Ye who have a spark in your veins of cockney spirit, smile or mourn acccording as you take things well or ill;— Bold Britons, we are now on Shooter's Hill!
Spring has sprung at last and our green spaces are shooting and blooming. Parts of Oxleas Wood are carpeted with Wood Anemones, and the first Bluebells have appeared. Next Sunday, 5th May, there are two opportunities to enjoy a walk in our woodlands guided by experts.
In the morning, starting at 10.15am Woodlands Farm are hosting a Late Spring Wildlife Walk. As their poster says:
Sunday 5th May 2013 10.15am – 12.30pm
Winter was not behind us when we had our last spring walk. But at last the blossom is out in the hedgerows and lambing is finished! So put a spring in your step and enjoy a community countryside and wildlife walk around Woodlands Farm. Led by members of the Woodlands Farm Trust. Please wear appropriate clothing including sensible footwear. The walk will probably be a bit challenging for buggies but supervised children are very welcome.
£1 per person (under 18’s free)
Free for farm volunteers and members
Meet at the Education Centre
The Woodlands Farm Trust
331 Shooters Hill, Welling, Kent DA16 3RP
Website: www.thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org
Email: wildlife@thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org
Tel: 020 8319 8900
Then in the afternoon, meeting at 2.00pm at the Oxleas Cafe, there’s a Bluebell Walk guided by the London Wildlife Trust. If it’s anything like last year’s walk participants will learn about much more of the flora and fauna of Oxleas Wood than just the Bluebells. It is expected that the walk will last 1 to 2 hours, but participants can join or leave at any time.
Those who have lots of energy could do both walks, maybe fortified by a bacon butty from the Oxlea Wood Cafe.
The pregnant ewes have been gathered into the barn in preparation for the arrival of their lambs, and the lambing volunteers are signing up for the shifts on the lambing rota. Lambing season has started at Woodlands Farm. There will be a chance to see the new-born lambs at the farm’s Lambing Day on Sunday 7th April. Maureen at the farm e-mailed the details:
?All are welcome at the Woodlands Farm Trust Lambing Day. Come and see our new-born lambs, and enjoy the chance to buy quality local produce at reasonable prices, including home-made preserves, cakes and honey. Relax in our café, enjoy the treasure hunt or get involved in craft activities.
Entry is £1 for adults and 50p for children, and all proceeds go towards caring for our animals. A great family day out!?
What’s it like to be a lambing volunteer? For a graphic description of a ewe giving birth read Suzanna Fitpatrick’s brilliant poem “Lamb 001” which is reproduced at the end of the recent post about Shooters Hill Poets.
I also heard from Lorraine, the Wildlife Officer at the farm, that they will be holding a Spring Wildlife Walk at the Farm on Easter Monday, 1st April:
Winter is behind us so put a spring in your step and enjoy a community countryside and wildlife walk around Woodlands Farm. Led by members of the Woodlands Farm Trust. Please wear appropriate clothing including sensible footwear. The walk will probably be a bit challenging for buggies but supervised children are very welcome.
£1 per person (under 18’s free)
Free for farm volunteers and members
Meet at the Education Centre
The Woodlands Farm Trust
331 Shooters Hill, Welling, Kent DA16 3RP
Website: www.thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org
Email: wildlife@thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org
Tel: 020 8319 8900
The farm is host to many wildlife species that are of high conservation importance, including bats, common toad, hedgehog, song thrush, house sparrows, and stag beetles. There are also frogs, toads and newts at the farm ponds. It’ll be interesting to see how many creatures are out and about already.
When I was preparing to write this post I was expecting that I would be expressing disappointment and frustration about the two footpath closures in the area: the Green Chain Walk through Woodlands Farm and the path between Shooters Hill and Academy Place. However events yesterday suggest that there may be grounds for cautious optimism that the Woodlands Green Chain dispute can be resolved.
The latest issue of Ramblers‘ South East Walker newspaper suggested that the dispute was continuing in the same vein as before. There is an article by Des Garahan, Campaigns Officer for Inner London Ramblers, thanking readers for responding in support of the campaign to reopen the path, and asking for further evidence of use of the path before 1992 to help get it established as a public right of way. However the paper also printed a letter from a Rambler suggesting a more flexible approach, and saying that she “would gladly walk an alternative route if it meant that the farm were to be preserved as it is now”.
