ID help needed and Esher Common

Before I dive in to today's post, my friend Pete (of The Quacks of Life fame) is trying to ID a grasshopper/cricket. Clicking HERE and HERE will take you to the wee beastie :D If anyone can help here it would be appreciated. :D

Right - today!

I'd had a fleeting visit to Black Pond on Esher Common yesterday and was delighted to see some new visitors. I normally only see Mallards and Grey Herons on this pond and was once treated to a (very speedy) fly past of a Kingfisher. I've also heard a Reed Warbler on a couple of occasions when the reeds were still abundant.,

Yesterday I only had 1/2 hour to spare as I was passing and dropped by. I saw about 15 Mallards which was good (usually only 3 or 4) and, right at the far end were 2 x adult and 2 x young Little Grebes. So this morning I revisted.

I don't like going on a Sunday. Every other person or group of people had a least one dog with them. At one time there were 11 dogs all going in and out of the water - with their owners throwing sticks and/or balls for them to chase. This makes my blood boil!! (It's also been a hot, humid and grey day so I wasn't in the best frame of mind either.) There's nothing to stop this happening but given this used to be a really good spot for dragon and damselflies I feel that this could have a damaging effect. I didn't see any today but, to be fair, there wasn't much sun either!

However, Elmbridge Council have been carrying out an ongoing plan to clear the area and return (some of) the heavily wooded parts back into Heathland. This has been happening over a few years now and is not looking quite a barren as it had been.

One of the latest areas is to clear all the reeds around the pond (or the vast majority of them). Whether this is the cause of the new visitors, I don't know.

Unfortunately, I could only find 1 adults and 1 young Little Grebe today. But in addition to the 12 or so Mallards was a Moorhen with one young and also a female Mandarin duck. Things are looking up. I shall be back there more often.

At the far left of this picture, is part of the path where all the dogs were jumping in and out of the water.

Note: the flat, light brown areas are where all the reeds have been cut back and the bare earth is now showing. There are signs of the reeds growing back however.

Looking then to the right is where the two Little Grebes were

and from the same spot over on the far bank.

The whole area used to look very much like the conifered (with apologies to the language scholars for 'conifered') area below

And now there are many more clearings like the one below.

Next visit - during the week.

Rain, rain go away... please!

The last few days have been awful in terms of weather so my camera and I haven't really been doing much!

Last Wednesday though, I spent the day with Mum and we had lunch at......well, our favourite beach cafe. The sky was stormy but just occasionally, the sun peeped through giving some strange lighting affects to the sky and beach.

Then the following day I managed to dodge the showers and had a stroll in Bushy Park. Nothing much to photograph in terms of birds, but this male Stag was now very much on his own after the rut. The bracken can hide a fully grown stag at this time of the year.

But a Grey Heron stands out quite proudly against the amber backdrop.

Around the base of a dead tree, was this Fungi. I've no idea what types they are but if anyone knows?........

And then yesterday, I walked through the Ancient Woods on Esher Common. It was very wet underfoot and very slippery. I saw a Green Woodpecker as it bounded away from me and three Robins were singing in different parts of the wood at the same time!

And then - camera tucked inside my waterproof I headed back to the car.

And today?

A gap in the clouds and the sun peeped through so I headed of to the London Wetland Centre. En route, on the A3, the heavens opened; a lorry had broken down and closed two of the three lanes causing a long tail back, so I escaped at the first roundabout and headed off my main shopping centre. Completely forgetting of course that, with the Saturday run up to Christmas, there were horrendous queues for all the car parks - so, I headed of elsewhere only to find....... I shan't bore you with the details but I was glad to get home and put the kettle on.

Tomorrow is another day......

Staying local

This morning started fairly sunny. The first young families I saw were of Blue Tit, Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits. Up high in a tree sat a young Jay - lovely stuff.

The sun was now much stronger and flying around the Rhododendron were many bees and two Painted Lady flutters - first time I've seen them in the location.


Lots of Large Red Damselflies flying around the pond

and at least 4 pairs of these too

and I've now seen my first Shield Bug of the year


Oh - and the location for all the above? My back garden :D

Early afternoon I decided I must get some exercise and headed off for Esher Common. I was on the lookout for Dragonflies and I found some. Only problem was it was far too late in the day and they were very active. But, nonetheless, it was good practice for in flight subjects and, as my school reports were often to profess, - "Could do better"



I then headed off for another area and this time Black Pond. The two small pools have now dried up but in the large pond there was a little activity and, in a gentle breeze, some great reflections!







And the one and only dragonfly I saw - tucked away in the reeds. So this one comes in under the heading of "impressionist" photography.


I now await the thunder and rain as the storm clouds are now gathering!

EDITED:
Just to add that the Starling families are now back in the garden and the noise is wonderfully deafening. Coming a close second is one of the Blue Tit families with the youngsters calling to be fed and....

yes - the rain is finally here!

Esher Commons - restoration or desecration

In 2005 Elmbridge Council proposed and identified their plan for "restoration" of the Esher Commons areas. There was public objection to this - there still is. The plan was formulated to cover a five year period with work being completed by 2010. Some of the objections were raised in August 2007.

One of the recent reports (in late 2008) by Elmbridge states the following

Four areas have undergone restoration works this year; a block around Black Pond, a block to the east of Black pond stretching to the newly restored area cleared in the first year, together with expanding existing areas to the south of the A3 and around Oxshott Bog. (6.5 ha, 16.1 acres in total)

I hadn't been to Black Pond since last autumn - only a couple of months ago it seems. On Monday of this week I went there - I was horrified at the bare open areas around the Black Pond area which had been heavily wooded so recently.

The main thinking behind this clearing debacle is to let the ground return to heathland - to allow heather to grow back - to allow boggy areas to redevelop and attract wildlife. My question is: what about the wildlife that depended on the heavily wooded areas and the trees for the normal life?

I spoke to two or three people on my walk - they, like me, were very saddened at so much clearance and without any plan of replanting. The Council, in their Countryside booklet, have added that the clearance of the trees will allow folks to enjoy the "views". Are these cleared areas what you would describe as a "view" to be enjoyed? I wouldn't!!!

This is what I found..,..,
Ferns growing in a rivulet running through the trees. No shade from the trees = no ferns!

One of the paths between the trees which give shade in the summer, structure in the winter and creates lovely long vistas along the pathways!



This is an area to one side of the pathway from the main road to Black Pond. It used to be a thick wood. I imagine that this is one of the areas to be returned to bog land.


Here you can see (on the right) the pathway to Black Pond. This used to run between wooded areas - it's now open on both sides.

Ice on one of the ponds.


and Black Pond itself. Note the tree line around the pond - how long will that remain?


Reflections...

This is rather strange - a row of about half a dozen trees has been left in the middle. Perhaps they've had a stay of execution.



If you enlarge this picture you'll notice all of the three trunks is marked in red. Does this mean it will stay? or go? I'll find out in due course.

A quick walk

This morning for a change, dawned clear and bright and at about 7.45 a.m. the moon was very evident.

The male Blackcap made a return visit to the garden, which was great, especially as he was being vocal
(record shot only)


I had a walk with my daughter today through Esher Woods then some essential food shopping.





At Tesco's supermarket, the usual opportunistic Starlings were guarding the trolleys!