Zac aged 10 who won the calling eider soft toy.

We were introduced to the Mayor of Greenwich, Councillor Allan MacCarthy, on his official tour by Head Ranger, John Beckham. The Mayor returned later to purchase goods from the stall and collect information. He also told us of us of his recent enjoyable trip to Dungeness.

I should like to thank all those who assisted throughout the day.

John Turner

New Car Park at Cliffe Pools. Picture by RSPB-images

View of Cliffe Pools. Picture by RSPB-images

The new car park at Cliffe Pools RSPB reserve finally opened on Wednesday 5 August. It has space for 40 cars and two coaches with an overflow car park providing a further 35 spaces. There are also 15 new benches and a number of signs and waymarkers around the reserve, providing visitors with wildlife information and background on the site.

The opening ceremony was performed by the Leader of Medway Council, Cllr Rodney Chambers, the Mayor of Medway, Cllr David Royle, the Chairman of Cliffe and Cliffe Woods Parish Council, Ken Kentell, Friends of North Kent Marshes spokeswomen Gill Moore and Joan Darwell and the RSPB’s Damian Fleming. It took place during a Safari Day which attracted a record 2,000-plus visitors. Around 1,400 of these were children.

The car park and new visitor facilities were funded by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), The Douglas Glanfield Memorial Trust and the Bernard Sunley Charitable foundation and support from the local council. The new car park is open daily from 8.30 am to 5 pm and parking is free.

Volunteers are required to walk the main trails at Cliffe helping visitors and showing them around. If anyone could spare half a day a fortnight to do this please contact Sally Jennings 01634 222480.

Eric Brown

Bearded tits have been recorded breeding at Shorne Marshes for the first time. The Bexley Group provides working parties at the RSPB reserve near Gravesend where six bearded tits were recorded in a breeding bird survey this summer. Bearded tits have wintered at Shorne Marshes but this is the first time they have been confirmed as breeding.

Other notable birds recorded in surveys on the North Kent Marshes were 10 singing nightingales at Cliffe Pools RSPB reserve and breeding avocets at Northward Hill RSPB reserve. The first swallow arrived at Northward Hill on 28 March with a chiffchaff and redstart there the following day. The first nightingale turned up on 11 April. The first chiffchaff appeared on 21 March and the first turtle dove on 27 April. A cuckoo was spotted at Cliffe on 23 April.

The most worrying sighting was of a mink at Northward Hill in March. These voracious predators are notorious for devastating water vole populations and eating aquatic birds and ground nesting birds and their eggs. Careful searches have revealed no further sightings but staff and volunteers are monitoring the situation.

Eric Brown

In July last year the RSPB launched an appeal for £1.5million to buy land and create a nature reserve in Kent’s Lydden Valley. At the time of writing, this appeal had reached £450,000 and land purchase negotiations were continuing. Paul Outhwaite of the RSPB South East regional office explains the latest situation.

Land in the Lydden Valley is now being actively managed by the RSPB for wildlife but it's not all been plain sailing. In one area, a diesel leak from on old pump took a while to clean up. Now "proper" conservation management has begun. This included clearing out ditches and the creation of small pools and rills.

Ten pairs of lapwings and a pair of redshanks took up residence almost immediately. Even the work linked specifically to the clean-up has seen the return of five dragonfly species.

Similar work carried out earlier has also shown wildlife benefits. Water voles live in the ditches and a range of unusual plants appeared, including some being recorded there for the first time. Further work is planned and there's every reason to hope that the site will get better and better for wildlife.

Unfortunately, there is no public access to the land the RSPB is managing at the moment and the site will not really be suitable for large numbers of visitors even if we are successful in expanding the size of the reserve in future.

RSPB supporters have contributed around £450,000 towards the purchase and management of Lydden Valley and added to money already raised from the Environment Agency and GrantScape (through the Landfill Communities Fund).

More work is planned and money will always be needed but the support we have received so far has been fantastic and will obviously make an enormous difference to our ability to buy and manage the land. Negotiations are continuing.

A huge thank you for all your help - you have made a real difference to the creation of a major new wetland nature reserve.

PAUL OUTHWAITE

An RSPB educational team including a former Bexley Group Leader has received government recognition for their work.

