Windy Day in Nythe

A bit of a windy day, dull and a few spits and spots. Main highlights were a single Swallow and a Red Kite over the house this afternoon.

In the back garden a male Great Tit visited the fat balls several times, whilst the resident pair of Blackbirds pecked away at the pieces that were dropped.

And at the top of the Silver Birch two doors down there was a very vocal Goldfinch.

A Speckled Wood was a bit of a surprise in the blustery conditions.

A male Great Tit at the feeders.

And a very vocal Goldfinch

27 Years On - Final Images

A few images taken from on top of the weir at Nythe Pool between 2013 to 2017

15 Jan 13

12 Oct 14

7 Dec 14

18 Jan 15

8 Feb 15

11 May 16

21 Nov 16

23 Nov 16

7 Mar 17

28 Apr 17

27 Years On - Part 3

Below are a few before and after shots from the clean up project on Nythe Pool - 2017

Also a couple of videos and some additional comparisons from 1990 to present day.

Before

After

3 Apr 17 and Nythe Pool (Eldene Balancing Pond) is about to have a make-over.

After 7 days of dredging by the Land and Water Company the pool is now clear of 500 tonnes of silt, sludge and waste.

1990

April 2017 same tree on the right

1990

April 2017

1990

April 2017

1990

April 2017

27 Years On - Part 2

Courtesy of the Environment Agency, I have produced a few panoramas from the images they loaned me. They are "Nythe Bog" before work on it started, the field before and after the mud and silt was laid on it and the final result - Eldene Balancing Pond as it was in 1990.

 1990 - Before work started on "Nythe Bog". Fences up and machines moved in

1990 - The field is fenced off before............

......the mud and silt from the pool is spread out.

And the finished work, with an island in the middle and a watercourse either side of it.

More to come with Videos and Images of the work carried out this Year.

Watch this Space

27 Years On - Part 1

A massive thank you to Daryl Buck (Environment Agency Biodiversity Officer) and Gareth Simpson (Environment Agency Project Manager) and to Paul Dunleavey (Land & Water Project Manager) and his team of Alan on the Dumper Truck, Alan on the Amphibious JCB, Roger on the JCB Digger, and both Lenny and Chris the Ground Crew.

What an amazing job they all did in removing tonnes of silt and sludge from Nythe Pool, all of which has accumulated since Nythe Bog (as it was affectionately called), was widened and deepened in 1990. When the work was completed it was renamed Eldene Balancing Pond, but very few of the locals call it that and still call it Nythe Bog.

Back then the silt was laid out beyond the south bank of Dorcan Stream, just beyond where the footbridge is. Not something that could be done this time around, and so with a fleet of lorries coming back and forth for 7 days, they managed to remove 500 tonnes of silt and ship it off else where.

It wasn't just the silt they removed but a skip load of bikes, motorbikes, shopping trolleys etc. were all removed.

The Environment Agency were kind enough to let me use some of their photographs from 1990 and below are a few images from 1990 and what it looks like today.

Over the next few days there will be few more photos from 1990 and Present Day, plus some before and after photos and a video from this years project.

1990
(Courtesy of the Environment Agency)

January 2013

April 2017

1990

(Courtesy of the Environment Agency)

April 2017

1990

 (Courtesy of the Environment Agency)

April 2017

1990

 (Courtesy of the Environment Agency)

April 2017

1990

 (Courtesy of the Environment Agency)

April 2017

Last Day

Nythe Pool
Had a quick walk around Nythe Pool today and the word was that it would indeed be the last day of dredging. A lot of sludge has been cleared in 7 days and tomorrow (Thu, 27 Apr) there should be a noticeable difference as the murky waters start to settle down.

It will take a few days for the fences to come down, the protective mats to be taken up and the diggers to depart, and then it will be down to the elements and nature to take control.

I'm a realist and I know full well it will become a dumping ground again. Its just a shame the camera that has been watching overhead for the past few weeks will be taken down, it would have been useful in catching these criminals.

Big Brother is Watching You. Such a shame its coming down as it could have been useful in catching "criminals" dumping rubbish into the pool.
In The Back Garden
Well what else has been happening, not much really, it snowed again for the second day running and a Wren was taking moss into the Yucca for the second year running. From that observation, it must mean the nest in the pyracantha was ignored by the female and the one chosen was either predated or destroyed.

The local Carrion Crow is definitely targeting the Wood Pigeon and as they come into the garden are soon swooped on. The Carrion Crow nest is up in the Silver Birch two doors down, so no large bird is safe as they pass by.

The male Blackbird with the pink leg is a daily visitor to the garden collecting food for youngsters. sadly the nest in the pyracantha amounted to just a base before the female gave up on it.

A pair of Great Tits were at the feeders, the female showing a very bare brood patch, so I suspect they have young but there aren't enough caterpillars to feed them.

The House Sparrows are ever present as are a pair of Starlings.

Jenny Wren

A lovely little bird.....

.....with a strong song that really doesn't match its size.

A scruffy House Sparrow! Nope he's just had a bath and is drying out.

Always an eye out for the resident Carrion Crow.

The resident "Pink legged" Blackbird.........

........who is actually quite a smart looking bird.

Days Gone By

Just seen on BirdGuides Here that there is a Savi's Warbler at Hickling Broad, Norfolk.

This is a bird I use to watch and listen to when I lived in Sutton back in 1984. Rush Hill was my local patch for almost 11 years, and the Savi's Warbler was a bird I thought was lost to the reed beds Here. So well pleased that it's back in the same area after all these years.

Very similar to a Grasshopper Warbler, the two main differences are that one it sits up higher in the reeds and its trill is more prolonged and bee like.

The information on BirdGuides was this "male still singing and showing occasionally at Heigham Corner from Weavers' Way 100m west of Rush Hill Scrape hide"

In the 80's I used to see it Here. I'm not sure if this is the area it has been seen and heard in today, but it can't be far off I'm sure.

Rush Hill Scrape is Here and the Hide located Here.

Video of Savi's Warbler Here

and

Audio Here

As I said before this was a spot I visited quite regularly and I used to watch Swallow-tailed Butterflies Here as well as Bearded Tits in the same area. The scrape has had some excellent waders and this area is also good for Marsh Harriers and Red-footed Falcons.

In the late 80's I was at RAF Coltishall close-by and was offered a job as a volunteer warden at Hickling Nature Reserve Here, which is now run by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. The job entailed taking the public out in a boat and showing them the wildlife on Hickling Broad, but I was promoted to Sergeant and posted to RAF Cosford. Oh what might have been!

Just One Day To Go

Well its Day 6 and the trucks keep coming to take the sludge away from Nythe Pool. Tomorrow will see the last trucks pull up and then it will all be over.

Here are a few images from today plus a few insects seen around the pool and wood including a new one for me Brassy Willow Beetles (Phratora vitellinae). Under the Willows overhanging Dorcan Stream dozens of these beetles have been blown off the trees and landed on the brambles.

The penultimate day........

........still a few mud piles to go.......

.....but with the trucks .......

.....coming back and forth, they've done well to get rid of tons of sludge.

A Hawthorn in full bloom.

One of just 2 Speckled Woods seen today. But then it was bitterly cold in the northerly wind. A male Orange-tip was the only other butterfly I saw today.

A Brassy Willow Beetle (Phratora vitellinae). I dont think I would have ever found this if it wasn't for the strong winds blowing them off the Willow above. There were dozens of these scattered all over the brambles below.