There was just a little rain in the last few days of August, but appreciable rain waited until 22mm fell over four days, 8th to 11th of September. This was still too little to charge up the ground water, but sufficient for grass to resume growth and the lake to rise to within 24mm of the crest of the outfall weir, allowing wave action to cause a little overtopping. So, the watersports finally had regained the 140mm lost to evaporation and seepage over the long, hot drought.
The bird count was done on the 10th, before the effects of the rain on the grass had been seen and there were some remarkably low counts. There were no Canada Geese, Mallards or Black-headed Gulls on the lake, just two gulls and 2 geese on the athletics grass. The trend for the Canada Goose continued their low counts in July and August, but the second lowest September gull count over the last 40 years could well have been an immediate response to the return of significant rain making food available in other London sites. Only one year in the last 40 had no Mallards. There were just 22 Woodpigeons detected, fewer than seen in recent Septembers. In contrast, other species were as numerous as normal for September, with 20 Cormorants and 50 Greylags. The 10 House Sparrows were the highest September count since before the great decline in the London area in the 1990s and the 150 Starlings the highest since September 1989. The sparrow feeds its nestlings on insects and the Starling probes in grassland for invertebrates, so neither would have been expected to do well in a drought year. Some of this could be a taste of years to come. As seen often in the past there were extra Mute Swans being chased off by the resident pair, in this case there were just two interlopers.
On the 10th, I found a new species in the Dave Lofthouse Glade, bringing the number found there over the last 10 years to 148. This was a seedling Cockspurthorn, a relative of Firefox and Hawthorn. It was mown in the meadow management later in the month. Cockspurthorns are commonly planted and sometimes spread by seed.
Early in the month, a strange notice appeared posted on the security fence between the public park and AELTCs part of Ashen Grove Wood. This tiny bit of ancient woodland is no more hazardous than is Horse Close Wood, which is wholly accessible to the public.
I did my monthly lake water monitoring on the 14th. This confirmed that the cyanobacterium that dominated from early August, Microcystis aeruginosa, was still abundant across all three of my sampling points, if not blooming, and water clarity remained low. So, the ulrasonic device installed by Merton was not having a noticeable effect. The other main plankton was two species of water flea.
Following destructive management of the hedgerows around the park two years ago, using a flail, a few of us have been managing the hedgerows with hand tools, to see if it's practicable to prevent their incursion over paths or into adjacent grasslands in a way that's better for wildlife and amenity. Quite a lot of work was needed in the Spring and Summer as the hedges sent out long branches in the growing season, but we had much success in keeping the hedges in trim whilst avoiding disturbance to breeding birds and retaining much of the flowering and fruiting as valuable wildlife habitat. Sadly, some of this year's work was undone at a stroke on the 25th.
I came across an Idverde operative trimming the Admiral's hedge, right back to the ugly security fence, taking off all the flowering and fruiting that we had sparred, waiting for it to be enjoyed by passers-by and to provide that valued food for birds and insects. The ground was littered with short stems of Hawthorn, Bramble and other woody species. The fruits of Hawthorn, Rose Hips, Holly and Honeysuckle were being cleared away with the rest of the litter. The ivy on the ground still had Ivy Bees visiting the newly-opened flowers. His job was over and he was clearing up, so it was too late to request a stay. I asked him who commissioned the work and he told me it was Tom Kilduff of Ideverde. A failure of communication here, following discussions after the flailing incident, everyone had gone on the do other things and we hadn't continued discussing alternatives for hedgerow management. My work was exploratory. I had told others who were volunteering in the park, and interested passers-by, but hadn't reported or made recommendations. The operative didn't need telling that the fruits were being sacrificed, he remarked on that without prompting. He was just following instructions and said he would report my concern back to Tom, now too late for this winter.
My work wasn't wasted, as I had already established that management with hand tools worked and the details of what and where. I'll write up my experiences and see if we can return to discuss hedgerow management. I do believe we can meet everyone's desires on this one.