Children visiting the North Kent Marshes to learn about the environment are receiving a top class education, according to a Government-sponsored scheme.

The programme, known as the Quality Badge, is the first to provide an Ofsted-style inspection of teaching standards for outdoor learning. The badge is designed to make it easier for teachers to identify providers of quality educational visits. The RSPB’s education team in North Kent, based at the Northward Hill reserve, is already working with over 3,500 children each year.

Inspectors visited the site, talked with staff and, after observing them teaching a local school group, awarded them the badge on the same day.

RSPB Education Officer David James, the former Bexley Group Leader, said: “This is fantastic recognition of the high quality teaching that local children get from the RSPB when they visit North Kent Marshes. Since we started the education programme in 2005, it's gone from strength to strength. We have recently converted our barn into a teaching and events centre, and there are acres of green space right outside where children can come into close contact with wildlife.

“Schools always give us extremely positive feedback and, most importantly, keep coming back. As more teachers and parents learn about the quality badge the number of school visits will hopefully increase – and more children will experience the natural world first hand as a result.”

Ed Balls, Secretary of State Children, Schools and Families, said: "Quality Badges offer teachers a guarantee that not only is a venue providing the sort of educational value that they can build on in class long after the visit but they also have the appropriate risk management structures in place. It should ensure many more young people have memorable, exciting and valuable learning outside the classroom experience. I congratulate RSPB North Kent on being awarded the badge.”

Jane Wright, one of the three field teachers onsite, said: “With so many children today lacking regular contact with the outside world, it is important we do all we can to try and reconnect them with nature. Outdoor learning broadens children’s outlook, improves their motivation and personal and interpersonal skills, and creates a sense of place and wonder for the world around them. It also helps keep children fit and healthy, physically and mentally.”

Each year, the RSPB’s North Kent education team engages with over 3,500 children, either at the Northward Hill Teaching Centre, or via a range of traveling roadshows.

Any interested schools or youth groups should contact David James on 01634 222480 or via email david.james@rspb.org.uk.

David James and Quality Badge
Picture by Damian Fleming

Lapwing and redshank numbers have increased significantly at Shorne Marshes, an RSPB survey has revealed. The encouraging rise on the RSPB reserve has come about due to conservation work at a site where Bexley Group regularly provides voluntary work parties.

The two year project has seen the installation of an automatic pumping station at the reserve to maintain the grazing marsh essential for the success of wading birds like the lapwing.

RSPB’s Paul Hyde said: “When we purchased the site in 2000 there were only three breeding pairs of lapwing and nine pairs of redshank. This year we counted 28 breeding lapwing pairs and 60 redshank. It's terrific.

“Lapwing have recently been added to the red list of birds of conservation concern so this success story is good news. It highlights yet again how important North Kent is for struggling species.”

Visitors can access RSPB Shorne Marshes via the Saxon Shore Way, which offers a walk along the Thames from Gravesend or Cliffe Pools. Cyclists can also visit the reserve using the Sustrans track, which runs along the south of the reserve.

As well as provinding regular work parties the Bexley Group also makes regular financial contributions towards work at reserves on the North Kent Marshes.

Extremely hot weather on Saturday did not tax the enthusiasm of our volunteers as families came into the environmental marquee, actively encouraged by Stuart Banks.

The bird identification competition proved a great success with Stuart encouraging children to take part (with parental consent). He then offered name gathering cards to the whole family as well as the opportunity to take part in our bird tombola.

This was supervised by Jeanna Turner and Diane Lelliott who also helped with the children’s competition. Name gathering cards were completed by an enthusiastic public encouraged by John Turner. Sales were in the capable hands of Trisha Large whilst Maurice Ewart provided information to the curious. Phil, Terry and Malachy Wren arrived at midday to help with the children’s competition and sales and Tony Banks also arrived to help with the competition.

Sunday produced cooler weather and a smaller attendance. The name gatherers were John Turner assisted by Jeanna Turner. The sales were again in the hands of Trisha Large assisted by Francis Banks in the afternoon, while Sylvia Say looked after the tombola. Maurice Ewart was again in charge of the dissemination of information and Stuart Banks threw himself energetically into promoting the children’s competition, assisted by Terry and Malachy Webb in the afternoon,

The weekend resulted in 328 name gathering cards being completed, 259 adults and 69 children's, a slight decrease on last year. Sixty nine of the adult cards also pledged their support to the “Stop Killing Birds Of Prey Campaign”.