I had also heard from the farm that they had attended the Inner London Ramblers AGM with the intention of putting their case, but they “experienced hostility and rudeness, and were, for the most part, prevented from saying anything to the meeting.” Well, as least they tried to have an open discussion about the issues. Later the farm e-mailed me stating their position:
We are writing to you to update the position with regard to the Green Chain route across Woodlands Farm. As you know, the present claimed path across the farm is neither a right of way nor a permissive path, legally it has no status. We fully accept that it is the widely advertised route of the South East London Green Chain Section 3 and Woodlands Farm has always been extremely anxious to resolve this problem as soon as possible. We feel that if we accept the current claimed route across Woodlands Farm it will result in serious damage to the character of the farm, a severe curtailment of our actives and threaten the viability of the whole project.
Since 1996 many hundreds of volunteers at Woodlands Farm have worked tirelessly a derelict urban wasteland into a very popular and successful city farm of high wildlife and biodiversity value. We are naturally saddened and very anxious that the current campaign by Inner London Ramblers and the Green Chain Working Party to establish a public right of way across Woodlands Farm with 24/7 access could kill the Woodlands Farm project stone dead. The reasons for saying this are set out in the attached documents and these have appeared in our newsletter.
Put briefly, if a right of way were established along the route of the present claimed Green Chain, two of our largest hay meadows would be open to all and sundry with no restriction. In the past, as you know, this has resulted in arson, burglary and attacks on our livestock and threats to our staff and volunteers. We’ve been able to reduce this anti-social behaviour by locking the gates at Dryden Road and Bellegrove Road. The Woodlands Farm Trust has a perfect legal right to do this.
In order to facilitate the Green Chain Walk we have offered a perfectly feasible and enjoyable diversion, along an existing public footpath at Hillview. The WFT would then provide a permissive footpath across a short section of the farm to the Dryden Road gate, which could then be unlocked and left open. See attached map. This strategy of a diverted footpath meets with the approval of Blackheath Ramblers and North West Kent Ramblers.
…
As you reported previously, the 2012 AGM of the Woodlands Farm Trust voted unanimously for the Board to resist the efforts of Inner London Ramblers and the Green Chain Working Party to impose a new footpath across our fields. If there is no settlement this can only result in prolonged and costly litigation and to what end? Our proposed diversion is only 100 yards east of the current claimed footpath. Woodlands Farm Trust will resist any attempt to impose a new footpath on us and for the reasons we have stated, we feel we are now fighting for our lives.
Dr Barry Gray (Chair)
Maggie Jones (Vice Chair)
Things seemed to be escalating yesterday (Saturday) morning when I saw this tweet:
Off 2 shooters hill 2 leaflet surrounding streets about blocked green chain walk 4 @ramblersgb @londonramblers
— walking class hero (@walkngclasshero) March 9, 2013
Oh dear, I thought, that doesn’t sound like it will lead to an agreement between Ramblers and the Farm that will get the path reopened. However later in the day I received this update from Maggie Jones, Vice Chair at the farm:
A few farm Board members and volunteers met the 4 people from Ramblers this lunchtime at the Oxleas Café. After much discussion and explanation of the Farm’s position they agreed not to leaflet today and to take consideration of the Farm’s position.
And there was also this update on twitter:
Shooters Hill leafletting postponed following lengthy impromptu ultimately constructive open air meeting with woodlands farm representatives — walking class hero (@walkngclasshero) March 9, 2013
So some positive developments, and cautious optimism that the dispute can be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, but still a little way to go before the gate is reopened permanently, I guess.
I heard that the other footpath closure in the area, the MoD’s closure of the path between Shooters Hill and Academy Place is looking less optimistic. An attempt to ascertain whether the footpath was a right of way by contacting Greenwich Council, yielded this response:
As a Metropolitan Borough Council, Royal Greenwich is not required by law to hold definitive records or information pertaining to ‘Public Rights of Way, By ways, or Bridlepaths. However I can confirm to the best of my knowledge that the footpath you are referring to is private and is not a public right of way.
According to Ramblers’ Put London on the Map campaign there is an oddity in the law which means that footpaths in London do not have the same legal protection as footpaths in other parts of the country. London Boroughs do not have to maintain definitive maps of rights of way, and so nearly all of them don’t do so. This makes it difficult to find out if a path is a right of way. Justin Cooke, Senior Policy Officer at Ramblers told me in an e-mail:
But if it turns out it is MOD land and use of the path has always been by permission, i.e. they allowed it but never granted anyone a right to use the path in doing so, then they would have the right to close it as they have done.
I should stress that Ramblers haven’t given up on the issue and it has been passed on to their local volunteer for the area for further action.
