8th October 2011
Brickfields & Cranham Marsh LNR's
I received a welcome e-mail from Benjamin Sanderson Havering’s Environmental Programmes Officer, saying ,  “All the new signage and sculptures for both Cranham Marsh and Cranham Brickfields has now been completed. We will be installing on site next Thursday 13th October  at Cranham Brickfields from 9.00am. If you are free to lend a hand that would be great”. “We will be installing the sign board and giant newt on the dipping platform.  There are other pieces of furniture to install at Cranham Marsh and also along the footpath on the side of the golf course so will be moving between sites throughout the day”.

I had posted some of the drawings in June on this site, but now  they have been completed, see picture of the Water vole  which caught my eye, it's cute and the  Newt......is BIG !

Come along and support Brickfields & Cranham Marsh both are managed by Essex Wildlife Trust and the London Borough of Havering.

3rd October 2911.
Brickfields LNR
Well the unseasonable weather has been well documented, records have been broken with the hottest this and hottest that and I’m pleased, I have not put on my central heating yet....Keeps my bills down! Great!  Even a Chiffchaff was in my Buddleia bush on Sunday morning, a first in my garden. But, yes, there is always a but....No RAIN, I can’t believe we had the wettest August for a few years as well, it crazy! I think the best of the rain missed Brickfields. Poor old Brickfields Pond has not been spared; see the difference in the water level (see pictures below).
The unseasonal weather and the wind direction have an effect on Bird migration. Birds do know when to migrate, when summer turns into autumn, it’s time for the summer migrants to leave, the Swallows, House Martins and a lot more. Making way for the wintering Birds coming in, the Waders, Ducks, Geese, Redwings and Fieldfares.  One of the reasons that they know........ The days become shorter, therefore less time to find food!
You’re hearing it now from people, ‘The nights are drawing in’. I am writing this now, its 6:40pm, the sun has gone down and it’s near dark, only a few weeks ago, I was still sitting in my Garden at 9 o’clock in the evening.

Apart from the leaves that are now falling (not sure if it’s the hot weather drying them out) but the autumn colours are starting to show, the next couple of weeks should be well worth a visit to Brickfields just to see nature's colours.
Bye for now.

               The Pond  23rd Feb 2011           (click on the photo to enlarge)          The Pond 3rd Oct 2011

27th September 20011
Brickfields LNR
Very misty when I got up this morning....Where is the Sun....I was promised an Indian summer from last night’s weather  forecast !
Plenty of Goldfinches in and around my garden, about 50 were flying around chattering, many were juveniles. They do like the sunflower seed hearts  I put in the birdseed feeder !
As promised the sun came out about mid day, so an early lunch and a stroll over Brickfields, early afternoon (2.00ish). Plenty to see, Great tits,  Blue tits, Robins, Goldfinches. 1 Chiffchaff ,  pair of Chaffinches, 2 Green woodpeckers, 1 Great Spotted woodpecker , 1 Sparrowhawk flying over  and a Moorhen on the pond.

As the sun was out and it was nice and warm, low 70’s I suspect, so the Butterflies were out, a few nice Gatekeepers and Speckled Woods seen. Topped off with a nice large Southern Hawker  flying around the pond.

Last Friday  and over the weekend, I was down Walton on the Naze watching  Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins flying over  in small groups bidding farewell  and migrating to even sunnier  climes. Still some about though, but did not see any to day over Brickfields.
Bye for now

16th September 2011
BRICKFIELDS
A little walk with the dog this afternoon. A lovely day, I would have thought the temperature was about 70F with a southerly breeze, very nice, went around most of the reserve. Well the very windy conditions that were forecasted last week-end were not too bad here; a few small branches and twigs came down, along with a lot of acorns. So no damage.
 A Sparrowhawk went over the rooftops of Limerick Gardens just before lunchtime, but I never saw it after that. Plenty of Blue tits and Goldfinches around and two House Martins went over heading South, won’t be long before they have all gone. A few butterflies still around, especially on a day like this, mainly Red Admirals, Large Whites and Speckled Woods. Did not see any Dragonflies over the pond today. Two pairs of Mallards and a single young Moorhen on the pond. The single juvenile Moorhen appears to be the only one around, but is managing well and self sufficient with feeding, wonder what happened to its parents?.I know they bred there, but no sign of them in the last few weeks. I know there was plenty of rainfall in August over the country, however  the pond is very low and some of the planted trees need a good drink. I think the  rain missed us!
Bye for now

Visit to Brickfields yesterday (Saturday ) had little tidy up around the pond area and cleared the branches from out of the pond,along with the usual rubbish that get's thrown in. Two new sightings to add to the list of species a rather large Southern Hawker ( Dragonfly) and a Garden Warbler . Pictures below
They are common species, The Southern Hawker will be about to October and they like ponds with a good bit of vegetation, so no wonder it likes our pond. The Garden Warbler is a summer visitor, I know they have been around a few months, but I have been missing the usual walk abouts and not been able to update the website. No sooner have I recorded them, their be off.
The trouble with undertaking a bit of work over Brickfields, is I have to keep stopping to look at the wildlife, so what should take about 1/2hr work takes an hour !
Also other Birds viewed, several Goldfinches, including a few juveniles with them. A group of Goldfinches are known as a 'Charm' and aptly named to, one of my favourate birds. Lot's of Chaffinches, Blue tits and Great tits as well. When I arrived, just before 9:00am,  Four Mallards were on the pond, three Males and a female, that's the most I've seen together this year. Oh and a Grey Squirrel kept me company after he had a drink in the pond,went up a tree and watched me !
On Thursday night I did a Powerpoint presentation of Brickfields Nature reserve at the Cranham Ratepayers ward meeting. It went down well ( I think) I enjoyed doing it myself, nice people.  I hope  it wetted their appitite to go over there, a few people were surprised what wildlife there is on their doorstep. Well if you know a good story, share it with others,don't keep to yourself ! Thers's enough bad news about.
Looks like we are going to get some bad weather over tonight and tomorrow - high winds ! So stay safe. For Birdwatchers it a time for some unusal species to get blown inland. Only last week a Manx Shearwater turned up on the Thames at Rainham, right outside the R.S.P.B
Bye for now.

