A morning walk on the London Wildlife Trust reserve at Braeburn Park in Crayford.
Braeburn Park has a chequered history. Much of the latter half of the last century it was a gravel extraction works, which was then used for Landfill. Part of the site was used by a gun club. The site was then purchased by a developer and a housing estate was built. As part of the building permission the land surrounding the extractions to the north, south and west had to be developed as a nature reserve.
The London Wildlife trust took over the management last year and this was a chance to look around to see what had been accomplished in the last year and what the trust saw as the vision for the future.The part of the reserve that we explored was to the north of the housing estate. It consists of scrub, woodland and the remains of some extraction pits,
There were good numbers of Chiffchaff calling and some good views were seen. Blackcaps were heard by some people but were elusive to view. Other common birds were also present in good numbers. Unfortunately the resident Bullfinches did not put in an appearance. Tony, our guide told us this was one of the few places in London where you could still find this species.
Chifchaff
Greenfinch
Robin
The real rarities found on the reserve are the invertebrate life. We stopped in an area of sand bank to see the solitary bees and wasps which use them to burrow the holes in which they lay their eggs. There are about 8-10 species present here and some of them are quite rare.
Sandbanks – an important habitat on the reserve
Holes in bank made by solitary bees and wasps to lay their eggs
Large White, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies were seen along with Buff-tailed Bumblebee.
peacock Butterfly
Small Tortoiseshell (archive photo)
It is still a project very much in progress but this visit demonstrated that it does have a potential to be developed into a quality nature reserve.
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Stock Dove [sp] (Columba oenas)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
Great Spotted Woodpecker [sp] (Dendrocopos major)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus)
Common Chiffchaff [sp] (Phylloscopus collybita)
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
Song Thrush [sp] (Turdus philomelos)
Mistle Thrush [sp] (Turdus viscivorus)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Carduelis chloris)
Large White (Pieris brassicae)
Peacock Butterfly (Inachis io)
Small Tortoiseshell [sp] (Aglais urticae)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee
