April

Tice’s Meadow APRIL 2025

 Rushmoor Lottery

We've launched our page on the Rushmoor Community Lottery.  Tickets cost £1 per week - we will receive 50p per ticket (and other local good causes 10p). You could win up to £25,000! Scan the QR code below, or click this link to go to our page. Thank you for your support.

https://www.rushmoorlottery.co.uk/support/tices-meadow-bird-group

Volunteer Work Parties

Surrey County Council are now running all volunteer work parties at Tice's Meadow with the help of the TMBG - see below for details.

The previous Chairman/Secretary of the TMBG is no longer a part of the group.

The bird year list stands at 107 species (excluding 2 escape species).

85 bird species were reported during April.

Tuesday 1st April

Blackcap, Chiffchaff and 2 Egyptian Geese 

Thursday 3rd April

3 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Chaffinch, 10 Chiffchaff, 112 Coot, 8 Cormorant, Firecrest (17th record for site -last recorded on 06/02/2024 – 92nd bird species for 2025), 20 Gadwall, Goldcrest, 8 Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, 4 Greenfinch, 2 Lapwing, Little Egret, 3 Little Grebe, 3 Reed Bunting, 32 Shoveler, Snipe, Stonechat, 8 Teal, 44 Tufted Duck and 5 Wigeon.

Friday 4th April

2 Blackcap, Bullfinch, 3 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Chaffinch, 9 Chiffchaff, 18 Gadwall, Green Woodpecker, 6 Greenfinch, 3 Lapwing, Little Egret, 4 Little Grebe and 4 Wigeon.

Sunday 6th April

3 Blackcap, 4 Chaffinch, 4 Chiffchaff, 3 Coal Tit, 2 Greenfinch, Lapwing, 4 Shoveler, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, 2 Teal, 2 Wigeon and Yellow Wagtail (93rd bird species for 2025).

Monday 7th April

3 Cetti’s Warbler, 10 Chiffchaff, 8 Gadwall, Great Spotted Warbler, Lapwing, 2 Shoveler, Snipe and 4 Wigeon.

Tuesday 8th April

6 Blackcap, 2 Cetti’s Warbler, 7 Chiffchaff, Firecrest (18th record for site - last recorded on 03/04/2024), 7 Gadwall, Green Woodpecker, Lapwing, Little Grebe, 7 Teal and two Wigeon.

Wednesday 9th April

2 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Fieldfare, 4 Gadwall, 8 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Little Grebe, Mistle Thrush, Ring Ouzel (10th record for site, 94th bird species for 2025), Sand Martin, 4 Shoveler, 4 Snipe, 2 Swallow, 2 Teal and 25 Tufted Duck.

Thursday 10th April

6 Blackcap, 5 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Chaffinch, 8 Chiffchaff, 6 Teal and 5 Wigeon.

Two Barn Owls have been roosting in the Barn Owl box for a few days now. Is this a late start for their breeding? Keep a watch at https://tices-meadow-barn-owls.click2stream.com/

Barn Owls

Friday 11th April

4 Blackcap, 4 Cetti’s Warbler, 1 Chaffinch, 8 Chiffchaff, 3 Cormorant, 10 Gadwall, Green Woodpecker, 3 Greenfinch, 2 Lapwing, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Reed Bunting, 4 Teal and 3 Wigeon.

Today we held a volunteer work party. The task was to build a new hibernacula and add more brash to the dead hedge. It was nice to be joined by the Surrey Choices Growth Team.

Saturday 12th April

3 Blackcap, 2 Cetti’s Warbler, Chaffinch, 8 Gadwall, Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenfinch, 2 Little Egret, 2 Shoveler, Snipe, 2 Stonechat and 2 Teal.

Tuesday 15th April

3 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Common Tern (arrived 9 days later than in 2024, 95th bird species for 2025), Greenfinch, Lapwing, 10 Sand Martin, 5 Swallow and Willow Warbler (arrived 7 days later than in 2024, 96th bird species for 2025).

Wednesday 16th April

4 Blackcap, 2 Cetti’s Warbler, Green Sandpiper, House Martin (arrived 10 days later than 2024, 97th bird species for 2025), Kestrel, Lapwing, Little Egret, Redwing, and Whimbrel (28th record for site, last recorded 29/04/2024).

Thursday 17th April

In anticipation of the return from their winter home, the playing of recorded calls of Sand Martins has started at the artificial Sand Martin bank. These small hirundines spend the winter months south of the Sahara Desert and then migrate north to breed.

Sand Martin Bank and Caller

Friday 18th April

4 Blackcap, Bullfinch, 4 Cetti’s Warbler, Chaffinch, 2 Common Tern, Goldcrest, Greenfinch, 2 Reed Bunting, 4 Reed Warbler, 8 Sand Martin.

