conservation – Page 9 – a spark in your veins

13th May 2012

May Be Out

Action Week, as David Hockney named it, is here – the brief period of the year when hawthorn trees are covered with copious creamy-white blossom. Hockney describes the sudden appearance of the blossom as being “as if a thick white cream had been poured over everything” and saw it as a time to seize the opportunity to capture the temporary transformation in art. His hawthorn pictures, whether made using water colour or iPad, were some of the highlights of his recent Royal Academy exhibition.

The display of hawthorn blossom on Woolwich Common is as awesome as the sheets of bluebells that carpet nearby woods, and I think should be similarly cherished and celebrated. Academy Road and its parallel path, where I wandered yesterday, would be a good place to start, but many of the other main paths on the common are also bordered by blossom, which may be a vestige of the use of hawthorn as a hedging plant starting from the time of the Anglo-Saxons for whom it was the Haegthorn, hedge-thorn.

The hawthorn is magical in more than its ephemeral adornment of the Common; it seems to exceed other trees in its supernatural, superstitious and sacred associations. One of its many names is the May Tree; it now blossoms during the month of May, but this would have been closer to the start of May before the Julian to Gregorian calendar change lopped 11 days out of the calendar on 2nd September 1752. The blossom was used for decoration and garlands in May Day celebrations, symbolising new life and fertility.

Royal Artillery Barracks Woolwich Common

Woolwich Common has an interesting history, outlined well in the Woolwich Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal, which is illustrated with some superb old maps. One of these, the Hasted Map from 1748, shows Woolwich and Charlton Commons extending unbroken from Shooters Hill to Charlton Place and Hornfair Park. However the military was using the common for testing artillery by 1720, which increased through the 18th century culminating in the construction of the barracks in 1775 and enclosure of the barrack fields behind a ha-ha in the late 1790s. This encroachment on common land was opposed by local residents seeing their rights reduced. Military ownership of the common completed in 1803, as the Conservation Area Character Appraisal says:

In 1803, prompted by the needs of the emerging Napoleonic Wars, the Barracks was doubled in width creating an immense 330m frontage – on a scale seen elsewhere only in St Petersburg. The military consolidated control over the entire Common, by means of four special Acts of Parliament to enable their purchase of almost the entire Common for artillery and training purposes. Woolwich Common as it appears today is the result of the subsequent two centuries of military encroachment and development and various opposition movements and compromise agreements trying to reconcile the public’s desire for recreational access with military needs.

The English Heritage Draft Survey of London on Woolwich mentions that the Board of Ordnance compensated Woolwich parishioners for the loss of their rights to extract gravel from the common, but there was no explicit compensation for loss of herbage and turbary rights, which means it could be argued that we are still allowed to graze our animals on the common and cut turf for fuel. I’m not sure about our estovers (collection of wood or gorse for fuel or building), or the right to build a garish spotted olympic venue.

So now is the time to cast a clout, and for a stroll on the common to admire the May blossom. Here are some more pictures to whet your appetite:

Hawthorn blossom on Woolwich Common with Olympic venue in background — Hawthorn blossom on Woolwich Common and Olympic venue

6th May 2012

Going Batty in Shrewsbury Park

The Friends of Shrewsbury Park have gone a bit batty recently. They have constructed and installed some bat boxes in the park and, weather permitting, they will be holding a bat walk in the park next Friday, 11th May. The e-mail from the Friends announcing the event said:

Come and experience an FSP Bat Walk on Friday 11 May, find out where the new bat boxes have been sited and get to know these shy guys in Shrewsbury Park.

We are meeting at 7.45 in the car park off Plum Lane for an introduction from Bat-wise FSP members who will lead this adventure through the Park at sunset using our eyes, ears and bat detectors!

· Wear sturdy shoes and appropriate clothing, a torch is useful.

· Children must be accompanied by an adult.

· Dogs must be kept on a leash if you need to bring yours.

