Last weekend Des, who works for the RSPB based in London, came over to Rye Meads. He was leading a walk, and has written a little something for you!

 

Visit To Rye Meads
You know one of the things I like best about Rye Meads is just how easy it is to get there on public transport. Of course there’s Rye House station just a couple of minutes away with its regular service into central London but also on offer are any number of walks along the Lee Navigation. On Saturday, to celebrate Love Nature Week, I led 17 Capital Walkers, one of 9 London Ramblers groups, from Cheshunt station. Starting at 11 am the 5 or so miles of easy walking along the riverbank gets you to Rye House in time for a relaxed lunch before a couple of hours meandering round the reserve.

First up we spied the 7 water buffalo and 4 Konik ponies in the distance, in the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust meadow. The Wildlife Trust have these animals in the meadow to naturally manage the area for breeding waders. Wet meadow is quite a rare habitat, so to have creatures grazing is a great way to manage it, rather than going out there with machinery (and possibly sinking!). Its quite rare to have a wet meadow that has never been used other than for grazing.

Then it was off to the Gadwall Hide to try and catch a glimpse of the kingfishers. The little beauties didn’t disappoint and we were treated to several flashes of electric blue as the birds flew around and about in front of us. For many in our group this was the first time they’d ever seen a kingfisher. We had a great day! 

 Here you can see the group in the Gadwall hide, looking at the kingfishers!

By Des Garrahan