Saturday 19th April

10 Blackcap, 5 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Chaffinch, Goldcrest, Green Woodpecker, 5 Greenfinch, Little Egret, Little Grebe, 2 Reed Bunting, 3 Reed Warbler (arrived 11 days later than in 2024, 99th bird species for 2025 and Whitethroat (arrived 5 days later than in 2024, 98th bird species for 2025).

Sunday 20th April

2 Blackcap, 2 Cetti’s Warbler, Garden Warbler (arrived 3 days later than in 2025, 100th bird species for 2025), Linnet (first for year, 101st bird species for 2025), Little Egret, Reed Bunting, Whitethroat and Willow Warbler.

Monday 21st April

Common Sandpiper (first of the year, recorded 23 days earlier than in 2024, 102nd bird species for 2025), 2 Common Tern, 3 House Martin and 2 Swift (first for year, arrived on the same day as in 2024, 103rd bird species for 2025).

Swifts start to arrive in the UK towards the end of April. Therefore, today the caller on the swift tower was switched on and its solar panels were cleaned. There is now an established swift colony in the nest box, so this will probably be the last year it needs to be playing.

Swift Tower

Tuesday 22nd April

Cetti’s Warbler, Common Sandpiper, Garden Warbler, Greenfinch, House Martin, Little Egret, Peregrine, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, 3 Sand Martin, 2 Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat and Wigeon.

Wednesday 23rd April

3 Common Tern, 8 Gadwall, 3 House Martin, 4 Mute Swan, Snipe, 42 Swallow and 2 Swift.

Thursday 24th April

Cattle Egret (9th record for site, last recorded on 25/09/2024, 104th bird species for 2025), 2 Cetti’s Warbler, Common Tern, 85 Coot, 4 Gadwall, Green Woodpecker, Lapwing, 14 House Martin, 21 Moorhen, Reed Warbler, Sand Martin, c100 Swallow, 2 Snipe and Whitethroat.

Cattle Egret

Friday 25th April

2 Common Tern and 6 Gadwall.

Saturday 26th April

Cetti’s Warbler, 4 Gadwall, Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover (first of the year, 105th species for the year), 2 Reed Warbler, 6 Shelduck (106th bird species for 2025, last recorded 02/02/2024, equals the site record count set on 21/09/2013), 3 Swift and Whitethroat.

Fantastic team work by 19 volunteers including Surrey Choices today clearing willow and bramble along path by the bridge under power lines and adding to existing dead hedge.

   

Sunday 27th April 

Bullfinch, Cetti’s Warbler, 3 Common Tern, 2 Greenfinch, 15 House Sparrow, Lapwing, Female Mallard with three small ducklings (first brood of the year), 3 Sparrowhawk, 12 Swift, Wheatear, Whimbrel (29th record for site, last recorded 16/04/2025) and 2 Whitethroat.

Monday 28th April

Whimbrel, 2 Garden Warbler, Nuthatch, Water Rail.

Tuesday 29th April

Bullfinch, 5 Common Sandpiper, 3 Common Tern, 2 Lapwing, Little Egret, Female Mallard brood down to two ducklings from three, Whimbrel ((present for fourth day).

A good number of clumps of Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine Pratensis) are flowering in the meadow. The Cuckoo flower is a primary host plant for the Orange-tip butterfly's caterpillars.

Cuckoo Flower

         

Community Update: McDonald's 24-Hour Drive-Through Proposal

Efforts to Maintain Pressure on Guildford Borough Council

 

The TMBG would like to inform everyone that we are diligently working to maintain pressure on Guildford Borough Council’s planning department regarding the review of the proposed McDonald's 24-hour drive-through restaurant adjacent to Tice’s Meadow.

 

Health and Wellbeing Concerns

From a health and wellbeing perspective, we have significant concerns about the potential impact of this development. A 24-hour drive-through facility is likely to lead to increased traffic, noise and light pollution, and litter, all of which potentially could adversely affect the quality of life for local residents.

 

Environmental Impact

Additionally, there are serious environmental and habitat impacts to consider. The development is likely to have detrimental effects on local nature both during construction and in the aftermath of the proposed changes to the landscape. The construction process will lead to habitat destruction and degradation, and water pollution, threatening local wildlife and plant species. Post-construction, the increased vehicular activity will contribute to air pollution and the operation will increase litter, further harming the environment.

McDonald's Proposed Site (blue line)

Tuesday 29th April

Our licensed bird ringer carried out bird nest box inspections with the following results. 12 birds were retraped (already had rings sometime in the past on site). One new adult ringed. Also 16 pulli (chicks) ringed from 16 boxes, plus many more boxes with eggs. The oldest Blue Tit on a nest was a nine year old.

Wednesday 30th April

5 Common Sandpiper, 3 Common Tern, 11 Gadwall, Lapwing, Little Egret, Reed Bunting, Whimbrel (present for fourth day), Whinchat (first of year, arrived 11 days later than in 2024, 107th bird species for 2025).

Whinchat