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Website News History
The work party assignments have been updated.
7 October 2009
The combination for the hide locks has been
changed today. Members who have renewed or joined the Group since 1st June
will have been advised of the new code.
1 October 2009
The Car Park on Lower Sandhurst Road is locked
at dusk - which is now 6pm.
1 October 2009
The
September Bird Summary has been added to this website.
1 October 2009
Grove hide now open and free of the Hornets
that build a nest inside the hide.
Don't forget the free burgers at the Work
Party on Sunday - the weather forecast is fine - new comers welcome, details
below.
11 September 2009
[2008 Annual Report]
The 16th (2008) Annual Report has been
published and is
available to read here. Just click the above title. The Bird, Dragonfly and
Butterfly species lists under the wildlife sections of the website have been
have been updated to include 2008 records were appropriate.
Note that Members who have provided an email
address will not receive the Annual Report in paper form unless they have
specifically requested it from the Membership Secretary.
The
Summer 2009 News Letter is also available.
9 September 2009
The
August Bird Summary has been added to this website.
1 September 2009
Ten (initially 6, and 4 arrived later ) Irish Moyles, including
Boris the bull, have arrived to control the grass and other vegetation on
the Reserve.
13 August 2009
The
July Bird Summary has been added to this website.
31 July 2009
The
official opening of the resurfaced Bridleway took place on the 10th July
24 July 2009
The winter 2009/10
Work
Party schedule has been defined so you can update your diary. The tasks
have yet to be allocated.
Can you spare some time to help us to keep
Moor Green Lakes in great shape? Why not come along and join a Conservation
Work Party. The season starts on Sunday 13th September with a
free BBQ lunch.
Meet in the car park off Lower Sandhurst Road
at 10.30. Don’t worry if you haven’t done conservation work before, all
training and tools are provided.
No special skills are needed
Tools and training are provided
Refreshments and a BBQ lunch is provided
Just
wear outdoor clothing, boots or wellies and waterproofs
Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult
For
more details please contact Stuart on 01252 331353
17 July 2009
Annual Report Distribution
Members who have provided an email address
have been asked if they would accept the Annual Report in electronic form,
rather than the traditional paper copy. This is to save money and paper.
The 2008 Annual Report will be added to this website when it becomes
available in August. It will be in the same format as the previous reports
that are
available here.
By default, Members who have provided an email
address will not receive a paper copy of the report - so you will
need to request a paper copy if you want one. Members who have not provided
an email address will receive the paper report as previously. The Membership
Secretary,
Dave Bishop, can be contacted if you are unsure if we hold your correct
email address.
9 July 2009
The
June Bird Summary has been added.
30 June 2009
The work to resurface the bridleway and car
park has been completed and they are now fully open for use. I think you
will agree that the result is well worth suffering the inconvenience caused
in carrying out the work.
26 June 2009
A page giving
basic
statistics on the presence of some migratory birds recorded at Moor
Green Lakes has been added. This will be extended in due course.
16 June 2009
The
May Bird Summary has been added.
1 June 2009
The resurfacing of the bridleway has been
completed and is now open for use, as are the car park and footpath.
However, there is some remaining material occupying some of the parking
spaces in the car park, which has yet to be removed.
16 May 2009
The
April Bird Summary has been added.
30 April 2009
Access Improvements at Moor Green Lakes
We are very pleased to say that work to improve the surface of the bridleway
between the Lower Sandhurst Road
Car Park
and the Blackwater River will start on the 27th April. We hope that the
work will take no more than three weeks and during this time there will be
some disruption to access at Moor Green Lakes.
We apologise for any inconvenience that this
may cause but the work will make a long lasting improvement to the quality
of the bridleway and the access at Moor Green Lakes.
For 3 weeks from 27th April 2009:
-
the bridleway will be closed.
-
the footpath from the car park to Colebrook
Hide will be closed during the day but open in the evening and at
weekends. It should be possible to access the hide from the south.
-
the car park will be closed during the day
but open at weekends.
If you have any queries, please contact Sue
Dent on 01252 331353 or
Email Sue Dent
or call Wokingham Borough Council Countryside Service on 0118 934 2016.