There’s one other avenue to follow up: local MP Clive Efford is a keen supporter of Ramblers, as he said in an e-mail about the 80th anniversary of the Kinder Scout Trespass which included the photo below. I’m looking forward to his response to a request for support in getting the path reopened ….
Hannah, the Education Officer at Woodlands Farm, sent me details of their Easter Holiday activities for children:
Easter Holiday Activities at Woodlands Farm, 331 Shooters Hill, Welling DA16 3RP
Friday 29th March (Good Friday) Easter Egg Hunt 10am – 2pm
£1 per child, accompanying adults free
Can you follow our trail to find all the eggs hidden around the farm?
If you manage to find them all you will get your own chocolate egg to take home. This is a drop in activity so pop in anytime between 10am-2pm.
Wednesday 3rd April Dreamcatchers 10am -12pm and 1pm-3pm
£1 per child, accompanying adults free
Do you love having a good dream? Traditionally dream catchers were believed to trap your bad dreams but allow your good dreams through. So come and join us at Woodlands Farm as we make dream catchers using willow and other natural materials. This is a drop in session.
Friday 5th April Tour of Woodlands Farm 10am, 11am, 1pm and 2pm.
Free
Join us for a guided tour of our animals at Woodlands Farm. Meet our new-born lambs and hopefully some piglets too. There will be a chance to stroke our chickens and get up close to our guinea pigs, Lottie and Lola.
Meet in the farmyard by the farm shop. This is a drop in session.
Parking is limited so please use public transport where possible
For more information, see our website at www.thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org or contact Hannah Forshaw on education@thewoodlandsfarmtrust.org
Because of our Welsh connection, (our manager, Dai Jones is from Ceridigion and is a native Welsh speaker), we had a visit from the Farmers Union of Wales and children from the London Welsh School for a totally Welsh speaking visit on January 29th. The report of the visit has just appeared on the Welsh speaking channel SC4 on a programme called “Ffermio”.
I append a link to the programme http://www.s4c.co.uk/clic/e_level2.shtml?series_id=503056891 This is episode 5, the piece about the farm begins at 17.00 mins into the programme and you can get English sub titles by pressing “S” on the bar!
It’s an interesting programme, all in Welsh with English sub-sitles, and I learned some new things about the farm and that the Welsh for guinea pig is guinea pig. It is available to view on the S4C web site for another 32 days.
There has been more vandalism at Woodlands Farm. Just a few weeks after the last incident when a fence was broken down and a volunteer threatened, the fence has been broken again and a mini-motorbike ridden around one of the fields where sheep are often kept. Maggie from the farm sent me details of what happened:
Following the incident on 30 December, when the metal fence at the far end of the farm was broken into twice on one day, yesterday the bolts were cropped once again and metal staves removed. This time, however, we discovered it after two people were heard with a motorbike riding round the top of Hillview Field late in the afternoon.
When they realised they had been spotted they made a quick exit, the motorbike rider got through the hole in the fence first. The second youth was challenged as he hurried to the gap. He denied making the break in the fence and said that as the fields were part of the Green Chain Walk they could ride a motorcycle there. He then threatened the elderly volunteer with violence and the farm with further vandalism.
Fence was repaired before end of day and police informed.
Woodlands Farm seem to be very busy organising events for the public. I’ve received three communications from them recently, two about conservation related events and one about activities for children during the February half term break.
Hannah, the farm’s Education Officer, sent me details of the half term activities. Her e-mail included the flyer below and the activity details.
Tuesday 19th February ? Felt Making
10am-3pm 50p
Did you know that felt is made from sheep?s wool? Join us at Woodlands Farm as we make some amazing felt flowers, butterflies and other animals using just wool. This is a fun and messy activity which everyone can enjoy. No need to book just come along.
Wednesday 20th February ? Get Wild in the Woods
11am-3pm FREE
Come and join us in the woods as we learn how to survive in the wild. Have a go at shelter building, wild cooking over a fire and learn what animals need to survive. Age 6+. No need to book just come along.
Friday 22nd February ? Help the sparrows: Build a Bird Box Day
10am-2pm £5 per box
Help the birds in your garden by putting up a bird box for them ready for the nesting season. In London the number of house sparrows is dramatically decreasing so make a box to encourage them back into your garden. Booking is essential for this event, to book call 020 8319 8900.
