tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59051846519393289522024-03-16T01:14:01.884-07:00FoLLNR NewsThe Official Website for The Friends of Linford Lakes Nature Reserve (Formerly Hanson Environmental Study Centre)FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.comBlogger154125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-44728507253333184952024-01-18T03:44:00.000-08:002024-01-18T03:44:04.498-08:00Planning Appeal Dismissed<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> Great News - the Planning Appeal against refusal to develop the land adjacent to the Nature Reserve has been dismissed and the site therefore remains safe from development for what we hope is a good few years.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">More details can be found at:</span></p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/712891355444118">https://www.facebook.com/groups/712891355444118</a></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-32216910331866109522024-01-08T11:28:00.000-08:002024-01-08T11:28:18.032-08:00Guided walk for waterbirds with Andy Harding 17.12.23<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /> <br />Andy is the former county Bird Recorder for Buckinghamshire and visits Linford Lakes Nature Reserve every month to count waterbirds for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Fifteen of us gathered in the car park on a bright and dry morning in December 2023. Andy began by explaining how he counts all the waterbirds at the reserve and surrounding lakes each month. He then sends the records to the BTO for including in the Wetlands Bird Survey. We started off by counting 8 Great Crested Grebes on Blackhorse Lake and then noticed two groups of Lapwings coming together high over our heads, in a loose flappy flock of alternating black and white shapes. Some of us needed more practice at counting large moving flocks but the consensus was an estimated 120 birds. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />We then moved on to the reserve past the Sand Martin bank which was constructed in 2019 by the Friends group. It successfully hosted some nests in the pipe chambers this year. Andy pointed out the large permanent light trap for moths next to the centre building. We walked past the carved wooden bench installed as a memorial to the late Gordon Redford who was a long-standing moth recorder here, faithfully identifying and releasing the night’s catch over many years. The carvings included representations of Scarlet Tiger, Clifden Nonpareil, and, demurely on the reverse side, one that Gordon liked to call Large Yellow Underpants (actually Underwing). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />On the main lake viewed from the Warbler Hide we could see a good number of 12 Shovelers which breed in north and west Europe; a Great Egret becoming a more common resident in Milton Keynes; and 8 Little Egrets, also increasing their UK populations. There were 2 Pochard, much fewer than the numbers that used to come for the winter, probably because they have found just as amenable wintering grounds closer to their breeding sites in eastern Europe.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />On the way to the furthest hide, the Heronry Hide, we spotted a group of active Siskins feeding in the alders, and noted a Goldcrest and Great Spotted Woodpecker. From the hide we saw a smart male Goldeneye, a species which spends some of the winter locally in small numbers, more in North Bucks than in the south of the county. It kept us guessing as it spent a lot of time disappearing under water. But then it had a rest to preen so we all had good views. Other birds were 43 Tufted Ducks, Gadwall, Teal, and a few Mallard, a duck that is decreasing in numbers. Hiding among the trees on the island were 10 Little Egrets. One of them was just standing with its legs in the water which seemed unusual but perhaps it found the water warmer than the air. The wind had become stronger and ruffled the plumed feathers on its back. Andy reminded us that it was to preserve this species from being shot for fashionable feathered hats that led to the origin of the RSPB. The island is also home to Grey Herons, which begin thinking about breeding there in January. Herons manage to move among the branches, if looking rather ungainly, but Andy pointed out that Cormorants also nest in trees despite their webbed feet. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />After a final check and a chat in the Otter Hide, the group thanked Andy for leading the group in such a friendly and informative session.</span></div>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-65203480290122817182023-10-18T07:03:00.005-07:002023-10-18T07:06:46.685-07:00Update on Appeal re Planning Application - 18/10/23<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-weight: 700;">Letter from MK Planning Department 18/10/23</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; font-weight: 700;">TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990 (AS AMENDED)</span></p></div></div><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; font-weight: 700;">APPEAL BY Templeview Developments Limited<br />AGAINST REFUSAL FOR<br />(1) Full application for the change of use of 68.65ha of agricultural land to a linear park and a new access road to the Linford Lakes Study Centre with associated works including the stopping up of the public road in Stanton Low and demolition of the Marle Inn; and (2) Outline application (matter of access to be considered, with matters of layout, scale, appearance and landscaping reserved) for up to 277 extra care apartments (Use Class C2); a care home providing up to 70 bedrooms (Use Class C2); up to 41 retirement bungalows (Use Class C3) and up to 196 homes (Use Class C3) with communal amenity space and other associated works.<br />AT Linford Lakes , Wolverton Road, Milton Keynes , MK14 6GH</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; font-weight: 700;">EIA development (submission of new EIA information, 30 day consultation)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; font-weight: 700;">Appeal Reference: APP/Y0435/W/23/3321221</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are writing to advise you that the appellant for the appeal has submitted further EIA information, which the Inspector has accepted as part of the appeal documentation. He has asked me to notify of this and give you an opportunity to make comments on it. You have 30 days from the date of this letter (by </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: 700;">17</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: 4pt;">th </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: 700;">November 2023</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">) to comment on the new information.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The new EIA information can be viewed at </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Public Inquiry </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">– </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">21/02533/OUTEIS </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">– </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Linford Lakes | Milton Keynes City Council (milton-keynes.gov.uk)</span></span></p></div></div></div>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-31306299289667277642023-09-20T03:09:00.004-07:002023-09-20T03:11:45.925-07:00Work Party Sunday 24th September - 10 am Start<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Just a reminder that we will be carrying out work to finish painting the warbler hide and bridge and to cut back surrounding vegetation. Your support would be very welcome so please do come and join us if you can. All tools and equipment will be provided but please wear suitable clothing and footwear and bring gloves if you have them although we do have a small supply of spares.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We start at 10 am and aim to be finished for 1pm.</span></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-88366449964530069712023-07-24T07:14:00.006-07:002023-08-17T14:51:23.139-07:00Appeal Against Refusal of Planning Permission Update 17/08/23<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The appellant has been asked to provide further information and they have therefore requested the appeal hearing be delayed. Follow the link below for further information.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Letter from Planning Inspectorate:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Dear all</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Further to my email below, I write to confirm that the inquiry will open at 10.00am on Tuesday 5 December 2023, sitting 5-8 December and 12-15 December.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Proofs of evidence are due on Tuesday 7 November 2023.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">These dates supersede the deadlines set out in the CMC summary note issued on the 4 July 2023. If deemed necessary, the Inspector will issue a revised timetable following publication of the additional information relating to the Environmental Statement.</span></p></div></div><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Kind regards Holly</span></p></div></div><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="color: #074745;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Holly Dutton</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #074745;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Inquiries and Major Casework Team</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The Planning Inspectorate</span></p></div></div></div>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-42232459393230972512023-06-22T11:49:00.003-07:002023-06-22T11:49:12.509-07:00Appeal Against Refusal of Planning Permission - Update 22.06.23<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> MK Councils defence of their decision and arguments against the appeal can be seen at:</span></p><p><a href="https://npaedms.milton-keynes.gov.uk/PublicAccess_Corplive/SearchResult/RunThirdPartySearch?FileSystemId=DC&FOLDER1_REF=21/02533/OUTEIS"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">https://npaedms.milton-keynes.gov.uk/PublicAccess_Corplive/SearchResult/RunThirdPartySearch?FileSystemId=DC&FOLDER1_REF=21/02533/OUTEIS</span></a></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-86356177438707452582023-06-12T03:56:00.002-07:002023-06-12T07:41:26.649-07:00What's Going On<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We have received a few enquiries regarding what the position is with the reserve, if and when the centre will be finished and what is happening regarding FoLLNR events.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>The Centre Building Renovation</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">According to the Parks Trust at our last meeting with them at the end of May, the appropriate licensing etc regarding bat roosts and relocation of great crested newts found within the building site area are in place. Newts found within the construction site will be relocated to appropriate areas outside the building area but will remain on the reserve. Newt proof fencing is scheduled to be installed and revised planning permission to allow for the changes required to cater for the wildlife is expected very soon. Work should therefore be able to resume towards the end of the summer with completion sometime in the spring of next year.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The Parks Trust also have plans to instal a few more benches around the site and to do repair and refurbishment work on boardwalks and bridges, although some of this work may need to coincide with the reopening of the centre building.