· The walk will last about 1 ½ hours. If you have mobility issues or enquiries please contact Kris or Kathy on fspdog@hotmail.com . The trail is a mixture of paved path, gravel and grass.

The event is free but your spare change towards buying our own bat detector will be much appreciated.

If it rains neither the bats nor us will be coming out! (but we will reschedule a walk in September)

There are 18 species of bat in the UK and the latest Bat Conservation Trust survey shows that since the year 2000 numbers have been stable or increasing. However that must be offset against steep declines in numbers at the end of the last century – a 70% decline between 1978 and 1992. Bat numbers are one of the UK’s biodiversity indicators – they are seen as a good indicator of the quality of the wildlife habitats in the UK because they are sensitive to a range of environmental pressures. Scientists are currently concerned about the spread of the fatal bat disease known as white-nose syndrome from the USA into the UK population – early indications are that it has not affected British bats yet.

The most likely bats to be spotted on Friday are the Pipistrelle and the Noctule. The Pipistrelle is the most common, and the smallest British bat, weighing around 5g (less than a £1 coin), with a body around 3 or 4cm long and wing span between 18 and 25cm. Pipistrelles can eat up to 3000 insects in a single night! In contrast the Noctule is one of Britain’s largest bats with a wingspan of up to 45cm.

The bat boxes were constructed using the Kent bat box design, and attached, with help from the Royal Borough of Greenwich Council, to a number of trees last Wednesday. The bat walk on Friday will pass right by all the boxes. It is a bit soon for them to be inhabited, sometimes it can take a year or two, though this is the time of year when female bats are looking for suitable nursery sites with the young usually being born around the end of June or early July.

There is some evidence of bat roosts already in trees in the park. Many British bats roost in holes in trees, and there is frequently a tell-tale brown stain of bat urine on the tree below the roost hole. They do frequently move between different roost sites however, so a brown stain doesn’t necessarily mean the hole is inhabited.

Possible Bat roost hole in Shrewsbury Park tree

The Friends have borrowed a number of bat detectors from the local parks’ forum and the Bat Conservation Trust for the bat walk. These mainly detect the bats’ use of echolocation to find their insect prey at night. As the London Bat Group‘s web site explains:

Bats can see very well, probably better than we do at dusk, but even their eyesight needs some light and they would be unable to find their insect prey in the dark. Bats have solved this problem and can find their way about at night and locate their food by using a sophisticated high frequency echolocation system. Our hearing ranges from approximately 20Hz (cycles per second) to 15,000 to 20,000Hz (15-20Khz) depending on our age, but bat calls are generally well above this. By emitting a series of often quite loud ultrasounds that generally sweep from a high to low frequency or vary around a frequency, bats can distinguish objects and their prey and therefore avoid the object or catch the insect. The frequencies used, and the type of sweep or characteristics of the call can help us to distinguish the species of the bat when we use a bat detector that turns the ultrasound into sound we can hear.

Let’s hope the weather is better for bats and people on Friday, but meanwhile here is an example of what a pipistrelle sounds like using a heterodyne bat detector like the ones which will be used for the bat walk.

4th May 2012

Oxleas Meadows Missiles

Rapier Missile Battery on Oxleas Meadows

A battery of Rapier surface-to-air missiles together with other components of a Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) System was set up on Oxleas Meadows, just below the Oxlea Wood Cafe this morning as part of the MoD’s exercise Olympic Guardian. The exercise to test security preparations for the Olympic and Paralympic Games also includes deployment of a similar GBAD System on Blackheath, the berthing of the Royal Navy’s largest ship, HMS Ocean, at Greenwich and activity by helicopters, jets and other military hardware in and over the royal borough.

The Blackheath Bugle blog has a good set of links to news items explaining how the GBAD systems on Blackheath would be used. The campaign against the missiles – No Missiles in Oxleas Wood – have a Facebook page with details of their campaign. Their letter from the MoD about the deployment says that the MoD have taken advice from Natural England over any measures they would need to take to protect the Oxleas Wood Site of Special Scientific Interest. It doesn’t specifically mention the Corky Fruited Water Dropwort, but I hope that will be covered as I’m looking forward to some dropwort spotting later in the year.

