February 11th (New Hythe)

Little of note around the lakes today in the way of birds,I was hoping the cold weather might have brought something new in.
The east scrub was taken a battering today in the name of conservation.Many of the bramble patches have been cleared where last year good numbers of Whitethroat were recorded and worse of all a Nightingale territory which has been used for at least the past eight years by the pylon has been reduced to ground level,I was told this clearing will be every three years,this hardly gives it time to recover.All I can see that this will achieve is to open up the area (like what has happened in the west scrub) and encourage more and more people and dogs to roam all over the area,pushing out wildlife,it makes my blood boil.When the park was first established reports and maps with Nightingale territories and other important areas were handed over,do they not look at this information before work begins,two years ago two Nightingale territories in the west scrub were destroyed when paths were cut through them.Cutting lots of paths through small areas erodes the habitat destroying nesting and feeding areas and encourages more people off of the main footpaths.

If anyone with influence in the park who reads the above and cares for the Parks Nightingales, we need a conservation plan drawn up before their habitat is eroded to such an extent that none remain.

The first thing that I would do as soon as possible (before it becomes another well trodden path) is put up a fence across where the Bramble was cut (on the southeastern edge of the pylon) to allow it and the breeding habitat beyond recover over the next few years (pylon Nightingales)