OPEN MEETING

This years Open Meeting features a talk by Fraser J Cottington . It will be held at St Paul's Parish Rooms , Reading Road , Wokingham RG41 1EH on the 23rd September from 19.:30 to 21:30 .

There will be displays, information and light refreshments

FOTEB FAMILY PICNIC

02/09/14

The 2nd FOTEB Family Picnic of the year took place today and was as ever blessed with glorious sunshine. Riverside Walk Woosehill to the rear of Morrisons.filled with parents and kids and a bug hunt, games and picnic followed. A good time was had by all and a big thanks to Kerry Lomax for all her hard work organising the event.

BASH THE BALSAM

31/08/14

The final Balsam Bashing of the year took place on Sunday 31 August at 0930 and covered Areas 6 and 7 of the Emm from Brook Close to the bridge on Old Forest Road. It was with a tear in their eye that Chas and Fran Stickler waved goodbye to the stalwart band of pullers for another year.

13/07/14

Area 4 and 5 of the Emm were targeted today for Balsam Bashing from Woosehill Roundabout through Riverside Walk to Barkham Road. A distance of approximately 1.411 km (0.87 miles). 6 willing workers met at Dragonfly Bridge behind Morrison’s. The clearances of previous years can be seen to be paying benefits in this area as the vast majority of the banks of the Emm were Balsam free, only isolated pockets could be found and these were swiftly removed. Several blockages were also removed, mostly tree debris. Roman remains were also found in the form of an old Estate Agents “For Sale” board.

22/06/14

The first of the Balsam Bashing outings for 2014 took place on Sunday 22nd and Area 8 from the bridge on Old Forest Road to the A329 M slip road bridge a total of approx 480m was the chosen stretch of the Emm . Despite a 09:30 start the temperature was still 20C. Fran and Chas Stickler along with Eddie Napper donned waders and set out along the river. After 2 hrs we were back at the bridge and all the Balsam had been removed.

2014 NEWS

For News from previous years visit the Archive Webpage .

20-07-14 Kingfisher Bridge

The decking on Kingfisher Bridge has now all been replaced by Wokingham Borough Council..

FOTEB LITTER PICK

23/03/14

Todays litter pick was well attended by the young and not so young keen to remove litter from along the Emm. Targetting the Area from Dragonfly Bridge to Woosehill Rounadabout produced 2 Estate agents signs, 10 bags of rubbish and about 30 bottles that were recycled. A big thank you to everyone who attended.

16-05-14 Ripplestream Bridge

A new post and rail fence has gone on the banks of the Emm at Ripplestream Bridge. It is assumed that this has been placed here by Wokingham Borough Council to make safe the bank that was showing signs of failure.

25-04-14 Wokingham Town Council Civic Awards

Each year, the Town Council looks for individuals living or working within Wokingham who deserve recognition for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the town. FOTEB's chair Sue Farrington was nominated by Barbara Stagles and was one of the 11 successful recipients of the award presented by the Mayor Martin Bishop . Well done Sue.

19-03-14 Ripplestream Bridge

Wokingham Borough Council have today put a complete new deck on Ripplestream Bridge. This replaces the previously damaged sections that have been covered with yellow trenchplates for some time.

Nest Boxes 2013

The 2013 nest box clearance was carried out in December. as usual. The nest boxes along the Emm were taken down, checked and cleaned , and three new boxes were put up. As in previous seasons most nest boxes ( 87 % were used, mainly by Tit species, probably Blue, Coal or Great tits. Again they not only used the boxes with small, circular holes designed for them, but used two of the boxes designed to attract Tree-creepers. Only one of the three used Tree creeper boxes were used by this species. The owl box in Riverside Walk was used again, probably by Tawny owls, so a similar box was installed in Emmbrook Walk. Four Tits’ nests contained unhatched eggs and/or skeletons, and a mouse was again present in the box in which they have been present in previous years (so it was left undisturbed). Rather fewer Tits’ nests contained ‘casualties’ this year, , indicating that these species had a successful breeding season, possibly a reflection of the dry weather last spring and early summer. For the full report click this link 2013 Nest Box Use

AGM

The 10th Annual FOTEB AGM was held on the 19th May at 7.30pm in the upstairs room of the Woosehill Community Centre.

FOTEB FAMILY PICNIC

14/04/14

The first of possibly 2 FOTEB picnic's this year , was held at Riverside Walk, Woosehill today. The weather was good and a picnic was enjoyed by all between before a Bug hunt was undertaken by members of FOTEB and the kids. A big thank you to Kerry Lomax for organizing the event. Despite it being fairly early in the year a good number of Insects were seen.

The list included Comma , Peacock Inachis io Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae ,Orange Tip Anthocharis cardamines, & yet another first for the year Green veined White Pieres napi Butterflies.. Also seen was an Alderfly Sialis lutaria , several Ladybirds and numerous Bumblebees.

KICK SAMPLING

12/04/14

Today’s Kick sampling on the Emm in Area 7 at Emmbrook Walk by Toutley Bridge on Old Forest Road was well attended. With 10 eager Invertebrate hunters. Malcolm Dunmore undertook the sampling process. This is kicking your boot into the bed of the river in front of a pond net moving in the opposite direction to the flow of the stream. . The contents of the net are then emptied into suitable container and then examined. Although earlier in the year than previous years, we were not disappointed with the results. Identified were: Burrowing Mayfly nymph Caddis fly Mites at least 2 species Leeches Snails Non biting Midge larvae Bullheads x5 Clottus gobio Water Hog Louse Asetlus aquatircus Freshwater Shrimp