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>FoLLNR Events</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Work parties</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We continue to arrange work parties on an ad hoc basis depending on what's required and availability of helpers, materials etc. We always send out an email to all registered Friends to advise when and what work we would like help with. Whilst the centre building is unavailable we don't have toilet, washing and catering facilities available and therefore we try and keep work periods fairly short to avoid any discomfort. Please look out for emails advising of forthcoming task days. Work parties are a good opportunity to meet like minded people and you will never be asked to do anything with which you are not comfortable or beyond your capabilities.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Open Sundays</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We would like to resume open Sundays as soon as is practically possible, but of course this is entirely dependant on the completion of the centre building.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Guided walks</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Thanks to Andy Harding and Keith Gander for leading a very successful "Warbler Walk' in early May - an unexpected bonus on the day was the sighting of an otter on the main lake. We may be able to organise other similar events over the course of the year but again due to the lack of on site facilities and limited parking these will need to be limited in size and fairly short in duration. We will email out notice to all registered Friends as appropriate.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Records of Wildlife Sightings</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">FoLLNR maintain a list of the different species seen on site for each year. This can be seen by clicking on the Species List tab on the top of this website.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Another good way to find out what's being spotted is by going to our FLICKR site: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span> </span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/groups/fohescimages/">https://www.flickr.com/groups/fohescimages/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Please do add your own pictures of anything you capture at LLNR, we would love to see your photos. We also use records of verifiable sightings to update BMERC so that official county records are kept up to date.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-84264876431053829172023-05-15T11:04:00.005-07:002023-05-23T03:33:18.109-07:00Appeal Against Refusal of Planning Application Relating to Linford Lakes<p><br /></p><div class="x1e56ztr" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">An appeal has been lodged against Refusal of Planning Application :</span></div><div class="x1e56ztr" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">This means that a Planning Inspector will now convene a hearing to decide if Milton Keynes Councils decision should stand or if planning permission must be granted.</span></div><div class="x1e56ztr" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"></span></div><div class="x1e56ztr" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin-bottom: 8px;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs xlh3980 xvmahel x1n0sxbx x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;">Note the previous application also went to an appeal and the Inspector ruled in favour of MKCs decision to refuse.</span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpublicaccess2.milton-keynes.gov.uk%2Fonline-applications%2FappealDetails.do%3FkeyVal%3DRU10C4KW0H700%26activeTab%3Dsummary%26fbclid%3DIwAR3E7Mwljri1TcK50BhMe7ANEbx1thFbXq69yUXj7c8gZk3el_x68Anepl8&h=AT14hOrk68khpmCUQ9VuRy9ZnnGU869pESJ416cJI4mUbro0y0YW6RBKXfRimZuOtLWG9Gr3R0YZRv-MF9wcEX0uK-nUxK5Y9Sj22g_PpzQrGAV5DfJh2zJ41HjKNikLfmBX-Ly1og&__tn__=-UK-R&c%5B0%5D=AT2C3Z57x7gWaO2U3hbG_JyN0sMMlnTT1G1tFjUO8lzuNMsVLRGfkJYWtsXR9VRhc2LoAUY0t12JbLe7i5EASYZk5Z5-KPSbYO9fwZ6LBufEubBkVS4NVI0xXghKBeCsbMqjBeZtHWv7fye8FfU-dEtpvlBMsRllgUGi1U_QZXWdy5Woo9KaRucz-KsV6lUprW9Uc0FDrpHZ1SBj"><span style="font-size: medium;">(1) Full application for the change of use of 68.65ha of agricultural land to a linear park and a new access road to the Linford Lakes Study Centre with associated works including the stopping up of the public road in Stanton Low and demolition of the Marle Inn; and (2) Outline application (matter of access to be considered, with matters of layout, scale, appearance and landscaping reserved) for up to 277 extra care apartments (Use Class C2); a care home providing up to 70 bedrooms (Use Class C2); up to 41 retirement bungalows (Use Class C3) and up to 196 homes (Use Class C3) with communal amenity space and other associated works.</span></a></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">More information can also be found on the Protecting Linford Lakes Nature Reserve Facebook site:</span></p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/712891355444118"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">https://www.facebook.com/groups/712891355444118</span></a></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-34970012791293683002023-04-27T07:45:00.000-07:002023-04-27T07:45:44.683-07:00Malcolm Stewart <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Dear Members</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">It’s with regret and sadness that I have to inform you that Malcolm Stewart passed away on 14th April. He was in Milton Keynes Hospital, suffering from the effects of Prostate Cancer. He died surrounded by family.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Malcolm was a founder member of the Friends of Linford Lakes Nature Reserve (in those days we were The Friends of Hanson Environmental Study Centre), he loved the Nature reserve dearly and served as a Committee Member for many years.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Malcolm was a lovely man of great integrity, honesty and loyalty. He was smart, gentle, funny, interesting and very kind. He was very much loved and is remembered fondly. A rare example of a truly good gent!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">We send our condolences to his family.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNS8-6HRKVLNZw2pnw46BhPXcxK2MKU44-K0twPBS3ziKfDkhvAifBE3E2NTxdSEqou8Iu3jrk3BiPuE6AJUoP3GQBItEEiEW9q-1aLiG-fkG1wlvWqz1UqnLULKUZGsfSUBXJ3OC8vlkq9cqAiX_7B_-Y9s57futbINrw7VM3QolMY9uyHNcbz0YW/s1011/image0-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1002" data-original-width="1011" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNS8-6HRKVLNZw2pnw46BhPXcxK2MKU44-K0twPBS3ziKfDkhvAifBE3E2NTxdSEqou8Iu3jrk3BiPuE6AJUoP3GQBItEEiEW9q-1aLiG-fkG1wlvWqz1UqnLULKUZGsfSUBXJ3OC8vlkq9cqAiX_7B_-Y9s57futbINrw7VM3QolMY9uyHNcbz0YW/s320/image0-1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></span><p></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-13035974425794137912023-04-23T08:05:00.001-07:002023-04-23T08:30:54.792-07:00Ringing Results Saturday 22nd April<p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Hi all,</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">As predicted, we had a noticeable increase in bird numbers and species this week, largely due to the much more favourable weather conditions compared to recent weeks, and despite there being little in the way of new arrivals since the last session. Totals for the day amounted to 44 birds processed of 18 species, 27 of which were newly ringed.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">In the warbler department we had 6 chiffchaffs, 6 blackcaps, 4 cetti's warblers, a willow warbler, and we said hello to our first reed warbler, sedge warbler and whitethroat of the year.<br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Representing the non-passerines were 2 kingfishers, one of which was newly ringed, and a rather interesting green woodpecker. This bird was originally ringed as an adult in 2015, making it at least 9 years old. It was retrapped last April and at the time, we noted an odd anomaly with its eye colour - one iris was deep red, while the other was a more normal silvery grey, but with flecks of red starting to appear. Comparing today's images with last April's, it shows the red flecks are spreading as the bird ages. The bird was otherwise healthy, and with the longevity record for green woodpecker standing at a smidge over 15 years, we'll hopefully continue to see him around for a few more years to see how the condition develops.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRja33SvjkLKuJFh7aCwH3uO2AbEw7ImtSrB2lcDtgzzrAfIcRtw13bnAavRk0Bu4el229HucolPx02PPpmzW6i_ji0bWcgj3dP08MRht7kmPQo6EAzmuVad229V5aMwu3MYO4xpXGeh8UQNq5ej3Op78TkpTwAZF64yHpMc7djLghQnGql64djro/s3010/grewood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3010" data-original-width="2270" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRja33SvjkLKuJFh7aCwH3uO2AbEw7ImtSrB2lcDtgzzrAfIcRtw13bnAavRk0Bu4el229HucolPx02PPpmzW6i_ji0bWcgj3dP08MRht7kmPQo6EAzmuVad229V5aMwu3MYO4xpXGeh8UQNq5ej3Op78TkpTwAZF64yHpMc7djLghQnGql64djro/w355-h472/grewood.jpg" width="355" /></a></div><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Adding to the variety were a mini flocklet of 3 goldfinches and a very feisty magpie which had a definite taste for ringer's fingers!<p></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Other birds around the reserve included a great white egret, a raven, a peregrine, two snipe, an oystercatcher, a red kite, a buzzard, and at least two cuckoos. A steady stream of swallows and house martins were passing through and around 10 sand martins spent most of the morning circling the Sand Castle, with a couple seen venturing into the nest holes. Hopefully they liked what they saw and decide to stick around!</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Non-avian records included our first grass snake of the year, 3 common shrews, a water shrew, a common newt and a common toad. Butterflies were on the wing with peacock, orange tip and speckled wood all taking advantage of the relatively calm and warm conditions.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Many thanks to Keith and Steve for their help with keeping things ticking over this week.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Cheers!</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Kenny<br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">REEBU (3)</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">CHIFF 2 (4)</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">BLACA 5 (1)</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">GRETI 3</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">ROBIN 1</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">CETWA 1 (3)</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">DUNNO 1</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">WREN 2 (1)</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">BLUTI 2 (2)</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">KINGF 1 (1)</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">WILWA (1)</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">GREWO (1)</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">GOLDF 3</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">SEDWA 1</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">REEWA 1</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">LOTTI 2</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">WHITE 1</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">MAGPI 1</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><br /><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-36817312410279882942022-12-09T05:44:00.000-08:002022-12-09T05:44:12.095-08:00What3words<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's a suggestion put forward by Mal McGar at the last AGM</span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">what3words – A better way to help all if there is an emergency<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">For those of you who do not know about this geocoding system app, I will briefly explain how it can help you all. