Data published in September by the Environment Agency revealed that all English rivers have failed to meet the new chemical pollution standards set in 2017. The levels of sewerage discharge, and agricultural and industrial chemicals entering our water system is still too high. Lambrok Stream is classed as a main river by the EA and must be included in these findings.
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There are all sorts of things that shriek in our woods: the Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) is just one of them.
Jay (Garrulus glandarius) audio by Bodo Sonnenburg ( CC -BY-SA) xeno-canto.org
Last year the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published a report called Wild Bird Populations in the UK, 1970 to 2018. We published this post at the time but feel it bears repeating: the coronavirus crisis may be at the top of our list of concerns but the environmental crisis has not gone away.
Continue reading “Bird populations in crisis”
An important message from Sir David Attenborough.
Header picture by DKG
A robin’s lifespan is just 13 months on average due to high mortality among robins in their first year. However, once they’ve passed that first year barrier, they stand a much better chance of surviving for quite a while – the record currently stands at 19 years!
All pictures taken in the park by DKG
Though you may not have seen them, there are field voles all over the park. Here ten things you may not have known about them.
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This is a water flea (Daphnia magna), not even a distant cousin to the fleas on your dog, but very close to the bottom of the freshwater food chain that is being disrupted by your dog’s flea treatment.
Continue reading “Flea circus”
Research has recently found that the highly toxic insecticides used on cats and dogs to kill fleas are poisoning England’s rivers. Scientists believe that significant environmental damage is being done to important water insect populations, down at the bottom of the freshwater food chain.
Continue reading “Flea circus”
The name hedgehog came into use during the fifteenth century.
Continue reading “Naming hedgehogs”
Sulphur tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) growing on dead wood in the copse between Sleepers and Sheep Field.
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We are saddened to announce the loss of DKG, our gifted in-house photographer; David Keith Galliers died peacefully at home after a short illness.
We will miss his dry sense of humour, his kindness and his hard-working enthusiasm for the park, which he recorded for us in all its seasons and moods. His obsession with early morning light has left us some truly unforgettable images.
Our heartfelt condolences go to his family.
by Simon Knight
I was surprised to see these two critters, given that insect life in the park has gone quiet now compared to the summer.
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These are photographs taken last weekend, early on Sunday morning. Whoever it is who is churning up our car park does it on Saturday night; if you know him or her please ask them to stop. Please tell them that our poor car park’s surface is not tarmac, it is rolled planings, and will not last long under such treatment.
Thank you.
American mink have been in the news as a disease vector for COVID-19. Millions of animals on hundreds of Danish fur farms are to be destroyed.
Continue reading “Mink”
Our trees have internet!
The park’s oak trees have produced more acorns this year than any of us can ever remember. These periodic bumper harvests are called mast years.
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We have both greater and lesser spotted woodpeckers on our species lists but it is many years since the single sighting of a lesser spotted woodpecker in the park. Here is a video from the BTO to help you tell the difference between the two.
There is a Chinese wingnut tree (Pterocarya stenoptera) in the Arboretum.
Continue reading “Wingnut”
Simon Tesler’s video of an otter hunting in the moat at Southwick Court is powerful evidence not only of Lambrok Stream’s biodiversity, but its importance as a wildlife corridor that runs from the River Biss right up through and beyond Southwick village.
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We have been sent video of an otter hunting in Southwick Court moat yesterday.
Continue reading “Otter in Lambrok Stream”
Yesterday was FoSCP’s last work party in the park until after this period of lockdown ends. If all goes well, we will next meet on Wednesday, 9th December.
Park users, if you see that there is something to be fixed or damage to be mended, please contact us and we will do our best.
Some of DKG’s gorgeous pictures of frosty mornings in the park.
….here are long tail tits preparing for a cold February night.
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The increasing use of nest box cameras has shown how frequently garden nest boxes are used by blue tits for winter roosting.
Continue reading “Winter roosts”