A total of £165 worth of goods was sold only £8 lower than last year, whilst £95.50 was raised on the bird tombola, and an additional £46.89 was raised on pin badge sales and donations.

Congratulations to Darren of Bexleyheath for winning first prize in the bird identification competition, with Nicole and Ben of Blackfen winning the runners up prizes.

I should like to thank all the volunteers mentioned above for their time and efforts in raising such a good sum for the RSPB and hopefully the interest generated by the name gathering will result in some more new members.

John Turner

Takings of almost £250 rewarded a large band of volunteers who supervised RSPB goods sales and games. Perfect weather lured a large crowd in contrast to last year when we pulled out due to heavy rain.

Maureen Thompson sold steadily from her goods stand, aided by Julia Maynard and Gill Page, while Sylvia Say provided peanuts and seed for sale. Diane Lelliot ran the very popular bird tombola. Stuart Banks ran the children’s competition enthusiastically and was assisted by Brian who also provided information for the curious.

The public were assailed with the offer of free booklets by Stuart Banks and 70 signed up on the name gathering cards. There were 95 entrants testing their identification skills in the children’s competition. Congratulations to the prize winner – Michael Douglas, aged four, who won the book prize.

In all over £242 was taken for the day – £50 on the bird tombola, and £192 on sales - a very rewarding effort. I should like to thank all those who volunteered and worked so hard throughout the day.

John Turner

Sales broke all records at the Annual Plant Fair when customers handed over nearly £1,000 in a credit-crunch busting spree.

The overall take of £907.22 was up £206.62 on last year's record £700.60 and after deducting the fee for hire of the hall there was a £847.22 surplus. Bright sunshine may have lured customers to inspect all sorts of plants that filled Freemantle Hall, Bexley, together with tombolas, lucky sevens and craft stalls.

Ken Saxby collected the entrance fees and took £46.40, slightly down on last year’s figure of £50.The plant stalls staffed by Anna Staple, John and Jeanna Turner, Patricia Kembell and Francis Banks aided by Diane Lelliott, Stuart Banks and Leslie Warner sold steadily bringing in a record £454.05.

The RSPB sales stall controlled by Maureen Thompson, Patricia Large and Sylvia Say took a total of £138.51.The ever popular tombolas drew much support with the bottle tombola staffed by Anthea Reynolds taking £103 (£95 last year), Chas Parr’s Lucky Seven taking £59.81 and the bird tombola manned by Brian taking £30 (£17 last year). Brian was also the source of information for the curious.

The book stall took £50 (£20.50 last year), commission from the craft stalls was £17 (£38 last year). Tea, coffee and cakes provided by Alan and Jean Mayes made £31.90 (£56 last year).

Many thanks to all our volunteers who helped so willingly on the day. It was a great effort all round. We look forward to another successful fair in the autumn. Special thanks are due to Tony Banks and Chas Parr for their organisation and preparation of the event.

Our thanks for the donation of plants are also due to Stuart's Garden Centre, Homebase at Orpington, Dartford and Crayford, and our new donor Bexley Heritage Trust.

John Turner

It will soon be a year since the RSPB appealed for £1.4million to purchase 235 hectares (581 acres) of land in the Lydden Valley near Sandwich, Kent. The sum was needed to augment a total of £1,151,000 already raised through Grantscape grants and other donations towards a total purchase price of just over £2.5million for several strips of land.

Prompted by members and friends surprised to have heard nothing about this project for some time I tried to establish how it was faring. The only solid fact to emerge from several weeks of enquiries is that the purchase has NOT been completed and the reserve NOT yet acquired. An RSPB event is planned for Lydden in spring.

Many Bexley Group members contributed to the appeal and some have been concerned at the lack of acknowledgement and the absence of an update.

Lydden project enquiries are being handled by the RSPB South East Office at Brighton and Paul Outhwaite, a former Bexley Group member, is spokesman.