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">Go the website (</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app" style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">)</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">and you will find a more detailed explanation of all that this FREE app has to offer. As long as you have a smartphone or other device able to log into the web, you can download this app and use it anywhere.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Basically the world has been divided into areas that need just THREE WORDS to denote a precise location. All the emergency services now use this system.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So how can it help you? For instance, you are at Linford Lakes Nature Reserve and you need medical help but you cannot move! Call the ambulance service and give them the ‘what3words’ location. Without it, it will be almost impossible for you to tell them exactly where you are. Saying you are between any two of the hides will mean nothing to them!<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Also imagine you come upon an accident on a road you are not familiar with. By using the ‘what3words’ app you can give the emergency services the exact location. Also it can be used to arrange a meeting point if you do not know the area where you are. What if your car breaks down in a strange area? Both the AA and RAC use the app.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Please take the time to look at the website so you can fully understand the benefits of having the app on your phone. Let others know, family and friends, and help them to feel more safe out and about.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Recently I have found people give their news of an interesting bird’s location that seems a bit vague to me. Think how much more helpful if you post your exact position with ‘what3words’ and also give a location as to where you last observed the bird if it flew off.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A final point for thought. Do any of you carry a whistle and torch with you at all times when out birding? Think how that can help you in an emergency!<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866667px; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mal McGar</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-49603074765197450222022-11-14T11:42:00.000-08:002022-11-14T11:42:08.085-08:00Proposed Development at Linford Lakes<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial;">I am delighted to advise that the planning application (<span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: arial;">21/02533/OUT Linford Lakes)</span> submitted in respect of the land adjacent to the Nature Reserve has just been REFUSED by MK Planning Department</span><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85)" style="font-family: arial;">. </span></span></p><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm -9.4pt 0.0001pt -7.1pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you were one of the hundreds of people who wrote in to object to the proposed development THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.</span></span><br /></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #333333;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #333333;"><span>Tony</span></span></span></div>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-76050900897838584892022-08-01T03:37:00.000-07:002022-08-01T03:37:01.281-07:00Bird Ringing Saturday 30th July<p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hi all,</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's hard to believe we have not run a "proper" ringing session at Linford for over a month and a half, but today we properly went for it and it's fair to say the results surpassed expectation!</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Although we didn't manage to get all the nets up that we (or more accurately, I...) wanted to due to the essential gardening involved, we handled a total of 161 birds of 22 species, 152 of which were newly ringed.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Warblers led the charge with 30 blackcaps taking up the lion's share and the remainder of the warbler list comprising of 16 reed warblers, 21 chiffchaffs, 2 sedge warblers, 14 garden warbers, 3 lesser whitethroats, 7 common whitethroats, and a single willow warbler.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />We also encountered a tit flock which boosted the totals by 16 blue tits, 11 long-tailed tits and 8 great tits with one of the long-tailed tits turning out to be a retrap of a juvenile ringed in 2018!<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Other notable captures included 2 goldfinches, a treecreeper, a goldcrest, a green woodpecker and a kingfisher.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Catches of this size cannot be managed without an excellent, experienced and dedicated team, and today I was fortunate to have Keith, Helen, Nick W, Michelle, Beth, Nick C, Claire, Sue and Andrew on hand to assist with lifting, holding, carrying, extracting, ringing, scribing, chatting and generally keeping each other awake! I know Jasper was also sending his good luck vibes from afar, which is scientifically proven by the numbers. Heaven help us the next time he is actually here in person!</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cheers,</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Kenny</span></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-13394777951401057332022-05-02T11:22:00.001-07:002022-05-02T11:26:20.829-07:00Bird Ringing Report Saturday 30th April<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">Hi all,</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica;"><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;">Today's session can best be described as a mixture of frostbite and sunburn, with an icy start soon giving way to a warm and sunny day.</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;">On the ringing front, we handled 59 birds with a nice mix of 18 species, 28 of which were newly ringed. Retraps may have outweighed the new birds this week but at this time of year, it is the retraps that provide the most valuable data, largely reflecting the migrants that have made it back to their breeding site after a long a perilous journey.<br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;">Unsurprisingly, this was a very warbler-centric day with seasonal firsts for willow warbler, sedge warbler, garden warbler, common whitethroat and our first ever adult lesser whitethroat. (Previously we have only caught 1st year birds.) In addition to these new arrivals were 15 blackcaps, 3 reed warblers and 3 cetti's warblers. Notable retraps included a returning blackcap which was ringed as an adult in 2019 and retrapped in each subsequent year, a male cetti's warbler which was ringed in 2020, and best of all, a sedge warbler which was ringed as a juvenile elsewhere in the UK in 2016, making it an impressive 6 years old! (The longevity record for sedge warbler currently stands at 8 years and 8 months).</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;">Other birds of note included 5 reed buntings, one of which was a retrap from 2018, and 3 new greenfinches.</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;">Today's star bird was a retrapped green woodpecker which was ringed way back in December 2015 and hadn't been encountered again until today. This bird is at least 8 years old which is impressive, but still some way short of beating the record of 15 years and 8 days! What was also unusual about this individual is that it had one mostly normal iris (whitish but with a few brown flecks), and one iris which was completely brown. Whether this is simply a sign of ageing, or perhaps some other condition, will require further study!</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KuJvyMs-78CWDvk4s4uCh57d5z9eCr0Miiry0OZl8-8o38bgAMUSECViy3Lv6DpvFBvTHWEChzyvAuJkWL8y6IPq5FM2oSlOv0ayy4ccPtQNshR2NA4JczzoKHUe3VFqgC_dKLmWS2sxeszSPC1c4FpxGLBVq-6nfdm3dHrdGxy4la9zEj-QvSNF/s3249/6A64CE00-9BC0-4A3F-A9EF-1C4AFCD47A41.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2156" data-original-width="3249" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KuJvyMs-78CWDvk4s4uCh57d5z9eCr0Miiry0OZl8-8o38bgAMUSECViy3Lv6DpvFBvTHWEChzyvAuJkWL8y6IPq5FM2oSlOv0ayy4ccPtQNshR2NA4JczzoKHUe3VFqgC_dKLmWS2sxeszSPC1c4FpxGLBVq-6nfdm3dHrdGxy4la9zEj-QvSNF/s320/6A64CE00-9BC0-4A3F-A9EF-1C4AFCD47A41.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6gNkdrYyhBtFU1uxu1hNgpSoSR5IfyEudQ_3ONS-erEa99Ucj0Ci2BlzfsHvqKhO8pWXFUTmUgqC2j9yKWbpVfw1b_bxqfRmiFDa4z9fauPyPPTjjG8HIw4RJCmCumv5X0r55nsjfhzpi6VgeaHpbd_lM17t0-i_-vAKZKD6-q-jYrI3i3_MlwHbT/s2012/6601D6BB-46F6-4E7A-AB69-F163AF493A4A.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1568" data-original-width="2012" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6gNkdrYyhBtFU1uxu1hNgpSoSR5IfyEudQ_3ONS-erEa99Ucj0Ci2BlzfsHvqKhO8pWXFUTmUgqC2j9yKWbpVfw1b_bxqfRmiFDa4z9fauPyPPTjjG8HIw4RJCmCumv5X0r55nsjfhzpi6VgeaHpbd_lM17t0-i_-vAKZKD6-q-jYrI3i3_MlwHbT/s320/6601D6BB-46F6-4E7A-AB69-F163AF493A4A.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;">Birds seen around the reserve included 10 house martins, 3 swallows, 3 common terns, and singles of hobby, raven, cuckoo, barnacle goose, sparrowhawk and red kite.<br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;">On the non-avian front we had peacock, brimstone and orange tip butterflies, 3 grass snakes, 2 great crested newts, and a common toad. A probably hairy dragonfly was briefly in a net, but freed itself before a 100% ID could be made.</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;">Huge thanks to Keith, Richard, Helen and Otto for all their help and for quickly adapting to the hot and cold conditions!</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;">Kind regards</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;">Kenny</p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><br /></p></div>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-39216531376952703462022-02-28T01:53:00.000-08:002022-02-28T01:53:25.439-08:00Bird Ringing Summary Report for 2021<p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Hi all,</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Let me start by wishing you all a happy and healthy year ahead in 2022. This last year has been another most unusual one, both socially and environmentally. Although the recent tropical conditions have blocked any opportunities for ringing over the festive season, it has at least given me the time to input the last of our data and compile this report.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">To give a high level summary of 2021, we operated 36 ringing sessions during the year, down 2 on the previous year, which is impressive considering I took an extended break from work during 2020 which meant I had much more time available to ring (lockdowns notwithstanding). In both 2020 and 2021, no ringing took place during January and February. In 2020 this was due to a combination of bad weather, ill-health and a two week ringing expedition to the Gambia, while in 2021, this was due to strict lockdown measures meaning that we could not travel without good reason.