Back again...two months without a computer, what a nightmare, even a borrowed Laptop gave up and died!  No emails, printer stopped working, could not update the site, so cleared off down the family caravan for nearly a month (of August). Can’t get a signal down there anyway. How did I manage in the past without a computer! Well it’s in the past, so I am going to delete it.

Did manage to visit Brickfields, but in July/ August is a quite time for Bird watching, the usual birds still about. Some have bred; Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers have done well, a few Juveniles about. A few more noisy Jays as well. The weather has not been very kind to the Butterflies as there was more rain in August then in February!

It‘s nice to see more people using Brickfields and the children have been on holiday. But the down side is the amount of litter left around increases and why do people (mainly kids) keep throwing branches back into the pond, along with bottles and cans. Never mind, little things please little minds. I’ll endeavour to keep it clear.

My highlight, birdwatching wise, was a trip out with some of my birding mates was on the 18th July. We went up the country to Rutland Waters and viewed a pair of nesting Ospreys, three young were sitting in the nest demanding food! Fanatic day watching an Adult hunt over the water and come back with a large trout and carrying it back like a torpedo to the nest. Later in the day we watched a Kingfisher catching much smaller tiddlers and carrying the food back to a nest somewhere. The little and large of the fisheaters.

On the 22nd August a trip over to Rainham RSBP reserve and viewed a juvenile Cuckoo for sometime, less then 20yds on a post right in front of me. The closest I have ever been to one!

So the next thing on my agenda – I have a PowerPoint presentation to undertake this Thursday 8th at The Cranham Community Centre in Marlborough Gardens at 7:45pm this is for the Ward meeting of the local Ratepayers Association.  I think the meeting is open to the public and you don’t have to be member.

I’ll let you know how I got on.....Bye for now

30th June 2011 -  Sorry for the lack of updates,computer problems. The site will be down until repaired,hopefully will be back in about a  week !
Bye for now.

22nd June 2011     Brickfields
At the beginning of the year I shared with you, some of the ideas the council were introducing, apart from the new hard pathways. They are going to install signposts and directional signs. Some of the posts will have hand carved species on them. All the species depicted are found on the reserve.  Notice boards with nature notes will also be installed. Well, some of the items have been finished in their workshop. They have also undertaken  new layout plans with walks linking up with Cranham Marsh, the Essex Wildlife Trust Reserve. So here is an insight, see the pictures below.

             From the drawing board to the finished or near finished items.   Click on picture to enlarge

17th June 2011
I’m still here, hope you are still, I’m back!
I thought a ‘Hard Drive’ was being caught on the M25  A127 or the  A13 in slow moving traffic, but there is another one and my mine packed up on my computer and I’ve not been able to update anything! Hope it is now fixed (fingers crossed).
A few things to catch up on. Seeing we are now having a change in the weather and receiving some rain at last.....the BBQ’s have stopped. It’s not just the weather that has reduced the BBQ’s, but the patrols of the Parks Protection Team have increased, so well done and thanks to them!
Three new birds are added to the list, Jackdaw, Linnet and Sand Martin. As I mentioned before, Red Kites have been seen flying over Upminster and Cranham. On the 7th June two Kites were seen flying together and seen by two different Birdwatchers, one in Upminster and the other in Cranham.  However the Kites were the same birds! On the 14th June two Ravens were sighted flying over the R.S.P.B reserve at Rainham. No they never escaped from the Tower of London. I saw two Ravens last year flying over the New Forest. Luckily I was with a group of other Birdwatchers, otherwise I might not be believed.

I had a lovely trip out to Ashdown Forest, east Sussex on Monday 13th with some of my Birdwatching chums and tried my best to encourage some of the special birds to fly to Brickfields, so we will have to wait and see, different habitat unfortunately, but we can dream on. Redstart, Woodlark, Meadow & Tree Pipits, Redpoll, Spotted Flycatcher and Treecreeper seen and finishing off with a  Buzzard as we were leaving to go home. We saw at least six male Redstarts, an absolute stunning bird in the breeding season.

Next up, new photographs of some of the woodcarvings that are to be installed on the Brickfield site. We have the drawings in the photo section you can view, but now some of the carvings are near finished. New lay out maps as well. Just have to sort them out and I will put them on this website.
Bye for now.

Male Redstart pictured below

30th May 2011     Brickfields LNR
Well all’s quite at the moment and not much happening. Plenty of juvenile Starlings, Blue Tits and House Sparrows, all breed well over the reserve. I’m also checking out for new juvenile  Woodpeckers, as I know they are breeding over there as well. Most of the Spring arrivals are here in the county. I’m now on the lookout for Spotted Flycatchers. No adders sighted yet, but ‘Curly’ the Grass Snake is still about, sun bathing...saw him again today.

Well it always rains on Bank Holidays, well that what it seems to me, but for the first time I’m pleased, we need the rain ! I think I’ll have a barbeque, then it is bound to pour down !

Talking about barbeques...They are not allowed over Brickfields, but sad to report people are having them. This is classed as anti social behaviour. It’s not so much the mess they leave behind, coupled with the obligatory empty cans of lager etc, but the total disregard for the hazardous dangers of fires getting out of control and also putting themselves in danger of accidents without nearby assistance of the emergency services.

 Have one at home it’s much better and safer.

Bye for now.