Unfortunately, there is no alternative local parking due to the
narrow lanes. The nearest alternative parking is at
Horseshoe Lake, (OS map ref SU 820 621).
Updated on 24 April 2009 - (posted 15
April)
The
Minutes of the 2009 AGM have been added to the [Joining
MGLG] Page.
14 April 2009
The
March Bird Summary has been added.
31 March 2009
The
February Bird Summary has been added.
28 February 2009
The
Work Party
schedule has been updated following a couple of cancellations due to bad
weather earlier in the month.
19 February 2009
The section on the
Reserve Extension has been completely updated and now includes the
initial proposals for Fleethill Farm.
11 February 2009
Sunday 8th February - Winter Water Birds at
Horseshoe Lake 10:30am-12 noon.
From Gadwalls to Goldeneyes, a superb opportunity to discover what’s on the
water this winter, during this expert-led walk. Costs: £2. Meet at the car
park off Mill Lane, Sandhurst, GU47 8JW. Pre-booking essential.
Organised by Bracknell Forest Rangers. Please pre-book by contacting The
Look Out Discovery Centre on 01344 354400 / 354441 or call in at Reception
(open 10am-5pm).
4 February 2009
The
January Bird Summary has been added.
31 January 2009
The
January 2009 News Letter has been dispatched to Members along
with notice of the AGM to be held Friday 20th February at the
Finchampstead Memorial Hall,
7:30 for 7:45pm start.
Following the AGM there will be a short
interval during which refreshments will be provided. Following this, David
Cary will give an illustrated talk about heathland birds.
28 January 2009
The
Work Party
schedule has been up-dated.
27 January 2009
The remaining half of the winter
Work Party
schedule has been up-dated.
13 January 2009
The
December Bird Summary has been added.
31 December 2008
The
November Bird Summary has been added.
30 November 2008
The
satellite images
of Moor Green Lakes are now based on March/April 2008 information showing
the more recent state of the restoration on the Manor Farm extension to the
Reserve. Click on the top left end of the banner above the image to get a
full screen view. Zoom and drag the image to see adjacent areas.
The
bird species
list has been updated to reflect the sightings presented in the 2007
Annual Report.
16 November 2008
The
October Bird Summary has been added.
1 November 2008
The
2007 Annual Report has been added.
23 October 2008
The
work party tasks
have been updated for the period to the end of the year.
The combination lock code for the viewing
hides has been changed today. All members should have the new code - if you
have missed out on the renewal information, see the Message to Members
below.
1 October 2008
The
September Bird Summary has been added.
30 September 2008
 Four
cows, 3 calves and a very tame bull, called Clarence, have arrived to maintain the grassland
around the lakes. They are expected to stay until December.
17 September 2008
The
first volunteer work party of the autumn meets at Moor Green Lakes on
Sunday 14 September to clear the scrape and vegetation
from around Colebrook hide.
As an extra incentive to attend, Blackwater Valley will be providing a
free BBQ for all who help on the 14th. This event will also be used to
promote the concept of volunteering at Moor Green, so please feel free to
invite any family and friends to attend this taster session, so that we can
attract more volunteers to cope with the ever expanding conservation work.
If you want to know more about this event then
you can contact the
Blackwater Valley
Countryside Partnership on
01252 331353 or e-mail:
blackwater.valley@hants.gov.uk
5 September 2008
The
August Bird Summary has been added.
31 August 2008
Message to Members
This week
the Annual Report for 2007 was dispatched, together with a newsletter and
membership renewal form. Unfortunately we had to use the 2006 membership
data. This means that Members who first joined the Group between July 2006
and March 2008, or changed their contact information in this period, may not
receive their Annual Report, news letter and renewal form.
We regret this situation and are making all efforts to establish contact
with these Members. If you, or somebody you know, has not received a 2007
Report pack by 1st September and are sure that you are a
current Member, then please email you contact details to the Group
Membership Secretary,
Dave Bishop,
or print off and complete a
Membership
Application Form
(making it clear that you are renewing and have not received your Report) and
post it with your renewal cheque to Dave Bishop at: 7 Ambarrow Crescent,
Little Sandhurst, Berks, GU47 8JA.