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Overall, we processed 1572 birds of 52 species, 1269 of which were newly ringed. This was down 183 on the previous year's processing totals but was our most species diverse year ever, up two on the 2020 tally of 50 species. We added several new species to the Linford ringing list including black-headed gull, green sandpiper, jackdaw, mute swan, oystercatcher, and tree pipit bringing the all-time total to 69 species ringed. Other new records of seldom ringed birds included 2 barn owls, a siberian chiffchaff, a common tern, 6 cuckoos, 3 lesser whitethroat, 2 marsh tits, a mistle thrush, 2 skylarks, 4 snipe, 3 sparrowhawks, 2 water rails and a yellow wagtail.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Species that had record breaking years in terms of newly ringed birds included blackcaps with 189 (+8.6% vs 2020), garden warblers with 42 (+110% vs 2019), great spotted woodpeckers with 9 (+28.6% vs 2014), kingfishers with 12 (+50% vs 2015), meadow pipits with 40 (+2.6% vs 2020) and reed warblers with a whopping 172 (+36.5% vs 2020).</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Species that had noticeable declines in ringed numbers included blue tits with 151 (-34.3% vs 2018), bullfinches with just 1 (-92.9% vs 2015), great tits with 41 (-68.7 vs 2018), goldcrests with 9 (-76.3% vs 2017), long-tailed tits with 36 (-47.1% vs 2019) and wrens with 23 (-50% vs 2016). Greenfinches were just about hanging on with 8 ringed (-80% vs 2018) and this was the first year since we started ringing at Linford that we did not ring a single chaffinch (a max of 17 were ringed in 2017).</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">It should be noted that while this data is not based on a constant effort (ie placing the same amount of nets in the same places at the same times over the year) these trends do seem to reflect the national picture. It is clear that climate change is having a significant impact on our bird life with some species benefitting and other species struggling to adapt to these unpredictable conditions.<br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">A couple of positive notes to end on, we had our first successful breeding pair of sand martins occupying the "Sand Castle." During 2021, they raised two broods of 5 and 3 chicks, all of which were ringed and will hopefully return to grow the colony in a couple of months from now. Regular readers will also know that I have a special interest in cuckoos, another species which is declining nationally but still seem to be doing well at Linford and the surrounding complex of lakes. During 2021 we ringed 6 new birds and retrapped 4, including the very first individual to be ringed at Linford back in 2017. This bird was hatched prior to 2016 making it at least 6 years old, while the record for the longest lived wild cuckoo (as proven by ringing) stands at 6 years, 11 months and 2 days. Obviously we are all wishing for his safe return in 2022!</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">2021 was another very succesful year in terms of the sheer volume of data we have been able to gather and this would not have been possible without the contributions of a great many people. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Martin, Carla and everyone at the Parks Trust for their continued support, for allowing us the privilege of ringing in some of MKs best wildlife sites and for all the work they do to preserve them.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Thanks are also due to Friends of Linford Lakes Nature Reserve for all their efforts to keep everything looking beautiful and welcoming for the benefit of all visitors. Special thanks go to Tony for his tireless efforts to protect the site from the ever present threat of encroaching development.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Thanks to all the Linford permit holders who contribute to the ongoing maintenance of the site and the crucially important task of recording all the flora and fauna.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">I also have to thank Martin and Margaret for putting up with all the clattering and chattering at times when I am sure they would really rather be sleeping!<br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Of course it goes without saying (but I'm saying it anyway) a massive thank you is due to all of the ringers, trainees and helpers who have made the trip to Linford to support a session, sometimes from considerable distances, and almost always at truly irrational times of the morning, none of this would have been possible without your assistance. First and foremost I have to take my hat off to Keith who has suffered through hypothermia, heatstroke, numerous injuries and still somehow wants to keep coming back for more. Huge thanks also go to Helen for the many breakfast deliveries, excellent conversation and calming presence in stressful times. To Richard for always seeming to turn up just in the nick of time. To Sally for agreeing to be my first official trainee (I apologise in advance for what you have let yourself in for!). To Chris for all the encouragement and support. To all the Hilfield regulars who have made the trip up north, Jack, Simon, Verity, Josh, it's always lovely to see you, don't be a stranger! John W and John B, thanks for taking time out from Stortons! Sarah and Neil, thanks for the assistance at Nature Day! Elliott, I wish you every success in your future birding career!<br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">And last but by no means least, thanks to everyone else who carried a pole, wound up a peg, took a great photo or just shared a good story, Michelle, Nick & Claire, Ann, Di, Langton, and anyone else I may have missed (don't hate me!)</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Here's hoping for a 2022 that is somewhat closer to the old normal than the new normal.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Cheers and best wishes,</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Kenny<br /></p><p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-39659879042270920252021-10-08T07:16:00.006-07:002021-10-20T01:55:07.720-07:00Proposed Development at Linford Lakes<p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial;"><span>I'm sure by now many of you will have heard that yet another planning application (<span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: arial;">21/02533/OUT Linford Lakes)</span> been submitted in respect of the land adjacent to the Nature Reserve</span></span><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85)" style="font-family: arial;">. You can find all the details relating to the proposal by clicking on the link below.</span></p><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The new proposal seeks to provide 584 units of accommodation, far more than in the previously refused application, of up to 250 units of accommodation, and more than the adjacent Redhouse Park housing.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm -9.4pt 0.0001pt -7.1pt;"><br /></p></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #333333;"><span>If you have or are thinking about writing in objection then a massive THANK YOU.</span></span><br /><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;">If you are not sure or wonder if it will really do any good, I can promise you (and I have been here a few times before) every voice counts</span><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdLge1zCPDPmeyO09QaZ0ugvDBVNtSeIXv5smVZTZlIRl2MAVu09MrkoprRCct92NH_6TjLp_r1_RYzUb1MTHPMbupUt1mo_o8c7vGvhPoxIHqQmzxVWQNPAVD0cqyS3yd3hfCaMVdT9c/s1600/Big+Ott.jpg" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); clear: right; color: #6666cc; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdLge1zCPDPmeyO09QaZ0ugvDBVNtSeIXv5smVZTZlIRl2MAVu09MrkoprRCct92NH_6TjLp_r1_RYzUb1MTHPMbupUt1mo_o8c7vGvhPoxIHqQmzxVWQNPAVD0cqyS3yd3hfCaMVdT9c/s200/Big+Ott.jpg" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;">Profit driven developers and ill-informed planners rely on apathy to get away with - what to some wild life - will literally be murder.</span><br /><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;">I have pasted below a copy of FoLLNRs letter of objection to MKC Planning Dept. Please feel free to copy from this or use your own words to make your feelings known.</span><br /><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span><br /></span><div class="separator" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); clear: both; color: #333333; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0zZc-9xzrcCLILE4txSj-GidI7x2Ma3XN_t3AkT6QEp2xyHJIKc6SO3tTYQ8NqtqKOBd2oaRXW5RpXJgk-1ZUKF_lssMMDsCBjMH8rXb-LIF5_IhzIgqwPmXKYtYFttYOlBJeZE3xeDo/s1600/DSC_1554_edited-1.jpg" style="clear: left; color: #6666cc; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0zZc-9xzrcCLILE4txSj-GidI7x2Ma3XN_t3AkT6QEp2xyHJIKc6SO3tTYQ8NqtqKOBd2oaRXW5RpXJgk-1ZUKF_lssMMDsCBjMH8rXb-LIF5_IhzIgqwPmXKYtYFttYOlBJeZE3xeDo/s200/DSC_1554_edited-1.jpg" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="200" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;">Please also do email your local councillors and ask them to support your objection - their e mail addresses can be found on the MK Council website, </span><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;">you may be surprised how helpful some of them can be.</span><br /><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;">You can either lodge your objections to the new planning applications by e mail to :</span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="mailto:dcadmin@milton-keynes.gov.uk">dcadmin@milton-keynes.gov.uk</a></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><br /></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Or if you can’t see that your objection has been logged you can email </span><a class="" href="mailto:Jonathan.Palmer@milton-keynes.gov.uk" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Jonathan.Palmer@milton-keynes.gov.uk</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> who is the head planning officer.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><a href="https://publicaccess2.milton-keynes.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=QXXI8MKW0MJ00&activeTab=summary">(1) Full application for the change of use of 68.65ha of agricultural land to a linear park and a new access road to the Linford Lakes Study Centre with associated works including the stopping up of the public road in Stanton Low and demolition of the Marle Inn; and (2) Outline application (matter of access to be considered, with matters of layout, scale, appearance and landscaping reserved) for up to 277 extra care apartments (Use Class C2); a care home providing up to 70 bedrooms (Use Class C2); up to 41 retirement bungalows (Use Class C3) and up to 196 homes (Use Class C3) with communal amenity space and other associated works. </a><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;">If you are going to email please include your name and address otherwise it may not be accepted.</span><br /><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;">Kindest regards</span><br /><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;">Tony</span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8432766437806802524" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 678px;"><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><img height="50" src="blob:https://www.blogger.com/6f572ae6-f0a3-4356-9f4d-45d7351cea4d" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1" width="82" /></span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">To: Milton Keynes Council Planning Department<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">Re: Planning Application 21/02533/OUTEIS |<span style="background-color: white;"> </span>(1) Full application for the change of use of 68.65ha of agricultural land to a linear park and a new access road to the Linford Lakes Study Centre with associated works including the stopping up of the public road in Stanton Low and demolition of the Marle Inn; and (2) Outline application (matter of access to be considered, with matters of layout, scale, appearance and landscaping reserved) for up to 277 extra care apartments (Use Class C2); a care home providing up to 70 bedrooms (Use Class C2); up to 41 retirement bungalows (Use Class C3) and up to 196 homes (Use Class C3) with communal amenity space and other associated works. |<span style="background-color: white;"> </span>Linford Lakes Nature Reserve Wolverton Road Great Linford Milton Keynes MK14 5AH</span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Dear Sirs<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">We are writing to voice our strongest opposition to the above planning application in respect of the Land at Linford Lakes. