Beddington Farmlands in the past

Looking east in the 1960s 

Ringing group in the 60s 

Birding legend Peter Grant at the ringers hut 

Ringers on Irrigation Bridge 

Google 1945 showing field system

A few nostalgic shots which have recently been unearthed by Mike. The photos were taken by Peter Morgan.



Ringing out at Xmas Time

Female Reed Bunting  

Female Reed Bunting  

Male Greenfinch  

Male and female Goldfinch 

Adult male Great Tit

 

A few birds today from the Beddington ringing session.

Gulls

First-winter Caspian Gull

Adult Med Gull 

Not sure. Maybe a Yellow-legged Gull but looks too pale and anaemic- perhaps a splash of another taxon in there? 

Juvenile Herring Gull- argentatus? Large with retarded moult-most probably of high latitude origin 

Similar to immediately above but moulting some mantle feathers and scaps- argentatus? Probably. 

2nd/3rd winter Herring Gull- argentatus

Wandle Trail

Freezing Fog 

Wandle Trail at Waddon Ponds looking south 

Wandle Trail at Waddon Ponds looking North same spot as above (modern industry)

Wandle Mill-old Snuff Mill from around 1850 on banks of Wandle 

Mount Pleasant at Beddington Village 

Sedge Bed at Wilderness Island- currently doing some tree work in this area as part of a LWT project

 

Spent a lot of time recently on the Wandle- working at Wilderness Island and also exploring some parts of the river with Gillian using Bob and Derek's new book- River Wandle Companion and Wandle Trail.  

Contrast is maybe the best word to sum up the River Wandle with nature reserves, grey wagtails and kingfishers, waterfalls, old mills, cottages, dog walkers and ramblers interwoven with council estates, modern warehouses, spiked pallisade fences, hoodies, teenage mums, drunks, fly tipping, dog mess and graffiti. Very interesting, quite strange and definately not boring.  

Beddington Farmlands is to form the heartland of the future Wandle Valley Regional Park - the journey to that end in the upcoming years will be also be extremely interesting.

Goosander

Male Goosander- one of two that circled 100 acre, the 3rd record for the year 

Shovelers- feeding on some kind of 'bait ball'- maybe seeds? 

Male Stonechat 

Fox 

Garden Tiger Caterpillars in the Bugry. Very large variation in growth rates!

A nice bit of weather today (the weather is set to turn cold next week). Highlight of the day was the Goosanders, also male Shelduck, 1 male Stonechat, 6 Snipe, 4 Green Sandpiper, 25 Lapwing, 4 Redpoll, 4 Redwing, 2 Fieldfare, 10+ Song Thrush, 30+ Chaffinch, 25 Goldfinch, 30 Linnet, 4 Mipit and 1 Skylark . 

Hobnobbing

 

Had an interesting evening yesterday at an Environment and Communities Reception at the House of Lords.

The Moth Tunnel

Heralds- I counted 39 hibernating

Buttoned Snout 

Spider sp? (debating id on i-spot) 

Orb Spider Metellina merianae 

The tunnel- an irrigation pipe under the railway 

Left to right: Scarce Umber and Mottled Umbers

 



Checked out the moth tunnel yesterday and as it was relatively mild had the trap on last night. Got Scarce Umber and 2 Mottled Umbers (first record for Beddington) but no December Moth yet which is what I am after.

39 Heralds, the Buttoned Snout and a load of spiders in the tunnel. This hibernation colony was found by Derek Coleman about 10 years ago and 39 is a good year.