Some Members
who did not renew their membership in 2006/07 may receive the Report pack. Please accept the report with the Groups complements and feel
free to renew your Membership for the next year!
28 August 2008
The winter 2008/09
Work
Party schedule has been defined so you can update your diary. The tasks
have yet to be allocated but you can bet that bramble clearance figures on
quite a few dates.
22 August 2008
The
July Bird Summary has been added.
2 August 2008
The January 2008 and the "hot off the press"
July 2008 News Letters have been added to the
News Archive.
In the next few weeks Members should receive their July News Letter with
their 2007 Annual Report and renewal application.
23 July 2008
The
June Bird Summary has been added.
30 June 2008
At last night's Wokingham Borough Council
Planning Committee, the Cemex application to extract gravel from the
Fleethill Farm site (west of Longwater Road), was unanimously approved. This
will ultimately form a further extension of the Moor Green Lakes Nature
Reserve.
26 June
2008
A Work party has been arranged for Tuesday the
8th July to clear the bridleway and also clear Himalayan Balsam from along
the river.
26 June
2008
On 9th
June 2008 a viewing screen was erected on the west side of Colebrook Lake
South. Materials and construction were generously provided by staff of SC
Johnson as a "Community Day".
26 June
2008
Weather information is critical to wildlife
and visitors at Moor Green Lakes. I have recently become aware of
Sandhurst Weather, an
amateur operated weather service based 4.5km
east of Moor Green Lakes providing forecasts, minute by minute and historic
weather information.
22 June
2008
Access to information in the
Annual Reports
has been improved by providing links from each section to related sections.
See the Annual Reports page for more information about linking.
13 June
2008
During the work party on the 27th May the
paths have been tidied and the car park hedge has been cut back to improve
visibility and deter car thieves. I am not aware of any break-ins since 10th
April, but sensible precautions should be taken by ensuring valuables are
not left in vehicles.
5 June
2008
The
May Bird Summary has been added
1 June
2008
The
April Bird Summary has been added
30 April
2008
The
2004 Moor Green Lakes Annual Report
has been made available on the
website to complete the archive of historic Reports. The access is still a
bit basic and I hope to improve it in the near future. My thanks to Les
Thorn for scanning the original documents.
27 April
2008
The
1999 Moor Green Lakes Annual Report
has been added.
23 April
2008
Visitors may notice
that repairs and improvements have been made to Tern Island. Sandbags have
been placed around the Mink fence where the gravel had been eroded, and some
hollow blocks have been provided to enable baby Terns to hide from hungry
Gulls. Last year's spraying has been very successful in restricting
vegetation growth on the Island - so hopefully the Common Terns will return
to breed this year.
21 April
2008
WARNING
On the 10th of April
a car in the main car park was broken into by smashing of the rear side
window. This was the second such incident in 8 days after several
trouble-free years. In both cases nothing of value was stolen, but in
one case at least, a bag was left on the rear seat.
Do not
leave any valuables in your car and make sure that nothing is left in sight
which could tempt a thief.
10 April
2008
The work party to clear paths around the
Reserve has been scheduled for Tuesday 27th May. See the
Work Parties
page for details.
9 April
2008
The
1998 Moor Green Lakes Annual Report has been added.
7 April
2008
The
1997 Moor Green Lakes Annual Report has been added.
2 April
2008
The
March Bird Summary has been added and the
1996 Moor Green Lakes Annual Report has been completed.
31 March
2008
The
2005 Moor Green Lakes Annual Report has been added. Yet again thanks to Les Thorn
for scanning the document.
22 March
2008
The
2003 Moor Green Lakes Annual Report
has been added. Once again thanks to Les Thorn
for scanning the document.
8 March
2008
The
February Bird Summary is now available.
At the AGM on Monday 25th February Robert
Godden and Keith Littler stood down from the Committee and were replaced by
Dave Bishop (Membership
Secretary) and Roger Murfitt (Committee
Secretary).
