Year's end

I had my final walk of the year on the common this morning. Now that the bitterly cold weather has eased there were more birds to be seen than has been the case recently, and apart from the last few vestiges of ice grimly clinging on in parts of the boardwalk, the conditions were fairly good. Both Scouts' Pond and the Pit were still largely covered in ice, but the thaw is clearly well advanced, for now at least.

It was still quite misty however; so much so that when some Pink Footed Geese flew overhead, they were invisiblet. Their calls, for all the world like an aerial pack of puppies, was the only evidence of their fleeting presence. Apart from them, I was also pleased to have a good view of a goldcrest at Scouts' Pond, and a solitary coal tit on School Common. A male kestrel on the telephone wires near Warren Road kept the smaller birds agitated, and I was pleased to find my first fieldfares of the year near Pit Common.

Thanks to everyone who has told me of their bird sightings on the common, and I hope you'll keep it up next year. Each year we seem to get at least one uncommon visitor, and the highlight for 2010 was the pair of bearded reedlings. Sadly they did not decide to stay for the winter, but now they know about our reedbed, perhaps they'll return.

The bad weather in November and December means that we are slightly behind schedule for the reed cutting programme, but if we can get a good run at it now we should soon catch up. On top of that there is a significant programme of work to keep the commons in good order, so if you're not already a volunteer we've got plenty of activities to keep you occupied.

All the best for 2011!

Slip sliding away

I was surprised to find how much compacted snow and ice has yet to thaw from the boardwalk when I walked across it today. It is thawing - the gentle drip, drip from the dipping platform into the half-thawed water of Scouts' Pond proves it, but only very slowly. So the message is, take it carefully if you're walking on the boardwalk. I hear that the forecast is for bitter weather and possibly snow to return by the end of the week, so no let-up is in sight.

The weather is beginning to bring some interesting birds to light however. Bullfinches are being regularly reported, and a little egret has been seen twice in the last three days. There was a flock of about 10 siskins flying round the common today, and a sparrowhawk was seen in an adjacent garden. Please let me know if you spot anything special.

Still snowy

A bitterly cold week, with more snow in the last few days returning the commons to their picturesque condition. I expect it's killing a lot of wildlife, but the bonus for birdwatchers is that it does bring some unusual birds to notice, and in order to conserve energy they tend to be more confiding. Today there were several lapwings overflying the area, and in School Common within a few yards of each other I found Britain's two smallest birds: wren and goldcrest. How these tiny scraps of life survive a winter like this defeats me, and of course only the fittest of them do.

Speaking of the fittest, even the stalwarts of the SCT volunteers were stood down today, as the ground was too covered in snow and impossible to work. Never mind; it stopped my toes and fingers dropping off!

School Meadow looked particularly attractive in the snow today, with the outdoor classroom furniture wearing think white hats:

And the Pit was also on good form. When I arrived at it a black headed gull was sitting on its frozen surface, but it chose not hang around for its photo to be taken.

Snow already!

After last year's excess of snow I thought we might be let off lightly this year; I certainly don't approve of the unseasonably early fall of snow last night. However, dressing myself up in my very warmest outdoor gear, I took myself and the dog (who keeps her warmest outdoor gear on all the time, just in case) around School Common and the boardwalk.Not much to see by way of wildlife: a party of long tailed tits by Scouts' pond gave good value, and I heard a bullfinch but couldn't track it down. I fear the bearded reedlings must have moved on; perhaps our reed beds weren't extensive enough for them.

 However, the snow made everything picturesque, and the newly cut areas are looking good.

Bearded reedlings/tits

Great news. A pair of bearded reedlings/tits were seen at 8.00 am Monday 8th Nov, near the patch which was cut on Saturday . Showing well and calling regularly.  Let's hope they stay on!

Working Party 6th November

The first working party of the cutting season, and our Secretary had promised "Tomorrow morning will be dry and bright, albeit wet underfoot." The bit he got right was the wetness underfoot, but in fact there was also a great deal of wetness above foot too. It was drizzling a lot; when it wasn't drizzling, it was belting down. The nine volunteers looked like drowned rats, but in the true spirit of British stoicism we laboured on. We didn't even let the rain stop us eating our biscuits; that's true pluck.

This working party was the first time John Houlgate's magnificent cart was used in earnest. My advice to John is to keep on building carts and other labour-saving devices, and leave the weather forecasting to the charming young women at BBC Norfolk. The cart was a great success, meaning we were able to move the cut reed much more easily to our dumping sites. There had been fears it would sink in the mud, but by and large it coped well, and we learned a few tricks we hope will make it easier still in future working parties.

