Friends Newsletter

Spring is here, time to look out for baby birds! Some birds are very secretive about their nest building and we often don’t realise nests are there until the youngsters appear fluttering and tweeting on the ground. Others are far less secretive and their nests can be quite obvious. Look out for two migrants soon to be seen at the lakes which fall into the latter category:

Common Terns like to nest in colonies on open ground. You may spot them on one of the Thrupp Lake islands or on the tern rafts that Earth Trust has put on Thrupp Lake.

Sand Martins nest in sand banks where you can spot the holes they make. Tuckwells Sand and Gravel next to Thrupp Lake prepare sand banks for returning Sand Martins every year but these can only be seen if you get permission to access the Tuckwells yard on Thrupp Lane. However Earth Trust have erected a wooden Sand Martin bank overlooking Thrupp Lake, if the birds choose to occupy this then we should have a good view of the nesting birds.

Preparing for Spring at Barton Fields Nature Reserve

Barton Field volunteers completed their annual Spring cut of the wildflower meadow in mid March. This was done with just a petrol mower and brush cutter as most of the very tall vegetation was removed in their Autumn cut using a tractor. Cutting the meadow at these times aims to impoverish the soil, lower the vegetation and help wild flowers to thrive.

Following the Spring cut, the volunteer group was joined by a group of Sophos employees who had been given the afternoon off to help out on Barton Fields. They prepared four areas as seedbeds for sowing 'Cornfield Annuals': Corn Marigold, Corn Chamomile, Corn Flower, Corncockle, Corn Buttercup, Poppy. These are species that used to grow on arable land and some are now threatened due to herbicide use.

To become a volunteer on Barton Fields contact david.guyoncourt@ntlworld.com

A Plea from a volunteer

In recent years there has been a curious phenomenon amongst a small section of the dog walking fraternity. Rather than bagging and then binning dog mess they just bag it and then throw the bag on the ground or in the bushes where it persists for months. Whilst I don’t think for a minute that any members of Friends of Radley Lakes would do anything so environmentally unfriendly, I did have a recent communication from one of the Barton Fields volunteers who asked me to bring the subject up in the newsletter. He said that ‘ During a recent litter pick on Barton Fields in preparation for the Spring cut of the meadow, I found lots of small plastic bags of dog poo. They are horrible to pick up and often break or tear on thorny twigs as I grab them. There is a litter bin on either end of Barton Fields so could you please ask dog owners to take the bags to one of these’.

Tree Work at Thrupp Lake

You may have noticed that a large hybrid black- poplar tree has been cut down near the Sandles site. As tree cutting can be a rather sensitive and upsetting activity I just want to reassure you that this wasn’t cut for frivolous or cosmetic reasons but for safety reasons. Stress fractures up the trunk meant it would imminently fall over onto the path so Earth Trust elected to fell it in a controlled manner. Regular tree inspections are carried out around the lake and safety is of high priority.