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Our reasons are as follow. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-left: 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span face=""Avenir Next",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Avenir Next"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Avenir Next";">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The proposed development is contrary to the following local policies:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Policy DS5 Open Countryside<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">A. The Council defines Open Countryside as all land outside the development boundaries defined on the Policies Map. Planning permission within the open countryside will only be granted for development which is essential for agriculture, forestry, countryside recreation, highway infrastructure or other development, which is wholly appropriate to a rural area and cannot be located within a settlement, or where other policies within this plan indicate development would be appropriate. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Policy DS6 Linear Parks</span></b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">C. The Ouse Valley between Haversham and the M1 motorway, known as "Linford Lakes", is part of the Linear Park system.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Policy DS6 restricts any development in Linear Parks to leisure and recreation activities and these should be consistent with the objectives set out in </span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Policy NE3 and Policy NE4</span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Policy DS6 states: </span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The wildfowl reserve - Linford Lakes Nature Reserve, based on Stantonbury Lake, and the surrounding lakes and land that fall within the Great Linford Gravel Pits Biological Notification Site (BNS), should be retained as an important ecological resource.</span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Policy L1 Facilities Acceptable In The Parks </span></b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Planning permission will only be granted for leisure and recreation uses, or proposals that are ancillary to and directly support such uses.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Policy NE3</span></b><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> Biodiversity and Geological Enhancement </span></b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Development proposals will be required to maintain and protect biodiversity and geological resources, and wherever possible result in a measurable net gain in biodiversity, enhance the structure and function of ecological networks and the ecological status of water bodies in accordance with the vision and principles set out by the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes NEP. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Policy NE4</span></b><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> Green Infrastructure <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">E. The existing network of linear parks and linked parks and green spaces will be extended into the urban extensions and along the Ouse and Ouzel Valleys to the north to provide a well-connected network of green infrastructure that: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">1. Is strategically planned. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">2. Is attractive and enhances the surrounding landscape. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">3. Is safe and well used for recreation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">4. Meets the needs of existing and future residents. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">5. Is designed to provide a range of ecosystem services e.g. manage flood risk or provide flower rich habitats that supports a diverse range of pollinators. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">6. Is designed to support mitigation and adaptation to climate change e.g. through vegetation for carbon uptake (carbon sequestration). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">7. Achieves a net gain in biodiversity. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">8. Is managed into the long-term. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">9. Where possible improves connectivity with other green infrastructure networks e.g. by linkages to the urban parks. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">10. Where appropriate explores economic opportunities that will support the network’s sustainability – for example in conservation, agriculture, renewable energy or outdoor environmental education or recreation; such activity must not result in a negative impact to the integrity of the network, the ecosystem services provided or on biodiversity. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Previous decisions in respect of development proposals relating to this land<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">MKC DCC have reviewed and unanimously rejected all previous applications for the development of the land at Linford Lakes for the reasons that: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">"the proposed development(s), by virtue of its location outside the settlement boundary of Milton Keynes would represent an intrusive form of development in the open countryside which is identified as an Area of Attractive Landscape in the Milton Keynes Local Plan, which would be detrimental to the open, rural character of the locality. The proposal would result in the loss of a substantial area of varied habitat and appearance and would harm the special landscape character of the area in this regard, providing an urbanised character and appearance to the land." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">On 27<sup>th</sup> March 2018 The Planning Inspectorate ruled that development of this site:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> “would intrude into the countryside, and into a designated AAL and Wildlife Corridor. It would cause substantial and irreversible harm to the Ouse Valley’s valued landscape. It would permanently destroy priority habitats, threaten important wildlife, and weaken ecological networks. It would also take 15 ha of land from the Linear Park, reducing the scope for informal and passive recreation uses in the future”. </span></p><p style="margin-left: 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span face=""Avenir Next",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Avenir Next"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Avenir Next";">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The Proposed Development will result in serious ecological damage and will negatively impact Linford Lakes Nature Reserve<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="color: #0b0c0c; font-size: 10pt;">This proposed development flies in the face of the 2020 Environment Bill by which </span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0b0c0c; font-size: 10pt;">the Government has strengthened its commitment to protect the environment for future generations.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 3.75pt;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="color: #0b0c0c; font-size: 10pt;">This Bill introduces statutory guidance for local planning authorities to explain how they should take into account Local Nature Recovery Strategies, to embed strategies for the environment and nature’s recovery into their planning systems.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0b0c0c; font-size: 10pt;">The Government has committed to leave a richer, more biodiverse environment for future generations with a clear need for action: between 1932 and 1984, we lost 97% of our species-rich grassland, five species of butterfly have disappeared from England in the last 150 years, and indicators showing the state of birds dependent on farmland stand at less than half their value compared to 1970.</span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The Applicants own Independent Preliminary Ecological Appraisal has identified the following types of habitat within the proposed development area, all of which they rate as having a </span><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">high </span></b><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">protected species potential</span></b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Dense Scrub, Scattered Scrub, Broad-leaved Scattered Trees, Mixed Scattered Trees, Recently Felled Woodland, Tall Ruderal, Swamp/Reedbeds, Running water, Species-poor Hedge with Trees <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Most of the above habitats would be destroyed if this application were allowed to proceed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The land which the applicant suggest could be used to replace the above habitats, lies directly within the River Great Ouse Flood Zone. This land floods significantly and regularly (photographs are available to substantiate this), it is very different in nature to the area being proposed for building, it cannot be regarded as a similar habitat and could not support the same range of flora and fauna. It would be almost impossible to replicate the types of habitat identified above and any attempts to do so would be washed away or submerged in the winter floods. Even if it were possible to replicate the lost habitat, it would take many years to establish, during which time most of the current species would be lost to the area, probably for ever.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The EIA report which accompanied 17/01937/OUTEIS in 2017 for development of the same area of land concluded: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">"There would be an irreversible loss of habitat and fragmentation of habitat within Linford Lakes Biological Notification Site and Wildlife Corridor during construction" and "a significant negative effect at COUNTY level was classified as certain." The EIA report also indicated that the Zone of Impact that construction work could have, would be up to 2Km and could severely impact Linford Lakes Nature Reserve. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The proposed development fails to minimise impacts on biodiversity or provide a net gain in biodiversity and/or contribute to the Government's commitment to halt the overall decline in biodiversity, nor does it establish a coherent ecological network that is more resilient to current and future pressures, as required by the NPPF. </span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">In the last three years over 20 cuckoos have been ringed by the local BTO team on LLNR land adjacent to the development area. This indicates just how vitally important this area is as a breeding site for this "red list" species, which is in severe decline - the UK has lost over half of its breeding cuckoos during the last twenty-five years. Linford Lakes is locally and nationally important to the survival of this and many other "red list" species and any form of disruption should be avoided. (A list of Red List and BAP Species recorded at LLNR since 2012 is included as Appendix 1).