The recently launched Oxleas Wood web site says that the deployment is part of an MoD Community Engagement Day and that local residents can express their concerns between 4.00 and 6.00pm today.

The Olympic Guardian exercise runs from 2nd to 10th May, so it’s possible the GBAD system will still be on Oxleas Meadows when the Bluebell Walk convenes on Sunday. In the meantime here’s some more photographs.

Update: I’ve just wandered over to Oxleas Wood again and the missile battery will be open for members of the public to have a look round and ask any questions until 7.00pm this evening. The armed forces personnel were very friendly and open to answering questions, describing the different parts of the battery, explaining their manning routine if the missiles are deployed and even letting me manouver the missiles using their fall-back manual aiming system. They mentioned that the decision on whether the GBAD system would be deployed during the Olympics was still open. The battery will be in place until Monday, so there will be an additional attraction for people on the Bluebell Walk, as well as the bluebells and Woodlands Farm.

2nd May 2012

Bluebell Walk in Oxleas Wood on Sunday

There’s a great opportunity to see the bluebells in Oxleas Wood this Sunday, 6th May when the London Wildlife Trust have arranged a Bluebell Walk. The walk will be led by Mary O’Sullivan of the LWT and Dr Barry Gray, who is Chair of the Trustees of Woodlands Farm. It is expected that the walk will last 1 to 2 hours, but people can join or leave at any time. It starts at 2.15pm (meet at 2.00pm) at the Oxleas café and finishes opposite Woodlands farm on Shooters Hill Road, so there’s a chance to visit the farm and see their new lambs as well.

21st April 2012

Help Clear Rubbish in Shrewsbury Park Tomorrow

Shrewsbury Park looking towards Plumcroft Primary School

The Friends of Shrewsbury Park are looking for volunteers to help clear the rubbish at the edge of the woods near Rowton Road tomorrow, Sunday 22nd April, at 1.30pm. Their e-mail which was forwarded to me said:

Dear Friend of Shrewsbury Park,

We hope you will be able to come along on Sunday (22nd April) to help us clear the rubbish in the Park.

We will be meeting outside the allotment entrance in Rowton Road at 1.30pm and work for up to an hour clearing the rubbish at the edge of the wood opposite Rowton Road.

If you can come, please bring stout gloves, we will supply plastic rubbish bags.

If it is raining, the cleaning event is cancelled.

We look forward to meeting you on Sunday.

Best wishes

Kathy and Libby

Shrewsbury Park - the edge of the woods near Rowton Road

13th April 2012

School Expansion Approved

The Planning Inspector has granted consent to the creation of a MUGA court on Eltham Common, allowing Christ Church school to expand its buildings into their current play area. His full report has been published on the Planning Portal decisions page.

This will allow the school to increase its cramped teaching accommodation and play area. Currently their accommodation is 664 square meters short of the Department for Education and Science guidelines and their play area is 1860 square metres below. It will also provide a more integrated school, removing the need for children to traverse steep outside steps in all weather conditions to get to the church hall for lunches, PE and games.

At the 2 day public enquiry in February the Inspector heard a large number of submissions of all opinions which he summarises in the decision report. He points out that the the proposed works will occupy only1.53% of the total area of the common and 0.15% of the Oxleas woodlands. He also concludes that there is no evidence that the Oxleas Wood Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) will be adversely impacted, and points out that new habitat areas will be created as part of the proposed work:

As part of the application it is proposed to develop new habitat areas of 55 sq.m. and 48 sq.m. These areas will be seeded with shade tolerant wildflower mixes requiring minimal management once established. New planting will be provided along the boundaries of the play areas on the woodland and in the grassland. Other measures will include selective thinning of dense scrub, coppicing of the woodland edge, creation of dead wood habitat piles. The habitat creation and enhancement measures will create a diverse woodland habitat and will enhance the site for a range of bird species. The proposals will enhance the site for a number of bat species by the planting of night scented plants which will attract moths and other flying insects which would provide a food resource for bats; a bat survey did not reveal the presence of any bats on the site.

