Friends Newsletter

FRL members will doubtless be delighted to hear that the long-awaited demolition of Sandles, the house at Thrupp Lake, has now been completed. The building was widely regarded as an eye-sore and has been the scene of much vandalism in recent years. The rubble still on site will be moved to another Earth Trust site to form a car park in the near future.

Destruction of the Bird Hide at Thrupp Lake

Unfortunately, since the last newsletter was sent out, the bird hide at Thrupp Lake has been burned down by vandals. The hide provided shelter and a good view of the birds on the islands close by and was much used. It is very sad that youngsters should take delight in destroying something that gave pleasure to many people. We don’t know yet whether or not the hide will be rebuilt.

Brown Argus Butterfly Project on Barton Field

The traditional habitat of the Brown Argus butterfly is chalk grassland where the larvae feed on Rock Rose but, since the 1990s, it has taken to lowland grassland areas such as Barton Fields where, in the absence of Rock Rose, the larvae have developed a taste for various Crane’s-bills. A PhD student from Exeter University is investigating this phenomenon by studying the Brown Argus in both types of habitat, one site being Barton Fields. You may see him during the summer carrying out botanical surveys or downloading temperature data.

Bird News

For the bird life at Radley Lakes the July to October period is characterised by movement, with the summer migrants starting to head back to their wintering grounds and the winter migrants starting to arrive. One species to look out for is the common tern; pairs typically nest on Thrupp Lake, with one pair nesting in 2017 (although not on the two tern rafts that were installed by Earth Trust earlier in the year). Terns will be departing Radley Lakes around mid-August.

Small passerine species will be singing less often as we go through the early part of this period, before eventually leaving Radley Lakes. These include willow warbler (with this year seemingly a good one for species at the site), whitethroat (conversely fewer this year), reed warbler, sand martin, blackcap, garden warbler and chiffchaff with the latter species having a brief final sing around late September.

Duck species that will arrive, and then stay for the winter, include pochard which typically arrive in late July, followed by teal, gadwall, shoveler, and finally wigeon arriving in around early September. Other species to note include hobby which can be found hawking over the lakes for dragonflies; cormorants, which can be seen at dusk flying to Thrupp Lake to roost on the islands; and barn owl which can be seen at dusk and early morning.

Ben Carpenter