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Osprey have become annual visitors to Linford Lakes and use the site as a ‘refuelling point’ as they arrive in Spring and leave in Autumn. Last year one bird remained at LLNR for nearly two weeks and this year birds visited in April and August. This spectacular fish-eating bird of prey is an Amber List species because of its historical decline (due to illegal killing) and low breeding numbers. They are listed as a Schedule 1 species on The Wildlife and Countryside Act.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Linford Lakes are immensely rich in Dragonflies, 11 species of dragonfly have been recorded along with 9 species of damselfly. Dragonflies in the UK are in decline. The loss of wetland habitat due to development, together with run-off and the effects of insecticides are having a devastating effect on dragonfly numbers. The high risk of run-off contaminates during the construction process and then from the housing estate into the lake system along with the loss of habitat and increased human activity, will inevitably lead to a further decline in these species. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">During the last ten years, the Friends of Linford Lakes, along with specialists such as the County Bird Recorder, Moth Recorder, the Parks Trust Biodiversity Officer and the local BTO Bird Ringing Group have built up a great deal of information and data about the wildlife to be found on and around the Nature Reserve. This information clearly demonstrates that for its size, LLNR is probably the richest habitat and most species diverse site in the County. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The applicants Ecological Desktop Survey (Bird Report) whilst indicating the presence of well over a hundred species appears to consist of only old records with nothing later than 2016. By not including records for the Nature Reserve it has missed many of the rare and priority species which are regularly seen at LLNR. It therefore fails to fully recognise the exceptionally high ecological value of the Linford Lakes complex. The applicants survey team do not appear to have referenced the species records for LLNR which would have helped give a better indication of the true importance of this area for biodiversity and priority species. Records for LLNR maintained by FoLLNR can be found at </span><a href="https://fohescnews.blogspot.com/"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">https://fohescnews.blogspot.com</span></a><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The applicants own Environmental Impact Assessment Predicts “Significant Effects”. “</span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">During the construction phase, the effects will be high. A number of protected and rare species are present. The proposed scheme of works is likely to kill, injure and harm species and habitats at the site should no mitigation and compensation be installed.” As can be seen above it is unlikely that effective mitigation and compensation can be achieved.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The report goes on to say “The site is likely to have a significant impact on species during its operational phase. The increase in traffic levels will</span> <span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">ultimately lead to higher road collisions between vehicles and species”.</span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> Such loss of habitat and disruption to wildlife is not acceptable. </span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span face=""Avenir Next",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Avenir Next"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Avenir Next";">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">There is no justification for the proposed development<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The applicant has failed to consider the impact of the new Milton Keynes East Strategic Urban Extension</span><span style="font-family: ArialMT, serif; font-size: 24pt;"> </span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">which lies around 2 miles from Linford Lakes within the development boundary and which is set to deliver 5000 new homes. This development will according to MKC provide:</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">“A wide range of dwelling type, size and tenure should be provided creating choice, a varied building form and meeting community needs. 31% of housing should be affordable.”</span><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;"> “In accordance with Plan: MK policy HN3, the development will be expected to provide an element of supported or specialist housing to help contribute towards meeting the needs of older persons and households with specific needs.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">The MK East Strategic Urban Extension will provide all and much more than this piecemeal proposal can ever achieve, furthermore, it includes all the infrastructure (shops, medical facilities, schools, leisure facilities and parks) that a sustainable development requires. The proposed development at Linford Lakes has no supporting infrastructure and by comparison is unsustainable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">We therefore request that this proposal be refused.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Yours faithfully<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">A C Bedford<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Avenir Next", sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt;">Chair Friends of Linford Lakes<o:p></o:p></span></p></div>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-83093418897960495962021-10-05T11:46:00.003-07:002021-10-05T11:51:38.649-07:00Bird ringing report Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd August<p> <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: large;">Hi all,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: large;">Saturday</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">It was a warm and muggy 17°C when I arrived onsite at 04:30am to open the nets. With heavy showers forecast from 10am onwards, I was eager to make the most of the time we had available and it certainly wasn't a wasted effort. We managed to process 116 birds of 23 species, 105 of which were newly ringed before the rain stopped play.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">It was another warbler fest with blackcap numbers significantly up on recent sessions, 22 individuals were processed along with 11 reed warblers, 5 garden warblers, 11 chiffchaffs, 9 willow warblers, a cetti's warbler, a whitethroat, all topped off with 2 lesser whitethroats which are quite scarce at Linford with only 2 previous ringing records.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Other notable birds were 3 new kingfishers, an impressive and noisy 5 new great spotted woodpeckers, and a magpie. A very feisty juvenile male sparrowhawk was a strong contender for bird of the day but he was pipped at the post (or perhaps pippited at the post...) by a very smart tree pipit which was a new species for Linford.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">KINGF 3</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">REEWA 10 (1)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">ROBIN 7 (2)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">BLACA 22 (2)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">DUNNO 3</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">GARWA 5</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">BLABI 2</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">CHIFF 11</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">WILWA 9</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">GRSWO 5</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">CETWA (1)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">LESWH 2</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">GRETI 2</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">WREN 2 (1)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">MAGPI 1</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">GREFI 2</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">BLUTI 15</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">TREEC (1)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">LOTTI (3)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">TREPI 1</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">GOLDF 1</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">SPARR 1</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">WHITE 1</span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Sunday</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">The predicted thunderstorms finally rumbled through in the early hours this morning, allowing me an extra hour in bed while I waited for the rain to stop and proving the old adage that every cloud has a silver lining...</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">As far as the ringing was concerned, it was a much more sedate affair compared to yesterday's frantic antics, with a further 41 birds processed of 16 species, 34 of which were newly ringed.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Notable birds included 4 chiffchaffs, 3 garden warblers, 5 reed warblers, 3 blackcaps, 4 willow warblers and another new lesser whitethroat.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Incredibly, another 2 tree pipits were ringed (you wait 7 years for one and then....), and out of 2 marsh tits seen, one found the net making it the 3rd to be ringed at Linford.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Cheers!</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Kenny</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">CHIFF 4</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">LOTTI (1)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">GARWA 3</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">REEWA 4 (1)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">DUNNO 1</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">BLACA 2 (1)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">WILWA 4</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">TREPI 2</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">BLUTI 6 (3)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">GRSWO 1</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">GRETI 3</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">KINGF (1)</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">LESWH 1</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">MARTI 1</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">BLABI 1</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">GOLDF 1</span></span></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-20823407539174504822021-06-03T02:14:00.003-07:002021-06-03T02:14:47.043-07:00Bird Ringing 30th May (Second Helpings)<p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hi all,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Weather-wise, it was a real mixed bag today. I arrived to a clear, starry sky and it was a wee bit chiller than expected. As the sun rose, the wind picked up and a thick mist blew in, saturating the nets and making it feel a lot colder than the 8°C my car had indicated on the drive in. The mist gradually burned off and we finished the session in glorious and really rather warm sunshine.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On the bird front, this was the busiest session we've had at Linford so far this year with 77 birds processed of a diverse 20 species, 57 of which were newly ringed. This was helped by the emergence of our first fledglings of the year including robins, long tailed tits, and starlings.