So the Inspector felt that there would be a net small ecological benefit to the development when balancing the habitat creation and enhancement proposals against the loss of amenity grassland.

Although the Inspector did not think there was a compelling case that the MUGA court was needed by the local community, it will be available, free of charge, to members of the public outside school hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Thursday and from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday during school term time.

The Council has stated that they will not support any future application for further development of the site, such as erection of floodlights or changing rooms.

Although it’s a shame that more of the open space that makes Shooters Hill such a great place to live is being covered, overall this seems like a sensible decision.

Map showing the area of Eltham Common considered by the enquiry

26th March 2012

Eaglesfield Gardeners

Eaglesfield Park Lilly Pond March 2012 — The Lilly Pond March 2012

There was an excellent turnout of gardeners to help plant a wildflower meadow at Eaglesfield Park Lilly Pond; there must have been between more than 20 people (of all ages) at different times. The gardeners, led by the Friends of Eagesfield Park, transformed the area round the pond, clearing, raking and preparing the ground and planting British wild flowers and seeds. There is still a some work to do to complete the meadow, and the friends are planning to reconvene next Sunday at 10.00am.

Madeleine from the Friends e-mailed me with more details:

Friends of Eaglesfield Park (FOEP) and supporters had a really successful and productive morning on 25th March – clearing, digging and thorough weeding of the area around the newly restored pond. We achieved a great deal – planting wildflower perennial plug plants and sowing a mix of wildflower meadow plants. We are really grateful to everyone for their hard work and are looking forward to seeing the results in the summer. It wasn’t all hard work though! It was a good opportunity to meet and chat to park users.
However, we still have quite a lot of preparation and planting to do. We are therefore meeting again on Sunday 1st April 10.00 am – 12.00 noon. All offers of help would be much appreciated. At the moment FOEP do not have any tools, so if you can join us, it would be helpful if you could bring your own tools (particularly Long Handle Garden Fork/Spade, Rake (not a lawn rake), hand trowel. Don’t forget to wear old clothes, wellies and bring some gloves.
We are always looking for new members and would welcome comments about the pond restoration and any other aspects of Eaglesfield Park.

The plants that the volunteers planted were from British Wild Flower Plants, whose catalogue has pictures of the mature plants, and included:

Yarrow (Achillea Millefolium). Height 10-45cm. White or pink flowers June-August. Attractive to butterflies and bees. A common plant of meadows and pastures, grassy banks, hedgerows and waysides. Food plant of the Essex Emerald, Lime Speck Pug, Wormwood Pug, Straw Belle and Ruby Tiger Moths.

Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria). Height 30-60cm. Golden yellow flowers June to October. Native to hedgebanks, roadsides and edges of fields. Seeds loved by Finches.

Red Valerian (Centranthus Ruber). A perennial of sunny sites, especially found in places such as the base of sunny walls. Height 30-45cm. Red, or less commonly white, flowers June to August. Introduced from Southern Europe, and naturalised especially in the West Country. Excellent nectar plant. Food plant of the Large Ranunculus Moth.

Basil (Clinopodium vulgare). Height 15-35cm. Rosy pink flowers all July-September. Will grow well in grass for a flowering lawn. Excellent nectar plant that will withstand drought.

Dropwort (Filipendula vulgaris). Height 20-40cm. Pretty cream and pink flowers May-August. Excellent nectar plant. A dwarf version of Meadowsweet for dry sunny soils. Food plant of the Scarce Darter Moth and the Brown Spot Pinion Moth.

Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum). A perennial for sunny sites Low growing spreading ground cover. Stems 15-40cm. Yellow flowers July-August, then black seeds into autumn. Food plant of the Elephant Hawk Moth, Gallium Carpet Moth, Plain Wave and Riband Wave Moth, Oblique Striped Moth, Bedstraw Hawk Moth, Archer’s Dart and Red Chestnut Moth.

Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis). Height 30-60cm. Pale blue flowers July-September. A good butterfly nectar plant. Food plant of the Marsh Fritillary and the Narrow Bordered Bee Hawk Moth.

Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare). Height 30-45cm. White flowers May-October. A common plant of grassland, which will grow magnificently on fertile soils. A good nectar plant attracting both butterflies and bees.

Marjoram (Origanum vulgare). 30cm stems of pink flowers August – September above rosettes of aromatic leaves. Much sought by bees and butterflies. Attracts the small copper butterfly in large numbers. Use as a herb in Italian cookery. Food plant of the Black Veined Moth and the Lace Bordered Moth.

Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris). Height 10-30cm. Red-purple flowers June-September. Found in lawns where constant cutting will give flowers all summer. A good nectar plant.

Sorrel (Rumex acetosa). A perennial for sunny sites. Height 30-50cm. Red-brown flowers May-June. Food plant of the Small Copper and Blood-vein White Butterflies. Plant with Marjoram for a ‘nectar fix’ when Small Coppers are passing and they’ll stay! A good salad leaf.

Wild Clary (Salvia verbenaca). Height 30-45cm. Violet/blue flowers June- August. Native of dry pastures and roadsides. Rich in nectar and pollinated by bumblebees. Food plant of the Twin-Spot carpet moth.

Globeflower (Trollius europaeus). Perennial of northern meadows, forming clumps of shiny green leaves and flowering from late may through the June. Lemon yellow globular flowers. Food plant of the Sweet Gale Moth.

It should be fabulous when the plants mature and flower.

I’ve added the photograph at the top to the sequence on Flickr showing the transformation of the Lilly Pond.

15th March 2012

Help Plant Wild Flowers at Eaglesfield Lilly Pond

The Friends of Eaglesfield Park are looking for help to create a wild flower meadow around the new pond in Eaglesfield Park on Sunday 25th March from 10.00 to 12.00. As their poster, pictured above, says: all are welcome. This is the latest stage in the Friends’ refurbishment of the Lilly Pond which started last November.

With the luck the 25th will be blessed with the same beautiful spring weather as we have at the moment, unlike last month when I took the latest in my series of photos of the changes in the pond. I’m looking forward to taking a more colourful one when the wild flower meadow grows up.

Eaglesfield Park Pond in the Snow — The Lilly Pond February 2012

13th March 2012

Corky Fruited Water Dropwort

The Corky Fruited Water Dropwort (Oenanthe pimpinelloides) has been getting a lot of press in the last couple of days. It would appear to be the only barrier preventing deployment of a Rapier Missile Battery near the cafe in Oxleas Woods. The plant mainly grows in the west country, Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Hampshire but also in a few places around London. My New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora says it is a “tuberous perennial herb, found in hay meadows and pastures, especially those which are horse-grazed, and on roadsides. It grows in both damp and dry grassland.” It sounds like like an innocuous plant to have the power to deter missile batteries. The Devon Wildlife Trust describes it as follows:

Grows up to about 100 mm tall. The stem is solid, ridged and un-spotted, and it has a swollen corky base (hence the English name). The lower leaves are 2-pinnate in spring, but wither by the time of flowering. The upper leaves are 3-pronged and lanceolate, persisting into flowering. The roots terminate in rounded tubers.

Flowering takes place from June to August. The flowers are in umbels (2 to 5 cm across), on stout rays (1 to 2 cm across), which are flat-topped when in fruit. The flowers are white or pink, 2 mm across, with the outer petals unequal. Bracts and bracteoles are present. The fruits are cylindrical, ribbed, and thickened at the top with 2 erect styles.