29 February
2008
The
2002 Moor Green Lakes Annual Report has been added. Thanks to Les Thorn
for scanning the document.
23 February
2008
A page of
information for
visiting
groups has been added. It also describes some of the car parking
problems that have been experienced lately.
14 February
2008
The
January Bird Summary is now available.
31 January
2008
The
2006 Moor Green Lakes Annual Report has been added. Thanks to Les Thorn
for scanning the document.
30 January
2008
The winter newsletter has been dispatched by
post to all Members; along with it is the notice of the AGM on Monday 25th
February at the
Finchampstead Memorial Hall.
7:30 for 7:45pm start.
Following the meeting and refreshments, Des
Sussex of Natural England will give a talk on "Protecting the Thames Basin
Heaths - an internationally important site on our doorstep".
25 January
2008
The
2001 Moor Green Lakes Annual Report
has been added.
20 January
2008
The very first Moor Green Lakes Annual Report
(1993) has been added to the
Archive,
thanks to Chris Rose for the loan of a copy.
11 January
2008
The remaining half of the winter
Work Party
schedule has been up-dated.
A Volunteer Taster
Day takes place on Sunday 10 February. Open to all for as long as
you like between 10:30 and 15:00. Meet us in the paddock by Colebrook Hide
and help maintain the Reserve.
2 January
2008
The
December
Bird Summary is now available.
Happy New Year.
31 December
2007
Make your views known
The last day for feedback on the proposed
extension of gravel extraction west of Longwater Road is 20 December 2007.
This would ultimately result in a major extension of the Moor Green Lakes
nature reserve. It is often the case that objectors are more
vocal than supporters, so if you support the proposal, then why not register
it?
The proposals are available on the
Wokingham Borough Council website. Chapter 3 (the last document in the
list) is a non-technical summary with plans on pages 17 and 19. (it is a
20Mb document, so could take a while to load). You can
register your objections, comments or support online. The planning
application reference is MIN/2007/2622.
13 December
2007
The work party schedule has been updated and
shows that the Tuesday
work party for
December is on the 4th and not 18th as was indicated. Sorry for the mistake
and the very short notice of the change.
Bruce Archer - webmaster.
3 December
2007
The deadline for comments on the planning
application to extend gravel extraction west of the current areas of
activity is now extended to the 20th December 2007. This will allow
for the outcome of the Public Meeting on the 10th December (see the 28th
November news item below) to be considered before comments are submitted.
2 December
2007
The
November
Bird Summary is now available.
30
November 2007
The planning application to extend gravel
extraction west of the current areas of activity will be the subject of a
Public meeting at
Finchampstead Memorial Hall
on the 10th December starting at 7:30pm. CEMEX and Wokingham Borough Council
will be represented and there will be a chance to ask questions. The
official deadline for comments has been delayed until the 6th December and
WBC has indicated that they will "accept residents' letters of comment,
objection or support until mid December". (NOTE the deadline has
moved again - it is now 20th December)
The application documents are still available
on the
WBC website.
28
November 2007
Note that
the deadline for comments on the Planning Application for the extraction of
sand and gravel from an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) of land west
of Longwater Road has been extended to the 6th December 2007 (Now 20th
December). See the
IMPORTANT NEWS item below.
The
complete text of the
2000 Annual Report is now available in the Annual Report archive.
24
November 2007
Avian Flu
Moor
Green Lakes is now in a targeted surveillance zone for Avian Flu and
the following applies:
If
multiple dead wild gulls, waders, ducks, geese or swans are found you may
wish to contact the Defra helpline (08459 33 55 77 - 8am - 8pm, Monday to
Friday. Weekend 9am - 5pm). An assessment will then be made and a decision
as to whether the birds will be collected for screening.
For more
information see the
Defra website.
15 November 2007
The
work party
schedule has been updated to show the remaining tasks for the winter
season, although some dates have yet to be set.