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We also had a nice selection of warblers including willow warbler, reed warbler, blackcap, garden warbler, whitethroat, sedge warbler and chiffchaff. A great spotted woodpecker and a kingfisher were nice birds to show todays visitors.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The headliners of today's session were our first ever jackdaw to be ringed at Linford, and a frankly improbable 5 cuckoos! This included a new male, 2 new females, a retrap male from 2020 and a retrap of the female we caught in the last session (now carrying an egg).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A female hairy dragonfly was also carefully extracted from the nets.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Kenny</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUMn1w47nrhsUxSgNLLkiEBbZ-1INiR06cZzqn4R-FWsiQSsGkEovSHJ4wl4r2Wh-vJk3WNBCO86rGr2KV8CS5ovtdUXJGYUJq3JxCWK93M49gizkSJkjCm4VV0NSiuHyG7kDo2olac0/s2048/DSC_0854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="524" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUMn1w47nrhsUxSgNLLkiEBbZ-1INiR06cZzqn4R-FWsiQSsGkEovSHJ4wl4r2Wh-vJk3WNBCO86rGr2KV8CS5ovtdUXJGYUJq3JxCWK93M49gizkSJkjCm4VV0NSiuHyG7kDo2olac0/w392-h524/DSC_0854.jpg" width="392" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf01VHB3sJ-DBs4ugIEz4Nvm2kPMDXrAPgsrUchIdeVB9Q6mQ8BHVAXQ5edOP-slyH82dPQsskNeCOcblDf0FO1oJaVMLFRey7uwV479ZlCXkAzSLaQWPq3Sq5N2gtT7bA6dttTe7CjKU/s2048/DSC_0875.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="582" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf01VHB3sJ-DBs4ugIEz4Nvm2kPMDXrAPgsrUchIdeVB9Q6mQ8BHVAXQ5edOP-slyH82dPQsskNeCOcblDf0FO1oJaVMLFRey7uwV479ZlCXkAzSLaQWPq3Sq5N2gtT7bA6dttTe7CjKU/w386-h582/DSC_0875.jpg" width="386" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Photos courtesy of Tony Bedford</span><p></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-87856678885575805772021-05-29T03:04:00.001-07:002021-05-29T03:07:30.508-07:00Bird Ringing Report 1st May 2021<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Hi all,</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Reports of an impressive fall of migrants at Portland Bill during the week gave us some hope of an influx of new birds and perhaps something a little bit more unusual. As the day unfolded, it started to look like we might have somewhat of a "vanilla" session but things started to improve as the early morning mist began to lift.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">27 birds of 7 species were processed, 17 of which were newly ringed. Reed warblers made up the bulk of the catch with 14 birds handled including 9 new individuals and a retrap of a bird originally ringed as an adult in 2016, making it at least 6 years old. Not a bad age but still some way from the longevity record of almost 13 years! Also notable was a control of a bird ringed elsewhere in the UK.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Other warblers included 4 blackcap, 2 sedge warblers and 2 chiffchaffs. A brief hail shower threatened to curtail the proceedings but it moved through and we soldiered on regardless.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We saved the best for last with the final bird of the day ironically turning out to be our first cuckoo of the year. This stunning male was even more impressive as he turned out to be a retrap, and not just any retrap.... This was DT04157, which was the first ever cuckoo we ringed at Linford back in May 2017. He was an adult bird then, having been hatched at least two years prior, making him at least 6 years old. The current longevity record for cuckoo is just under 7 years so let's keep everything crossed that he makes it back to Linford again next year!</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Also seen around the reserve were approx 12 swift, 2 snipe, a yellow wagtail, and a hobby.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXSZ6OeHCVzW7OIwOTdo0w95XwW8e7kdFK2yjqf4mokFwnd29wRiWHeips-JdKOWhH8LQaPMOcR-JGnxC57I5TWukUSPbXoYo4t5zMoDDvjQGu665Sdg8VUM3_wh3H2dtpO8fCed1YC0g/s2048/20210501_102428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1808" data-original-width="2048" height="526" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXSZ6OeHCVzW7OIwOTdo0w95XwW8e7kdFK2yjqf4mokFwnd29wRiWHeips-JdKOWhH8LQaPMOcR-JGnxC57I5TWukUSPbXoYo4t5zMoDDvjQGu665Sdg8VUM3_wh3H2dtpO8fCed1YC0g/w535-h526/20210501_102428.jpg" width="535" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-62196092949194728352021-03-13T03:01:00.001-08:002021-03-13T12:43:54.229-08:00Massive Tourist Visits LLNR - But Did You See It?<p> </p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Following a tip off from a well informed member of the Friends Group (thanks Mark) I have done a little research on the interweb and have found the following post on the Roy Dennis Foundation Twitter Feed </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">https://twitter.com/RoyDennisWF, which confirms that a White-tailed Eagle did indeed roost at LLNR on the 2nd March 2021.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">"Apart one brief return flight south to Northamptonshire (as described above), G318 remained in Lincolnshire until 27</span><sup style="background-color: white;">th</sup><span style="background-color: white;"> February when it made a purposeful move to the south, passing to the east of Boston at 13:20 and then across the north side of Peterborough at 15:20. It eventually settled in woodland on the Cambridgeshire-Northants border having flown 107 km (67 miles) from the Lincolnshire Wolds. G318 continued to head slowly south over subsequent days, </span><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">and spent a night at Linford Lakes on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, on 2nd March."</span></i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I am advised that it spent the night on Heron Island - which must have put the wind up a few Herons and Egrets and any wildfowl on and around the lake.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The bird which is one of those introduced on to the Isle of Wight is fitted with a GPS tracker and so it's movements and location can be very accurately monitored.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of the actual bird so I have posted below one of my own pictures of a WTE taken in Scotland a couple of years ago. I have been fortunate enough to see quite a few of these birds, at pretty close range, on my regular visits to Mull over the last 15 years and can confirm they are </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">truly massive.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVrj01bxrk-3JYOtWrGSbkuU0OZShyB0BHJ6d9dQI9hImBPSTQHpYkeQ75K4-L9oOnyGo0e3gaSmEiIJfJ7110o-veL9H6r2gdMClSO2UtFj0uZbqFlUbzVZsROjEWRg1e8Gm7y_3LMFw/s2048/DSC_7981.1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVrj01bxrk-3JYOtWrGSbkuU0OZShyB0BHJ6d9dQI9hImBPSTQHpYkeQ75K4-L9oOnyGo0e3gaSmEiIJfJ7110o-veL9H6r2gdMClSO2UtFj0uZbqFlUbzVZsROjEWRg1e8Gm7y_3LMFw/w594-h394/DSC_7981.1.jpg" width="594" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tony Bedford</span></p>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-91784071702687418202021-02-16T01:48:00.003-08:002021-02-16T02:15:54.165-08:00End of Year Ringing Report by Kenny Cramer<div><span style="font-family: arial;">Hi all,</span></div><div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I think we've probably all read and said everything there is to say about 2020 and there are no superlatives or hyperboles left that haven't been applied to this most unusual of years. Despite the extraordinary circumstances, the ringing news is not all bad, in fact there have been quite some highlights which I have attempted to summarise below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In 2020 we ringed on 38 different days, beating the previous record of 27 visits in 2018 by quite a margin. This was despite the fact that we only managed to squeeze in one session in the first 4 months of the year due to a combination of illness, my expedition to The Gambia and the first coronavirus lockdown. Ringing resumed in earnest from mid-May, setting a new monthly record of 7 visits in June 2020 compared to the previous record of 4 visits in February 2018. This resulted in 1755 captures of 50 species, 1453 of which were newly ringed, yet another new record. We also set a new record for most captures in a day on 10th September with 165 birds handled.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">At the species level, we had 5 new entries on our Linford ringing list in 2020 consisting of house sparrow (yes really!), spotted flycatcher, yellow wagtail, skylark and of course, who could forget the glorious long-eared owl last November. This brings us to a total of 61 species ringed at Linford since 2014. This is without any special effort being put into targetting waterfowl on site, something which I hope to address in future years.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When we were able to properly restart our ringing efforts, May - July was mainly concerned with cuckoos, a species we had not encountered since 2017 despite plenty of birds being present and much effort being put into catching them. In 2020 however, we had quite a reversal of fortunes and managed to ring 11 individuals around the reserve with only 1 retrap.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Other individual species that had record years included Redwing with 193 ringed in 2020, smashing the previous record of 104 in 2018. Warblers were also generally on the increase with Blackcap, Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler all having record years. This was perhaps helped by the dense vegetation on the bund where we were able to take advantage of some particularly productive net rides before being flooded off at the end of September. Throughout Summer and Autumn, the bund also produced record numbers of Reed Bunting (55 in 2020 vs 28 in 2019), Meadow Pipit (39 in 2020 vs 12 in 2018) and Lesser Redpoll (24 in 2020 vs 5 in 2015). 2 newly ringed snipe were another Autumn bonus with just one previous record, although waders such as jack snipe, lapwing, common and green sandpipers eluded the nets.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">After heavy rain and flooding and with the bund now under several feet of water and out of action, we retreated to the bug bank and boundary walk from early October and turned our attention to winter thrushes. As mentioned previously, redwings had a bumper year, but it was also a record year for blackbirds with 42 newly ringed compared to the previous record of 35 in 2016, and song thrush with 21 birds newly ringed compared to 13 in 2017. Mistle thrush and Fieldfare are much harder to catch but we managed 4 fieldfare compared to 8 in 2018, and 2 Mistle Thrushes with 1 in 2019 being the only previous record. Siskins usually winter in good numbers at Linford thanks to the many alders which they like to feed on. Catches can be variable but we managed a respectable 10 compared to the record of 16 set in 2015.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As we moved from Autumn into Winter, we turned our attention to owls resulting in 2 new Tawny Owls plus a recaptured adult from 2017, a new Barn Owl (interestingly, we have yet to encounter any of the birds ringed by Paddy Jackson in the two onsite nest boxes) and the previously mentioned Long-eared Owl.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Other notable captures in 2020 included 5 new Sand Martins (our first since 2017), 3 new Moorhen, 2 new water rails, 2 new Green Woodpeckers, 2 new Sparrowhawks, our first Marsh Tit since 2014, and our second ever Grasshopper Warbler. 2 new Siberian Chiffchaffs were perhaps the rarest encounters yet at Linford.