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We are still at an early stage in dealing with conservation issues and so far our activities have simply initiated some projects which we hope will grow in future years. There are two main prongs – firstly to understand, compile and map plant and animal species in the vicinity of Ovingham and secondly to attempt to eliminate invasive alien species from the riverbanks of the Tyne and Whittle Dene. In the process we are engaging with and recruiting residents, young and old to participate.
1 Picnic in the Park and flowering plant record
Our main activity at picnic in the Park was mapping the flowers of the Playing field. We encouraged children to bring us flowers from different parts of the playing field which we identified and placed on a map.
We are hoping to compile a list of flowering plants in different habitats around Ovingham and are aware that other groups have already compiled lists for Spechells, Tyne Riverside and Whittle Dene. We hope to gain access to these lists and to add to them in due course.
2 Green Ovingham bird record
We prepared and distributed a bird record table for residents to note all the birds which they see in the Ovingham area during the current year. We will compile a list in December. We plan to repeat in future years to see whether we are gaining or losing species. However, for the most part we are not expert or persistent birdwatchers and may miss some. One possibility is to gain experience in Wylam where there has been an active bird class run by ‘birdman’ Brian Galloway for at least 30 years and now formed into a club (www.wylambirdclub.co.uk). Their reports of sightings make interesting reading.
3 Big Butterfly count
We joined in the Big Butterfly count which asks people all over the country to log their sightings over a 15 minute period in different habitats. We had 7 participants in Ovingham and our surveys sighted small and large whites, small copper, meadow brown, small tortoiseshell and common blue. It gave us the impetus to look more carefully at our butterflies and we have subsequently seen green veined whites, wall browns, peacocks and red admirals. We will join in again next year with hopefully more participants. Check out the website at www.bigbutterflycount.org.
4 Eliminating Invasive Alien Species
The three seriously invasive alien species on our riverbanks are Japanese knotweed, Giant Hogweed and Himalayan balsam. Our key task for this year was the elimination of Himalayan Balsam in Whittle Dene. This proved to be more time consuming than we had anticipated but we have just about completed the task, after more than 60 man-hours of bashing. Fortunately we had more than 15 bashers on our first day (9 July) which got the job well under way, a smaller number on 23 July and finished up by individual efforts thereafter. We wait to see if any balsam shows its head again next year! In addition, nearly 1000 specimens of Giant Hogweed with its poisonous sap were destroyed along the Ovingham reach of the Tyne riverside and some patches of Japanese Knotweed were also sprayed.
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The balsam (pink) was heavily mixed with other plants |
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We pulled the balsam up by the roots and left it in heaps to rot
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Gill Thompson’s introduction to the theme emphasised the importance of ‘nature corridors’ and encouraging local people to appreciate that nature habitats can and should be created everywhere, not just in ‘special places’ such as nature reserves and national parks. The conservation group developed this theme into the following activities:
- Collating old records to create a baseline for surveying species(particularly bird) in Ovingham.
- Regular collection of new records to understand what species may be declining and so look at actions to halt this decline.
- Mapping the habitats of the parish in order to both understand what we have and have a rational for either objecting to change or requesting new planting schemes. An example of this would be mapping the trees and then being proactive in either encouraging better management of these, initiating planting schemes or insisting on replacement if trees were removed for safety reasons. Click here to download the mapping form that was available at the Picnic in the Park event on the 21st of May 2011.
- Nature Jollies, such as dawn chorus walks and bat watches to build on some of the above and help people enjoy and understand what we are recording. This could also link with the ‘notes from a green gardener’ column in the pc magazine, encouraging people to manage their gardens differently through fun activities.
- One important practical conservation task/campaign-keeping Himalayan balsam out of Whittle Dene seemed the most important and achievable.
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