14 November 2007
IMPORTANT NEWS
CEMEX have submitted their planning
application (Ref MIN/2007/2622) to extract sand and gravel from an area of
49 hectares (121 acres) of land west of Longwater Road. If it
goes ahead, this area would eventually be restored to lakes, reed beds, wet
meadow, wet woodland and grazing land to form further major extension of the
Nature Reserve beyond the area that is currently being excavated and
restored.
The proposals are available for public comment
on the
Wokingham Borough Council website. The deadline for comments is 27th
November 2007. (Now 20th December)
A good place to start is the
Environmental Statement Non-Technical Summary in Chapter 3 - the last
document in the list.
It is worth making your views known.
7 November 2007
A more up to date
plan of the Reserve Extension now replaces the early version that was
shown.
The full content of the MGLG
1994
Annual Report has been added to the Archive.
4 November 2007
The
October Bird
Summary is now available.
1 November 2007
The MGLG Annual Reports are to be available
online. The initial structure of the
Archive
has been implemented based on the content pages of the Reports. In due
course the text of the Reports will become available. MGLG Members will
still receive hardcopies of the new Reports, but many will not have access
to the earlier ones.
28
October 2007
The
July 2007 News Letter has been added to the
News Archive.
21
October 2007
Minor updates to the Contacts page and the
Bird Species List,
which has belatedly been amended to reflect the elevation of Mealy Redpoll
(recorded in 2001) to full species status - taking the Eversley GP list to
205 species.
11 October 2007
The
September
Bird Report has been added.
30
September 2007
 During the Work Party to clear the paddock by
Colebrook Hide on Sunday 9th September, Martin Mitchell identified a number
of Roesel's Bush Crickets - and took this photograph of one. This
species is extending its range northward from the south coast and benefiting
from milder damper conditions.
Also, three Harvest Mouse nests were discovered
in the brambles being cleared from around the hide. There is a photo of one on the
mammal page.
11
September 2007
The work party tasks for the autumn have been
updated on the
Work Parties page.
2
September 2007
The
August Bird
Report has been added and includes photos of some of the birds seen this
month.
Three cows have arrived on the pasture around
Colebrook Lake today, two more will arrive in a few weeks time. They are a
rare breed called Irish Moiled. They will control the grassland vegetation
so that wild flowers can grow.
31 August 2007
There has been a hold up in obtaining
information required to send out confirmation of Members renewals. They
should be going out in early September.
Our apologies for the delay - please bear with us.
26 August 2007
The schedule of Autumn
Conservation Work Parties has been added. This includes the Volunteering
Taster Day on Sunday 14th October which is described in the July News
Letter. You don't even have to be a Member to get involved.
21 August 2007
The
Bird Species
List has been updated following the publication of the Annual Report,
which Members should have received. There were 2 additions to the site list:
Red-footed Falcon and Ring-necked Duck, bringing the site total to 204
species; excluding feral species and escapees.
If your Report and membership renewal form has
not arrived within the next few days, it may be because the Membership Secretary
does not have your latest address.
14 August 2007
The
July Bird
Summary has been added.
31 July 2007
The
Monthly
Bird Reports have been restructured to accommodate the increasing number
of reports and to include more photographs with them.
24 July 2007
Some new pictures have been added, including
Martin Lenney's superb shot of the
Barn Owl taken on the fields just north
west of the Moor Green Lakes, where it was hunting at 05:30 last Saturday.
19 July 2007
The Annual Report is with the printers and
will arrive along with the Summer News Letter and Membership renewal papers
within the next few weeks.
12 July 2007
The
June Bird
Summary has been added.
30 June 2007
 Work on the footpath to Colebrook Hide was
completed on 26th June and should enable wheelchair access all the year
round. The picture shows the path before and after the resurfacing
work. The cost of this work was covered by grants gratefully received
from Johnson Wax and the
Blackwater Valley Countryside Trust, with additional funding from Members donations to the Group.
28 June 2007
Work to build up and resurface the path to
Colebrook Hide will take place for two days starting on Monday 25th
June. During this time the Hide will not be accessible and there will be
some disruption on the main path from the car park due to vehicles
transporting material for the construction. The work will ensure that the
Hide is accessible for wheelchair users throughout the year. Much of the
cost of this work is covered by a grant gratefully received from Johnson
Wax.