Woodlands Farm is located on the borders of the London boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich. At 89 acres, it is the largest city farm in the UK. Our priorities are education and conservation, and we are part of the Natural England Higher Level Stewardship Scheme. Our education programme attracts visitors from pre-school to third-age groups. The Trust aims to involve local community groups, schools, volunteers and businesses in farming and conservation, helping to bridge the current town-country divide. We are open 9.30am-4.30pm, Tuesday-Sunday (except Christmas Day). There is no entry charge except for special events, though donations are always welcome.
Nearest tube: North GreenwichNearest BR: Welling
Buses: 486 and 89
We are a farm so sensible shoes and clothing are recommended! We do allow dogs, but please note that these must be kept on a lead and not taken into any farm buildings.
Hannah Forshaw
I also received information from Lorraine, the farm’s Wildlife Officer, about a Winter Wildlife Walk to find out about the farm’s hedges, thickets and fields which is scheduled for Sunday 3rd February 2013 at 10.30am, and future Conservation Workdays at the farm. The workdays will provide an opportunity to get involved with hedge laying.
The farm is covered in snow at the moment, and a lot of the animals are in the barns. Even Aerial the farm cat is snuggled into the hay for warmth. I’m glad to see that a shelter has been built for Bob the pony so he can get out of the cold, though his thick coat should help keep him warm.
A series of monthly bird watching walks at Woodlands Farm starts tomorrow (Saturday) at 2.00pm. An e-mail from Lorraine Parish, the farm’s Wildlife Officer, gave the details:
Join us for a bird watching walk at Woodlands Farm on:
Sat 12 Jan – 2.00pm
Sat 9 Feb – 2.00pm
Sat 9 Mar – 2.00pm
Sun 14 Apr – 10.00am
Sun 21 Apr – 5.30am (Dawn Chorus)
Sun 28 Apr – 10.00am
(Plus monthly walks between May and Dec – keep
checking the farm website for future dates)
£2 per person, £1 for those under 18, free for Woodlands Farm Trust members and active Trust volunteers. You will need sturdy footwear and suitable outdoors clothing. The walks will include climbing a small style. (The events are not suitable for young children but keep checking the farm website for future family events.) In the event of unsuitable weather (such as heavy rain or strong winds) the walks will be cancelled. Meeting place: Meet in the farmyard outside the second building on the left, except for the dawn chorus walk when we will meet at the Education Building.
The farm is home to a wide variety of birds. Their bird watching reports have mentioned sightings at different times of the year of Swallows, House Martins, Whitethroats, Blackcap, Chaffinch, Jackdaws, male Redstart, a Redwing, Red Kite, Chiffchaffs, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Spotted Flycatcher, Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Hobby, Common Buzzard, a Peregrine Falcon, a Greater Black Backed Gull, 60 Black Headed Gulls, Wood Pigeons, Stock Dove, a female Whinchat and a Barn Owl. Plus there are the usual garden birds around the feeders near the hide such as different types of Tit and Robins plus quite a few Ring Necked Parakeets.
I heard from Maggie at Woodlands Farm that they had suffered from further criminal activity over the Christmas period. She e-mailed to say:
On December 30th on a routine check of the ewes in the fields, we found the metal palisade fence by the bridge at the end of Hillview/Old Coals fields had been broken. This could not be an accident or done by a casual walker, someone brought bolt cutters to do that. See attached photo of broken fence and path they made through Swingate Wood to get there.
Volunteers went up immediately and mended the fence. An hour later a different volunteer, he would not mind me saying he is an elderly person, heard noise and voices from the area, walked up and found men cutting the repaired bolts to break in again. They threatened him with violence. He rushed back to the farm mess room. We called the police who appeared immediately, but neither the police and cars who went to the Dryden/Keats Road end, nor the people who went through the farm, caught anyone.
From the tracks on the path and the noise heard by the volunteer we are pretty sure that the would-be intruders were intending to bring a motorcycle onto the fields.
Obviously fence mended yet again that day and we will need to keep alert. We have ewes expecting lambs in March/April up in the fields, on the driest parts of the farm.
The site of the break-in is close to the currently blocked stretch of the Green Chain Walk mentioned in previous posts; the path goes through Swingate Wood before reaching the gate to the farm. Doubtless this will harden the resolve of the farm volunteers to prevent open access to their fields from that end of the farm.
My favourite Christmas cards are those featuring robins, so here’s a picture of one taken at Woodlands Farm to accompany my season’s greetings.
Season’s greetings too from Madeleine at the the Friends of Eaglesfield Park, with thanks to all the volunteers who helped to create the wildlife pond and meadow at the park.