The warmest day of the year so far.
2 Redstart on Lollingdon Hill today, a male in the top bushes and a female/juv in the hedgerow on the west side.
Both very elusive and only seen in flight and heard calling.
Yellow Wagtail, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer also present.
Earlier a visit to Cholsey Marsh and a young Cuckoo seen but disappeared into cover before I could get a pic, otherwise rather quiet but most warblers seen and the odd song heard.
Great Crested Grebe and 2 Mute Swan on the river and a pair of Kingfisher noted along with c20 Black-headed Gull flying upriver.
40+ Swift seen zipping around by the “Morning Star Pub” coming back from the Marsh.
Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Southern Hawker, Brown Hawker and Emperor Dragonfly.
Butterflies: Small Skipper, Essex Skipper (1), Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Marbled White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown & Ringlet.
Red Admiral
Small Skipper
Corn Bunting
Marbled White
There appears to have been some “illegal” fishing going on along the river bank over the week end with families staying all night, lighting fires and erecting gazebos etc.
Unfortunately rubbish and the gazebo frame was left on the river bank along with the scars of where the fires were (the fires are for cooking fish taken from the river, so I am informed).
Environment Agency: What are you doing about this? Ans = nothing. Is it EA's responsibility?
The rubbish bin at the bottom of Ferry road was overwhelmed by the amount of rubbish left there.
Littering on a river bank is EA's responsibility. Fires might be legal, unless specifically banned with a byelaw. Taking fish to eat is definitely legal, with a few size restrictions. It's only illegal if you don't have a rod licence. South of Ferry Lane is a private angling club (so their own rules, no taking), north of Ferry Lane is EA rules, so taking fish is legal with a standard rod licence. It's EA's responsibility to check rod licences on the river bank, but I've never seen a bailiff there.
ReplyDeleteI have met both baliff's and both informed me that taking fish from the river is not legal.
ReplyDeleteI have also informed EA who have marked it as an incident and will follow up regarding the unlicensed fishing,litter and fires.
See section 5 of the byelaws (link), apparently it's legal to take 2 fish each per day above a certain size. www.lfcc.org.uk/downloads/category/3-fisheries?download=7:thames...bylaws
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