He was unavailable on 10 March but colleague Adrian Thomas said Lydden was more a conservation project than one to draw crowds. Although there would be no visitor infrastructure "those who want to hunt it out will be able to do so on public footpaths."

Adrian promised to ask Paul to call me. Three weeks passed so I called back and spoke to Paul. He could only confirm that negotiations regarding Lydden were still in progress and had not been completed. He said: "Negotiations are ongoing and as soon as we are in a position to make an announcement we will. We are hopeful things are going in the right direction."

Could he say how much the appeal had raised so far? Well, no - although he did apologise to anyone who had not received an acknowledgement of their contribution.

It also proved impossible to obtain results of an RSPB squad visit to Bexleyheath Shopping Centre. Although asked to publicise the visit on this website, enquiries afterwards as to the number of new memberships or cash raised went unanswered. I learned the visit was controlled by an outside agency and results could not be obtained by the RSPB!

Eric Brown

Bexley is not blessed with a tube station but residents who use the underground to reach work should pop their digital camera in a pocket or handbag. Binoculars are among the prizes to be won in a photographic competition held jointly by the RSPB and London Underground.

Forty-two bird species have been recorded on London Underground property in recent years with an even greater number living just a short stroll from the Tube.

The competition, open to everyone, runs until Sunday 31 May. Birds should be snapped within a five-minute walk of a Tube station. Entries will be judged according to their relevance to the theme and originality.

Winners will be selected by a panel including Urban Birder, David Lindo, Nick White from the London Biodiversity Partnership and photographers working for both Transport for London and the RSPB.

Competition entrants can upload their photos at

www.flickr.com/groups/LU-RSPB_MindtheBird stating where the picture was taken. There are separate categories for adults (18 and over) and children (under 18). Those taking part are free to submit as many photographs as they like, though only one prize is available per category.

Prizes include an annual pass to RSPB reserves; a family pass to the London Transport Museum; RSPB binoculars and bird-related goodies including books and bird feeders. Winners will be notified in July.

Please do not send photo competition entries to this site or any Bexley RSPB committee member.

Eric Brown

The woodpigeon has deposed the starling to become the most frequently reported bird from Bexley gardens.

Many regard the woodpigeon as a bird of countryside and farmland but it leapt ahead of garden favourites like robin, blackbird, house sparrow and blue tit in Bexley during the 30th annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch conducted over the weekend of 26-27 January.

Surprises included ring-necked parakeet, a Bexley regular, dropping out of the top 10 while herring gull, tree sparrow and siskin all made the lower reaches of the charts.

The full list can be seen below. For last year’s list see News Archive 2008.

Participation numbers rose nationally and locally. Nationally the half million landmark was passed for the first time with 552,000 people taking part.

A rigorous promotional campaign by Bexley Group volunteers (scroll down to previous stories) resulted in increases of both adults and children taking part in the Borough.

The figure of 983 adults was 60 more than last year while child involvement rose from 62 to 92 – an overall increase of 90 pushing the number of all participants beyond 1,000.

A curious anomaly revealed by RSPB figures showed that although individual participation rose to 1,075, the number of gardens covered in Bexley actually DECREASED by 18 to 677.

While the higher figures are encouraging they lag well behind top London Borough Bromley with 2,399 adults and 189 children surveying 1,550 gardens. Bexley residents reported 44 different species while 53 were logged in Bromley including willow tit!

Yet again the biggest mystery must be why so few Bexley members take part. It would be interesting to know how many of the 1,075 total were members and how many were not. Maybe the RSPB will come up with these figures next year.

Please consider taking part next year. After all it only takes one hour over a whole weekend.

ERIC BROWN

The RSPB say they are "reluctant to spend members' money on what could be expensive visitor infrastructure" because the recession has made it difficult to secure fundng especially with the Olympic Games looming. A £2 million-plus funding bid from the GLC was unsuccessful blowing a big hole in plans for Cliffe and requiring a budgetary re-think.

However it is full steam ahead for the car park, along with a new entrance at the bottom of Salt Lane, which will significantly improve access for visitors.