Despite the rain, I think it's fair to say we all went away well satisfied with our work, and it bodes well for the rest of the season.

November 3rd and 4th

A pair of Kingfishers are regularly spotted around The Pit, could they be nesting in the bank.?


The Commons continues to attract large numbers of visitors of the human variety. Following Duncans recent post, I met and talked to a group of sixty hikers on the Warren boardwalk . They were very comlimentary about the work being done to protect this important local nature reserve and enjoyed their visit. Many had copies of the new leaflet to hand.

Saw a female Kestrel taking a bath in one of the puddles at the Warren, got quite close before she
noticed me and flew away.

Fungi and walks

Lots of fungi on show in the woods now. Not much in the way of exciting birds though. There has been a big influx of waxwings in the country in the last week, including some seen in Norwich. As anyone seen any in Southrepps?

Today saw about 40 people of assorted ages on a sponsored walk across the boardwalk and beyond. Brilliant! It's lovely to see the common being used as a natural place for such events, and I hope they all enjoyed themselves.

A Year in the life of The Pit

Looking at The Pit today it is hard to believe that is just over a year ago that extensive work to secure its long term future was completed. The Pit had become so badly silted up that it could retain very little water. This in conjunction with a very prolonged dry spell threatened its existence and the habitats of frogs, toads, fish and other wildlife.

A small group of volunteers went into action, rescuing and moving hundreds of fish into temporary accommodation ( paddling pools).Then over a two week period with the substantial help and resources of Carl Bird , hundreds of tonnes of silt was carefully removed. Once the original clay membrane was exposed, the depth of The Pit had been increased from a few centimetres to well over a metre. The surrounding areas were re-graded and the Fire Brigade came to our assistance to partially refill The Pit. Fish were returned to their original haunts with minimal loss. Children got their paddling pools back.

Now, the landscape surrounding The Pit has fully recovered .Silt which was pushed back into woods has settled and starkness has been replaced by wildflowers, shrubs and grass. It has never looked better. A drain running down Pit Street into The Pit has been found and excavated and this together with overflows from drain gullies ensures most rainwater runs directly into The Pit and not down the road .This will reduce and may eradicate the drains blowing out at the bottom of Pit Street during torrential downpours in the future.

During this year, numerous male frogs were once again seen gathering at The Pit and croaking loudly to attract females. There was a noticeable increase in frog spawn, tadpoles and froglets in the water. Fish have flourished and spawned well in early summer increasing their number. This is probably just as well given that each day at dawn and dusk a grey heron visits The Pit for breakfast and supper.

Moorhens have returned, flourished and successfully reared two sets of chicks. A pair of mallards adopted one of the Lilly pads and although they started to collect in preparation for a nest they departed after a few weeks and didn’t return.

Muntjac and roe deer are regularly seen drinking from The Pit and most recently, a pair of kingfishers has been seen taking fish, a very welcome return.

It has been a great year; The Pit has been saved and made good for another twenty years. The surrounding landscape continues to recover encouraging a variety of plants and wildlife.

Roger Neal
October 16th 2010

Working Party 9th October

A group of a dozen volunteers turned up this morining in pleasant weather to carry out a varied working party. Most of us were concentrating on controlling the alder and willow which is doing its best to dominate the mixed grassland between the Beck and Warren Road. This area is rich in grassland species, some of which are quite rare, so it is important that we do what we can to preserve the habitat. It's daunting work however, when you see how many alder and willow saplings have grown up in the two years since we last attacked it.

Another group worked wonders on the protecting the supports for the bridge over the Beck, which was being undermined by the stream washing the mud away from it. A couple of years ago revetments were built, and these needed to be renewed. The end result looks like it will be effective for another while, and it also looks suitably natural. It is important that the bank of the stream is not damaged around the bridge, and we would therefore ask that dogs and children are discouraged from going into the water there.

Whilst we were working, a casual glance at the sky revealed a Buzzard passing overhead, which is always a thrill. A little later, as I was walking back across the boardwalk, a skein of 50 or so Pink footed geese flew over, sounding like a pack of excited puppies. Yet another sign of autumn!

Not much going on

Not much happening on my walk round the common yesterday. Quite a lot of fungi in evidence, but hardly any birds other than the inevitable woodpigeons.

Working party.