Oxleas Cafe - Proposed Site of a Rapier Missile Battery

I first heard of the proposal to site missile batteries in the woods and on Blackheath through the Blackheath Bugle blog. It sounded so bonkers that I had to quickly check that it wasn’t 1st April – could anyone really be thinking of shooting down a couple of hundred tons of passenger aircraft over London? Surely they would have closed the airspace around London and stopped flights at London City Airport well before they got to that? But it does seem to be under consideration and has been reported in the Mail Online, the BBC News and News Shopper.

Local MP Clive Efford is objecting to the plans because there is a risk of damaging the ancient Oxleas woodland, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. As the Mail Online said

Mr Efford said five troop carriers had driven into the woods last Thursday, with the rockets pulled behind them on a trailer, to carry out a military exercise.

He said: ‘The missiles have a range of only ten miles so any plane they target would come down over a densely populated part of the capital. It seems to me they can be used only as an absolutely last line of defence.’

Mr Efford added that as the Rapiers were set to be placed by the Oxleas Wood cafe, ‘at least the missile operators would eat well’. Olympic security planners fear that terrorists could mount a repeat of the 9/11 attacks by flying a hijacked civilian plane into packed Olympic venues.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for any Corky Fruited Water Dropwort next time I’m walking in Oxleas Woods. Oh, and any Rapier Missile Batteries.

Clive Efford (centre) and friends giving a Valentines Day card to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital

19th February 2012

Howgate Wonder in Nightingale Vale

Lewis demonstrating how to plant a tree — Lewis from The London Orchard Project shows volunteers how to plant a plum tree

I joined Avant-Gardening, The London Orchard Project and other volunteers to plant a plum tree in The Place Where Plums Grow on Thursday. In fact we planted two plum trees, and some apple and pear trees, as part of Avant-Gardening’s The Place Where Plums Grow project, which kicked off in the Nightingale Estate. One of the apple trees was the sweet cooking apple, Howgate Wonder, known for keeping its shape and texture when cooked. It is also known for sometimes producing very large fruit; the world record largest apple was once a Howgate Wonder weighing 3lb 11oz with a 21 inch circumference. It has since been beaten by 4lb 1oz apple grown in Japan.

The London Orchard Project was founded in January 2009 by Carina Millstone and Rowena Ganguli to promote orchards and fruit trees in London. They “are working with Londoners to plant and harvest apple, pear and plum trees all over the city, and help us all to rediscover the pleasure of eating home-grown fruit”. As well as planting new community orchards and training orchard leaders to look after them they rejuvenate and restore neglected orchards. One of these orchards is at the Bethlem Royal Hospital in Monks Orchard Road Beckenham. Last week I joined a a group of volunteers to help plant some 40 or so apple trees there – including interesting and unusual varieties such as Lanes Prince Albert, Laxtons Fortune and, what bliss, Pitmaston Pineapples! There’s a detailed photographic description of the tree planting technique we used in the natural flow blog. One good thing about planting in Nightingale Vale was that the snow had melted and we didn’t have to break through 2 inches of frost-frozen soil to start digging.

Another of the London Orchard Project’s activities is mapping orchards, both where they are now and where they were historically. An extract of their map of orchards in London in the 1890s is shown on the right. This was taken from an analysis of Ordnance Survey maps of 1894-1897. There seem to have been even more 30 years earlier, judging from the 1866 Woolwich Ordnance Survey map. If the neat rows of tree symbols indicate an orchard, there was one just south of Nightingale Vale, another in the bend enclosed by Eglinton Road and Herbert Road and many more around Plumstead Common. The 1866 Shooters Hill map shows a large orchard in the grounds of Tower House, which could be the one shown in Brinklow Crescent on the London Orchard Project map, plus another large one just to the North of that, and yet another in the grounds of the old Bull Hotel – the present Eaglesfield Park.

I guess it’ll be a while before we see the fruits of our tree planting labour. But with a young adopter of each tree looking out for them the trees should have a good chance of survival. I’m looking forward to seeing some large Howgate Wonders in Nightingale Vale.

The last tree planted — Job done - the last tree planted