RSPB Cliffe Pools
07:00 - 10:00 chilly with a strong cold NE wind, sunny spells
Surprised that the gate was open to the car park so saved a walk down the road, with the strong wind blasting across the marsh most of the wildfowl were sheltering on the leeward side of the banks making viewing difficult. 3 Goldeneye were on Radar pool and 4 Bewick’s, 12+ Pintail and a distant Little Stint showed on Flamingo Pool, the usual Wigeon, Teal, Pochard, Tufties, Shelduck and Great and Little Grebes all seen in good numbers. As the tide was low there no waders expect for Redshank around the pools and no sign of the Black-necked Grebe. On the Thames foreshore, Curlew, Dunlin, Avocets and 3 Grey Plovers were noted.
Cliffe Pools is one the closest reserves to where I live being only a thirty-five minuet drive, so visit here regularly, this site is managed by the RSPB but due to various reasons it appears this is a difficult site to manage. The site has been and still is blighted by fly tipping, they have even had asbestos dumped here which you can imagine results in an expensive bill to dispose of it properly. This selfish illegal activity means that the car park is only open between 9am-5pm, which means having to park on the road outside of these times.
The other issue that blights this reserve is dog crap, it’s bloody everywhere, copious amounts of it. All colours, sizes and textures it’s bloody disgusting and even when the few who do scoop their poop, they dispose of the plastic bags by throwing it in the nearest bush polluting the environment with plastic bags for god knows how many years, some of the bushes look like Christmas trees with different coloured plastic bags adorning them each bauble filled with crap!
Don’t get me wrong I like dogs and I’m believer that the countryside is for everyone to enjoy and use, including dog walkers, but there seems to be a lot of irresponsible dog owners who use this site. Dogs are regularly not under control and are allowed to enter the water even though there are signs up stating dogs should be kept under control and not to let dogs enter the water. There is not much the RSPB can do about this problem, some of the paths that cross the reserve are public footpaths so they can not close them and it’s not practical to have a warden there 24/7 just to reprimand those irresponsible dog owners. They could however provide more bins for disposing of the poo and provide plastic bags so the dog owners have no excuse not to pick it up. Better signage explaining the reasons for keeping dogs under control and the effect it can have on breeding birds and that just because your in the countryside does not mean you do not have to scoop your poop.
I’m not knocking the RSPB as they do a great job most of the time (a post for another day) and the reserve is great for bird watching, large numbers of Nightingales, breeding Black-winged Stilts large flocks wintering wildfowl and waders but it would be nice to walk around the reserve without worrying about stepping on a poo land mine!
Rant over, I had quick walk around Sevenoaks NR in the afternoon not much to be seen here except for a Peregrine terrorising the roosting Lapwings
07:00 - 10:00 chilly with a strong cold NE wind, sunny spells
Surprised that the gate was open to the car park so saved a walk down the road, with the strong wind blasting across the marsh most of the wildfowl were sheltering on the leeward side of the banks making viewing difficult. 3 Goldeneye were on Radar pool and 4 Bewick’s, 12+ Pintail and a distant Little Stint showed on Flamingo Pool, the usual Wigeon, Teal, Pochard, Tufties, Shelduck and Great and Little Grebes all seen in good numbers. As the tide was low there no waders expect for Redshank around the pools and no sign of the Black-necked Grebe. On the Thames foreshore, Curlew, Dunlin, Avocets and 3 Grey Plovers were noted.
Cliffe Pools is one the closest reserves to where I live being only a thirty-five minuet drive, so visit here regularly, this site is managed by the RSPB but due to various reasons it appears this is a difficult site to manage. The site has been and still is blighted by fly tipping, they have even had asbestos dumped here which you can imagine results in an expensive bill to dispose of it properly. This selfish illegal activity means that the car park is only open between 9am-5pm, which means having to park on the road outside of these times.
The other issue that blights this reserve is dog crap, it’s bloody everywhere, copious amounts of it. All colours, sizes and textures it’s bloody disgusting and even when the few who do scoop their poop, they dispose of the plastic bags by throwing it in the nearest bush polluting the environment with plastic bags for god knows how many years, some of the bushes look like Christmas trees with different coloured plastic bags adorning them each bauble filled with crap!
Don’t get me wrong I like dogs and I’m believer that the countryside is for everyone to enjoy and use, including dog walkers, but there seems to be a lot of irresponsible dog owners who use this site. Dogs are regularly not under control and are allowed to enter the water even though there are signs up stating dogs should be kept under control and not to let dogs enter the water. There is not much the RSPB can do about this problem, some of the paths that cross the reserve are public footpaths so they can not close them and it’s not practical to have a warden there 24/7 just to reprimand those irresponsible dog owners. They could however provide more bins for disposing of the poo and provide plastic bags so the dog owners have no excuse not to pick it up. Better signage explaining the reasons for keeping dogs under control and the effect it can have on breeding birds and that just because your in the countryside does not mean you do not have to scoop your poop.
I’m not knocking the RSPB as they do a great job most of the time (a post for another day) and the reserve is great for bird watching, large numbers of Nightingales, breeding Black-winged Stilts large flocks wintering wildfowl and waders but it would be nice to walk around the reserve without worrying about stepping on a poo land mine!
Rant over, I had quick walk around Sevenoaks NR in the afternoon not much to be seen here except for a Peregrine terrorising the roosting Lapwings
A superb blog and account here Chris. Let's hope a warden catches the dog owners who don't pick up their mess....and fine heavily.
ReplyDeletePaul.
Thanks Paul, unfortunately there is no full time warden at Cliffe, there are no facilities like visitors centre or hides for the fear of them being burnt down. The only time I have seen a warden is when monitoring the breeding Black-winged Stilts, so unlikely that he will catch anyone. Love the pics of the Hawfinch on your blog, cracking birds.
Delete