It was a stunning morning today for a number of reasons. Firstly a Sparrow hawk decided to catch its breakfast outside our place. Then Little S and I cycled down to the common to help out on the working party, passing masses of black berries and dog walkers (at nine on a Sunday morning?). The sun was shining and the forecast was for dry and sunny.

Reaching the rendezvous twenty minutes early (it's Sunday...meet at half nine, d'oh!), we had time to have a look around the Jubilee Boardwalk before we got to work. The pond is a sight to behold if you haven't been down there. The sun caught it through the trees as we trundled up to see it on the new Scout's boardwalk. It takes you right into the heart of the pond, and if you have young children there is no better way to get close to nature and watch the pond skaters and ruddy darters and listen to the birds. And (as long as they don't leave the board walk) NO MUD!!!

Back to the cleaning up. Brushes in hand, we swept up the board walk, weeded, climbed trees, flung pond weed, ate biscuits, scythed and listened to the happy natter of people enjoying themselves. Two hours later, we were muddier and more than a little pooped, but the common shone, not only from the sunshine but also from a good makeover. It is a great way to spend a couple of hours out of doors and cheaper than the gym. Little S barely made it back up the hill on the bike, but she really enjoyed herself. I did too, looking forward to the next working party in October. We'll make sure that the sun is available.

Praise from Natural England

Yesterday I bumped into a couple of  naturalists conducting a survey of invertebrates on the SSSI, on behalf of Natural England. They were full of praise for the way our management plan is working, being particularly impressed with the area of fen where the majority of orchids and the cotton grass grow. They did however mention that despite our best efforts there was still some Himalayan Balsam growing, so I've been over there this morning pulling it up wherever I could find it. There was actually quite a lot; enough to keep me busy for an hour and a half or so. It's pretty wet over there already, and I managed to get stuck in liquid mud over the top of my wellies a couple of times. And as Billy Connolly likes to ask, "If it wasnae for your wellies, where would you be? You'd be in the hospital, or infirmary."
Let's hope that with everything we have done this year to restrict it there won't be much to deal with next year!

Scouts' pond

Since all the recent rain Scouts' pond, like the Pit, has filled quite well. Lots of water boatmen and pond skaters, and a moorhen. Also ruddy darter dragonflies much in evidence there.

The year proceeds

Still no sign of lizards for me on this warm and muggy day, although I saw enough to satisfy me whilst on holiday in Malta recently. There are signs that the summer is starting to wind down however; I found the attached puffball fungi on School Common this morning. Several dragonflies on display, but not much else of note to see, although I did find a kestrel  alarming the residents on the Jubilee boardwalk. It's very unusual to find a kestrel in woodland, so perhaps it was an inexperienced youngster.

Lizards

I have seen no lizards on the Common this year. Last year I only found one or two basking on the boardwalk, but the year before there were a lot. Someone visiting our stand at the Horticultural Show last weekend said they had seen some; has anyone else? The attached was taken in June 2007.

Inclement weather, and where are the swifts?

With unerring accuracy I went to the Common today, only to be rained on in no uncertain terms whilst I was on School Common. Even sheltering under an oak tree with my waterproof jacket and hat covering most of me, one of those pesky mosquitoes still managed a munch, on my hand, which was about the only bit they could reach.

I saw no birds of any consequence, but did hear what I took to be a young bird of prey; probably a kestrel, but perhaps as a couple of years ago, a sparrowhawk.

The skies seem to have gone quiet in the last week, with no screams of swifts reaching my ears. Today was not much of a test as they would have been washed out of the sky, but is anyone aware if they are still around? Last year the last date Swifts were recorded over the Common was 18th July (although they may have been there later of course; I just didn't see any.) In 2008 the last date I was aware of them was 1st August.

To get the ball rolling, apart from co-ordinating the recording of bird sightings on the commons, I'm also taking an interest in butterflies. We've recently been lucky enough to have some white admirals: this is a picture of one I took on School Common:

I was also quite pleased with this red admiral, taken from the new section of boardwalk leading to Scouts' pond:

And this is a small skipper (or possibly an Essex skipper) seen on the mixed grass area on the Warren Road side of the SSSI:

                                                    

Welcome!

Hi! Welcome to Southrepps Commons Trust's new venture into the internet. We've set this blog up as an experiment to see if there is any interest in using the internet as a medium for sharing information about our wonderful commons. We hope it will be of interest to people who visit the commons, those who volunteer to help maintain them, and anyone else with an interest in them.

In particular, it would be great if it gets used to note sightings of wildlife, plants or anything else of interest. It could also be used to draw our attention to areas needing attention.

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