18 June 2007
Pages describing the
Freshwater Invertebrates
that have been recorded at Moor Green Lakes have been produced by Ken Crick,
the Dragonfly Recorder. Ken is always willing to share his enthusiasm for
Dragonflies and their interesting life cycle with Groups with an interest in
what can be found in the local area. His details are on the
contacts page.
The result of the second ringing trip to Tern
Island on Friday 15th June was very disappointing, only 27 more young
Black-headed Gulls were ringed. There were some dead young, including 4
ringed on the previous visit and many deserted nests with eggs still in
them. The most likely reason for the poor success is the very wet cold
weather, especially over the Bank Holiday weekend. The 124 Black-headed Gull
nests counted on the 4th June have resulted in just 75 ringed young.
17 June 2007
A successful ringing session was completed
this morning when 52 young Gulls were ringed by members of the
Newbury Ringing Group. The follow up session is now planed for Friday
15th June - 06:00 to 07:00.
4 June 2007
The
May
Bird sightings have been added.
Some earlier News Letters have been added to
the News Archive.
Plant Recorder still needed for Moor Green Lakes Nature
Reserve, details
here.
1 June 2007
The Black-headed Gull ringing has been
postponed until the 4th June and the 9th June due to the
lateness of hatching.
24 May 2007
Up to 200 young Black-headed Gulls on Tern Island
will be ringed by members of the
Newbury Ringing Group on 28th May and the 3rd June,
weather permitting. This will take place between 06:00 and 07:00 and involve
4 or 5 people on the Island catching and ringing the young Gulls. There are
an estimated 160 Gull nests this year. A further date for ringing the Common
Terns has yet to be set.
Black-headed Gulls are an amber listed species
based on the falling population (25% to 49% decline in past 50 years).
Ringing should help identify movements and longevity of individual birds and
contribute to the pool of knowledge about the species and the reasons for
its decline.
17 May 2007
The April
Bird sightings have been added.
30 April 2007
A map of the Reserve
Extension has been added. A more up-to-date one is being sought.
Plant Recorder still needed for Moor Green Lakes Nature
Reserve, details
here.
18 April 2007
Three years of previous News Letters have been
added to the
News Archive
Page.
3 April 2007
March Bird
sightings have been added.
31 March 2007
A page has been added about the
extension of
the Reserve to the west of the site where gravel extraction has been
taking place since 2000. The so called "new workings".
27 March 2007
A
Mammals page has been
added based on information from the Annual Reports that are distributed to
Members of the Group.
If anyone has digital photographs taken at Moor Green
Lakes of mammals (or any wildlife other than birds) that could be used on the website then I would be pleased
to receive them on
webmaster@mglg.org.uk.
14 March 2007
Plant Recorder needed for Moor Green Lakes Nature
Reserve, details
here.
A
Dragonfly Species page has been added to this website, which includes
information about the rarity and flight season of Dragonflies at Moor Green
Lakes. An External Links
page has also been added and the
February Bird Summary has been added.
26 February 2007
The Moor Green Lakes Group
Website is now live following its Launch at the AGM on the 16 February 2007.
It is planned to add more content and update it at least monthly.
17 February 2007
Ken Crick, the MGLG
Dragonfly Recorder, has provided a
page on
Damselflies and Dragonflies including a very small sample of his magnificent
photos. Ken is always willing to talk about Dragonflies and their interesting
life cycle to Groups with an interest in what can be found in the local
area. His details are on the
contacts page.
12 February 2007
The 2007 AGM will be held on Friday 16th February at
Finchampstead Memorial Hall; 7:30pm for 7:45. Following the
AGM there will be a short interval during which refreshments will be
provided by CEMEX. Following this, Brian Clews, a well known local
birdwatcher, will give a talk entitled "Countryside in Crisis?"
18 January 2007
Welcome to the new MGLG website. The site is still being developed to
provide information for Members and potential Members about Moor Green Lakes
and the activities
of the Group.
16 January 2007
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