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">On the negative side, species that seem to be in decline include Bullfinch (just 2 ringed in 2020 vs 14 in 2015), Chaffinch (4 ringed vs 17 in 2017), Dunnock (21 ringed vs 40 in 2017), Great Spotted Woodpecker (1 ringed vs 7 in 2014), Greenfinch (3 ringed vs 40 in 2018), and Treecreeper (4 ringed vs 14 in 2017). We failed to attract any sand martins to the "Sand Castle" for a second year, here's hoping that it will be third time lucky!<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Recoveries included a chiffchaff ringed at Linford in August 2019 which moved 739 km down to the west coast of France in 55 days. (This was not reported until 2020.)</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A starling ringed in May 2019 was recovered in April 2020, sadly having been found dead within 3km of Linford.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A reed warbler ringed in August 2020 was re-caught in Icklesham, East Sussex having moved 164km in 11 days.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Controls included a reed warbler originally ringed as an adult at Marston Vale Millenium Country Park, Beds in April 2017 which we recaptured in May 2020 making it at least 4 years old.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A cetti's warbler ringed as a juvenile in July 2019 at Brandon Marsh, Warwickshire was recaptured in July 2020.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A garden warbler ringed as a juvenile in September 2018 in Bolea, Spain was recaptured in August 2020 after 707 days and a movement of 1091km.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Two blackcaps ringed at Hillesden, Bucks as juveniles seemed to go the wrong way, moving 20km north east in around 40 days, and were recaptured within a couple of weeks of each other.<br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A goldcrest ringed as a juvenile in October 2019 at Beachy Head, East Sussex was recaptured at Linford almost exactly one year later, presumably heading south to cross the channel for a second time.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A reed warber ringed as a juvenile in September 2020 at Wilstone Reservoir, Bucks was recaptured 22 days later, having apparently gone the wrong way and moving 32km north!</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A lesser redpoll ringed as a juvenile in October 2020 at Marston Sewage Works, Lincs was recaptured 4 days later having travelled 99km south.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A siskin ringed as a juvenile in September 2020 in Telemark, Norway was recaptured 71 days later having travelled 1025km south west.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Thanks go to all the helpers who contributed by scribing, carrying equipment, filling feeders, clearing net rides or simply providing good banter, your help is vitally important to our work and just as important (if not more so) than additional pairs of ringing pliers, so a massive thank you to Tony for all his bad jokes and amazing, high speed release photos, Martin and Margaret R for keeping the feeders full and putting up with all of our early morning clatterings, Amy J for walking all the way back from the far hide to scribe a tit flock and showing great trainee potential, Jessica and Aimee for their excellent net setting skills (sorry about the snake!), Jim for sharing his pics - look forward to seeing you again once lockdown has unlocked.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">To Sarah the bramble slayer - I'll always remember our scrub bashing sessions on the bund with fondness, it won't be the same without you.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Extra special thanks goes to Keith for tirelessly tagging along and showing amazing dedication and commitment by weathering the early mornings, long set-ups, double sessions, sweltering heat, bitter cold, multiple tiers of lockdown, and learning how to tame the beast... and all of this with a dodgy ankle! <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I also have to thank Martin K and everyone at the Park's Trust for allowing me the great privilege of ringing at the best wildlife site in Milton Keynes. I look forward to many more years of partnership and friendship.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Last but not least, I have to thank Bob, our new and beloved Linford mascot, who brought us great joy and much entertainment between net rounds over the past few months. May your mealworms be ever fat and juicy (and watch out for that sparrowhawk!)<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Cheers,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Kenny</span><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40i4aN9CK9TMqKUhbWc6lzwdId-2Qw8T5a2mc9inxLd477YA5XdN4Bez3Xfj-rnWvFjo7JDxlYsmMu69xzWa3QAgKlpadA_PUYeX_V-SGwd7z02NARdrMXDgptldph6vYIDYZX1rvjKQ/s2048/20201207_182539.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1788" data-original-width="2048" height="558" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40i4aN9CK9TMqKUhbWc6lzwdId-2Qw8T5a2mc9inxLd477YA5XdN4Bez3Xfj-rnWvFjo7JDxlYsmMu69xzWa3QAgKlpadA_PUYeX_V-SGwd7z02NARdrMXDgptldph6vYIDYZX1rvjKQ/w640-h558/20201207_182539.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></p></div>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-74659250737783759102020-08-04T15:33:00.021-07:002020-08-05T11:01:04.184-07:00About Terns<div><br /></div><div><font face="arial">The Common Terns seem to have had a successful breeding year at LLNR and a number of juvenile birds can be seen begging food from the adults.</font></div><div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div><font face="arial">I recently took this picture which suggests that both parent birds had caught fish and appeared to be queuing up Heathrow style to feed junior.</font></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqkuudrqA-kggXGumZWf2OlFD7Oq6bx65c3WK8vWBoR7U7jrs1CsG4SNYBkAGqKbUHKSwgPQBw1HEqce2oGFpz1NNmPkhreQBjP5sS3QpFCPIPHdobBESV0gT70sGWJKwRLWB077VVc4s/s2048/DSC_4383.1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqkuudrqA-kggXGumZWf2OlFD7Oq6bx65c3WK8vWBoR7U7jrs1CsG4SNYBkAGqKbUHKSwgPQBw1HEqce2oGFpz1NNmPkhreQBjP5sS3QpFCPIPHdobBESV0gT70sGWJKwRLWB077VVc4s/s640/DSC_4383.1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial">In actual fact the first adult Tern offered the fish to the youngster then veered off to feed another, leaving the second adult to feed the confused juvenile. I can only assume a case of mistaken identity.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjAj_mDPOJilaGqQ8VGNsAhSIZ1IIbWUVIKyotJerjSZx0WnTqv_oJD-w1wVMbLXob7u-Ir2tD1ETTrRhW9EsCyI5LP7D5rl7T0d9BOvgvMx2l6Be69Hygq9dlK0Vc4LutOKltf-pfOvI/s2048/DSC_4396.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjAj_mDPOJilaGqQ8VGNsAhSIZ1IIbWUVIKyotJerjSZx0WnTqv_oJD-w1wVMbLXob7u-Ir2tD1ETTrRhW9EsCyI5LP7D5rl7T0d9BOvgvMx2l6Be69Hygq9dlK0Vc4LutOKltf-pfOvI/s640/DSC_4396.1.jpg" /></a></div><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face="arial">Above, the young Tern finally gets a feed.</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial"><br /></font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial">Article by Tony Bedford</font></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><font face="arial">Photos copyright Tony Bedford.</font></div>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-83174345599912581032020-07-13T12:09:00.001-07:002020-07-13T12:09:24.576-07:00Welcome Back<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv9dtpEpXtg7p5xVlZRRvZG0N9iW8PVmXcOJnnYYf49VOoiIHLTZiSq8-qn2W-sq0IF0D0_rjR-Kym0CCzrfKDkaiC6sAwOs3iRYdrF_pV6rlh03K0WVyBFvhWC4eYde4wjUEJ1VhExa8/s1600/Marsh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1413" data-original-width="1600" height="563" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv9dtpEpXtg7p5xVlZRRvZG0N9iW8PVmXcOJnnYYf49VOoiIHLTZiSq8-qn2W-sq0IF0D0_rjR-Kym0CCzrfKDkaiC6sAwOs3iRYdrF_pV6rlh03K0WVyBFvhWC4eYde4wjUEJ1VhExa8/s640/Marsh.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first Marsh Tit to be recorded on the site in the last 5 years was ringed by Kenny Cramer and his team last Sunday. Lets keep our fingers crossed that this is the start of a return of this scarce species.</span><br />
<br />FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-67178745547964732020-05-21T08:11:00.000-07:002020-05-21T08:18:14.765-07:00Clock This<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkI9pkSx0gOSb-Hb4wzVUF1eH_jfDh6S6Y-zuSV5S_VqRqAUyyvH3Mdgq_1YI5k-TvBDQ5FJqBE6U_KyH6n6rwYX2Lb3ht33-sahGMES40u6XH8r_Ba8r79agkf_KIu7MDsZ6VaLF3p8/s1600/51BDDA2E-DD77-493B-AE41-C3A508703068_1_105_c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkI9pkSx0gOSb-Hb4wzVUF1eH_jfDh6S6Y-zuSV5S_VqRqAUyyvH3Mdgq_1YI5k-TvBDQ5FJqBE6U_KyH6n6rwYX2Lb3ht33-sahGMES40u6XH8r_Ba8r79agkf_KIu7MDsZ6VaLF3p8/s400/51BDDA2E-DD77-493B-AE41-C3A508703068_1_105_c.jpeg" width="300" /></a><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Those of you who have been following the ringing stats for LLNR for a while will know that in 2017, an impressive 5 cuckoos were ringed at LLNR which accounted for around 10% of all the fully grown cuckoos ringed in the UK that year. </span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since then, despite Kenny's best efforts, we have spectacularly failed to catch another one... until now...</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A handsome juvenile male stayed in the net long enough to be extracted and processed, ending the long running streak of bad luck. </span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At least 3 individuals were present (probably more) and so the cuckoo quest continues...</span></span></h3>
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FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5905184651939328952.post-6412271511048502782020-03-09T08:57:00.000-07:002020-03-09T09:12:58.129-07:00Best Laid Plans<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Following a not too successful inaugural year for the new <b>Sand Martin Nest Bank</b> - we did get some harvest mice in a few nest chambers - a group of FoLLNR volunteers have just carried out some improvements for the 2020 season. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4CxFc5SP7LJ184xZWN9DutwF1N_AXxHFqTKJxqtmfYL0k26NpRx3y9gDJCB3bykYdeHdyjWpg1Eptd7ah9V2YUHuPGTzVlo5s6clS_x-LM07kWU9YZUbksLkP0T_qxhsviCyDBVjOebQ/s1600/DSC_3082.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4CxFc5SP7LJ184xZWN9DutwF1N_AXxHFqTKJxqtmfYL0k26NpRx3y9gDJCB3bykYdeHdyjWpg1Eptd7ah9V2YUHuPGTzVlo5s6clS_x-LM07kWU9YZUbksLkP0T_qxhsviCyDBVjOebQ/s640/DSC_3082.1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">No we haven't started a "Paragliding section" - waterproof membrane being moved into location</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A waterproof membrane has been fitted across the roof and to create a more natural finish turf has been laid on top to help the "Sandbank" blend into the surroundings.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrXXFk5rprhxc58_59EjODT3jvpLXO6NtOXSXBC0f_-6jNn8HEZkjjrO39s7lAlT8oLoohoOnXt4fE-8cC6NoRs9s7fdffpiGFPm0LQlBJZOGMvSwlwN8FOm_Pa90haqh33I1DFRmb2mI/s1600/DSC_3140.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrXXFk5rprhxc58_59EjODT3jvpLXO6NtOXSXBC0f_-6jNn8HEZkjjrO39s7lAlT8oLoohoOnXt4fE-8cC6NoRs9s7fdffpiGFPm0LQlBJZOGMvSwlwN8FOm_Pa90haqh33I1DFRmb2mI/s640/DSC_3140.1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Turfing the "Sandbank"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some of he reeds in front of the nest bank have also been trimmed to ease access by our feathered friends. A little more trimming may take place when water levels have dropped although we intend to leave some reeds to keep things as natural as possible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And whilst all the work was going on we had an overhead observer keeping an eye on proceedings</span>FoHESChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13648359056517489279noreply@blogger.com0