With new gates and fencing as well as a new footpath that will take people off the busy access road, the work will create a much more welcoming arrival point. Once contractors have finished on site, probably in early June, the car park will be landscaped by the planting of wildflower margins and hundreds of shrubs.

The Group has made several donations towards work at Cliffe including one of £3,500 at the end of 2008.

Eric Brown

Sarah Beacock has been one of our hardworking webmasters for over seven years. She decided to try a Group coach trip for some fresh air. Here are the views of a Trip Newcomer.

One of my new year's resolutions was to get out for more fresh air and what better way (I reasoned!) than on an RSPB coach trip. The north Norfolk coast in January is the perfect place for fresh air and I met up with all the others waiting for the coach outside Central Library at 7.15 on a Sunday morning. The cold was soon driven away by a nice cup of hot chocolate on the coach and we were on our way. The journey is extremely comfortable with time to chat, read and even sleep! When we arrived at the reserve (Titchwell) the group split into smaller groups but most stick with John, our leader for today, who quickly starts to point out the abundant variety of bird species we see.

One of our first sightings (and a definite first for me) is a snipe but there is much more to come. The beach is much colder than the marshes behind but even a brief time standing in the wind rewarded us with an impressive array of duck varieties. Everyone in our party is happy to share their knowledge with a beginner like me and seeing the birds through a 'scope is even more awe inspiring – thanks Maurice! There's still time to grab some lunch, browse round the shop and sit for a while to soak up the bright sunshine before all too soon it's time to go. If you want a great way to spend your Sunday a bit differently then why not see some of Britain's hidden treasures on an RSPB trip – you won't regret it!

Sarah Beacock

The group decided to repeat their promotional event a week before the nationwide happening the following weekend in the hope of increasing participation in it.

Numbers of Big Garden Birdwatch recording forms submitted from Bexley decreased last year and it was hoped over 1,000 would be sent in this time.

Fortunately the day dawned bright and sunny after overnight rain. On arriving at Hall Place, Bexley, to set up telescopes and a stall on 17 January it was gratifying to see that the feeders, which we topped up, were being used by a variety of birds. Colour predominated with the first birds being ring-necked parakeets and goldfinches. The goldfinches were constant visitors throughout the morning.

We had nine volunteers – John and Jeanna Turner, Tony Banks, John Hawkins, Sylvia Say, Stewart Banks, Brian and Steve and Sandra Shepherd.

We were able to engage with about 100 people, distributing 45 Big Garden Birdwatch recording forms and two membership forms. It was gratifying to see the pleasure that children and young people, as well as adults, gained from looking through a telescope at the birds on the feeders.

Birds seen there included blue tit, great tit, ring-necked parakeet, house sparrow, chaffinch and goldfinch, whilst on the ground were blackbird, robin, starling and wood pigeon. Other birds seen in the vicinity were green woodpecker, pied wagtail, grey wagtail, carrion crow, magpie, Canada goose, grey lag goose, mallard and moorhen, with feral pigeon, common gull and black headed gull flying over.

The day was successful and enjoyable. Thanks are due to all volunteers.

John Turner

Everyone is welcome to a Bexley Group event at Hall Place on Saturday 17 January to celebrate the Big Garden Birdwatch.

Telescopes will be available for visitors to observe birds feeding on the seed and nuts provided. They will be situated on the path between the car park and the house between 10am and 1.30pm.

BGBW forms to be filled in the following weekend will also be available along with RSPB membership forms. Bird food and feeders will be on sale.

BGBW started in 1979 so this year is the 30th anniversary. It began with the junior membership counting birds over a weekend, and then in 2001 the event was opened up to everyone. Last year more than 400,000 people took part. The more results received, the more the RSPB understands what is going on with garden birds.

Since 1979 there have been some worrying drops in garden bird numbers; three quarters of the starlings have gone and more than half the house sparrows. This shows the importance of this survey and with your participation the RSPB can help save the birds that are part of our daily lives.

In Bexley we hope to raise the numbers of participants from the 923 adults and 62 children who took part last year, and exceed the 2007 number of 1165 adults and 141 children.

Survey forms will be available in libraries as well as at Hall Place, and some will be distributed in certain neighbourhoods ready to be completed over the weekend of 24 and 25 January.

John Turner