Author: David Metcalfe

Commodores Hard temporary closure – Update 2

Surfacing works completed on 13th September, 25m excavated and replaced with new concrete.

Next week Medway Councils contractors will begin surface improvements to the end of the access road to Commodores Hard.

The works requires significant quantities of concrete pouring which needs around two weeks to cure (harden).

Because of this, we must restrict vehicle access to the Hard to prevent damage to the new surfacing before it has fully hardened.

Commodore’s Hard will be closed to vehicles from Monday 16 September to Monday 7 October 2024.

We apologise for any inconvenience

Sea grass seed picking survey – help needed

Hi all, 

My name is Wenna and I work at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) on a project calledRestoring the Thamescape. I may have met some of you last year on seagrass seed picking surveys at Seasalter, or earlier in 2023 at a water quality monitoring workshop led by Anna Cucknell and Thea Cox.

I wanted to reach out as we are planning for more seagrass seed picking days thisSeptember and October, and therefore we are looking for volunteers to help pick the seagrass seeds. I wanted to see if anybody from this group would be interested in joining us?

I’ve attached a seed picking guide which includes some background to the project and explains why we’re picking seagrass seeds.

The details are as follows:

  • When: Fri 13th Sept (11:00 – 15:30 approx. ending time) and Fri 27th Sept (12:00 – 16:00 approx. ending time)
    • October dates tbc.
  • Where: meet at Seasalter Sailing Club (https://maps.app.goo.gl/6Cbdq6CWASCyntKt7)
  • The ZSL team would provide the necessary training and equipment, however, all volunteers would need to wear wellington boots and clothes that you don’t mind getting muddy (not trainers or walking boots)

To participate, we ask that volunteers confirm that they’re comfortable with:

  • Walking on the coastal footpath/uneven ground for approx. 20-30 minutes from the car park to the seed picking site
  • Carrying some bits of equipment. We use trolleys to keep this to a minimum but someequipment such as body boards will need to be carried
  • Walking a short distance on soft mud
  • Kneeling on a body board in a crouched position for long periods of time to find and pick the seeds from the meadow (see photo attached). The seeds are approximately the size of a sesame seed so we must be low down/close to the meadow to spot them!

I am away on leave next week, so if you are interested in our September dates – please reply to Jemima.Phillips@zsl.org copied into this email by Monday 9th Sept, specifying which date you would like to join us on. For September, we have 3 volunteer spots available for each day, and 2 reserve spots, which will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

If you are interested in volunteering in October – please also reply to either myself Morwenna.Grigg@zsl.org orJemima.Phillips@zsl.org and we will follow up with you at the end of September. There will be 5 volunteer spots available for dates in October, and 2 reserve spots for each day.

We’d love to have you join us on our seed picking mission, which we hope will lead to new healthy seagrass meadows across the estuary.

Please feel free to share this information with other people you think might be interested 😊

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Many thanks,

Wenna

Wenna Grigg

Project Officer | Estuaries & Wetlands

Sun & Rochester Pier – Further Update from Medway Council



We have today received the following update from Medway Council on activities at both Sun Pier and Rochester Pier.

Sun Pier has suffered considerable anti-social behaviour issues and vandalism over the last 9 months, which has resulted in changes to daily operational management of the pontoons, in the short term, to eliminate the primary issue of unauthorized mooring which has impacted on visitors and river boat tour operations at Sun Pier.

Long term plans for operational management of the pontoons is being reviewed with all options being considered pending a formal decision.

Sun Pier pontoons will remain open to the public via the river tour operators until dry docking and refurbishment of the pontoons has been completed which is expected in late November.

Rochester Pier – Whilst there are no immediate plans to restore this as an embarkation point for visiting leisure boats and tour operators, efforts are being made to explore all options to fully restore the pier and will be part of an overarching report on the future of all three council owned piers.

The upper section of Rochester Pier is expected to be re-opened to the public in late September.

Peter Norris, Fellow ABYA
Chairman
Medway and Swale Boating Association

Personal Water Craft – Queenborough and Swale


As you will have all seen from the recent posts on Facebook there have been
some serious incidents in and around Queenborough and in the Swale Estuary
involving Personal Water Craft (PWC) which has resulted in not only the
Harbour Patrols being launched but also the RNLI lifeboat and Helicopter.

Unfortunately, it is a small group of PWC owners that are giving PWC owners
in the area an unnecessarily bad reputation. The MSBA has agreed to work
with Kent Police, Swale Borough Council, Queenborough Harbour Trust and Peel Ports to see what actions can be taken to reduce and ideally reduce and
ideally extinguish completely the number of incidents that are occurring.

In this respect can we please ask members who witness any incidents in the
Queenborough area or in the Swale to report them to Kent Police using the
following portal.
https://kep.uk.evidence.com/axon/community-request/public/queenborough

Please provide as much information as possible, because the more information
that is provided with each report the more chance Kent Police have of
identifying those that are driving the bad reputation.

Peter Norris, Fellow ABYA
Chairman
Medway and Swale Boating Association