Crane Park Island, Hedge Management, December 14th 2013

Rounding off 2013 in the borough of Richmond, the Environment Trust's volunteers made a return visit to the London Wildlife Trust's Crane Park Island Nature Reserve. This is a nice gentle task ahead of Christmas, where volunteers trim back the hedge that borders the wheelchair accessible path, and opens up views across the reed bed. Ash, hawthorn, spindle, beech, and hornbeam were amongst the species trimmed back. 

Volunteers trim the hedge.

In other areas, the hedge has been laid.

The view across the reed bed is opened up again.

Willow sculptures add a new dimension to the woodland.

The trimmed hedge will need cutting again in 12 months time.

The view across the ruins of the gunpowder works towards the Butts Farm Estate. 

The Shot Tower is seen through the leaf-less trees on the island.

Plough Pond, Old Malden, Tuesday Decmber 3rd, 2013

The village pond at Old Malden, known as Plough Pond, is at least 500 years old, and is the one surviving pond of three that originally occupied the site. Once a rural pond alongside the village green and public house, now, surrounded by housing and traffic of southwest London. Urbanisation is not kind to sensitive habitats such as ponds, and proximity of the pond to a busy road, in the past resulted in contaminated silts entering the pond. Some years ago the pond was dredged and the connection with the road was sealed up. Previously, a pump circulated the water, but this broke a number of years ago, and would cost £15,000 to replace. This has resulted in a build-up of duck weed, which can make the pond unattractive, although a recent water quality test found the water to be very clean.

In an effort to improve the pond for wildlife and in terms of its aesthetics, the Environment Trust visited the pond to remove previously cut vegetation, remove rubbish and prune a goat willow tree that contributes excess leaf litter to the pond.

There's more to do, but a start has been made. Future improvements could include skimming some of the duck weed off the pond, and perhaps laying the perimeter hedge. Ash poles from the nearby Manor Park could be used for this purpose.

We hope to have the results of a pond invertebrate survey conducted by Linda P. in the near future. Thanks for the photos Linda.

Plough Pond looking towards the road (Photo by Linda P.)

And, looking towards the Plough pub. 

The trailer provided by Quadron Services was filled with cuttings. (Photo by Linda P.)

Those Greenspace Volunteers get everywhere. (Photo by Linda P.)

The Plough pub in 2013. 

And, in the early 20th Century.

River Thames Clean-up at Richmond, Saturday November 23rd, 2013

The Environment Trust's river clean ups are always a crowd-pleaser, and so it was again this year, with over 50 enthusiastic volunteers donning waders and braving the mud to help remove accumulated rubbish from the Thames foreshore.

Each year in November, Richmond Lock receives its annual service. This is only possible by leaving the lock open, which permits the natural tidal flow, and leaves the foreshore exposed a low tide.

The Port of London Authority provide metal cages which volunteers fill with all manner of rubbish, from the obvious plastic bags, bicycles, ice skates, to Hindu offerings.

Marymount International School and Tower House School joined other volunteers, with the boys from Tower House winning the prize for being the muddiest volunteers.

Despite working all morning, not all the rubbish was removed, with more being revealed as the tide receded. Sewage pollution was also again spotted just upstream of Richmond Bridge, which was reported to the Environment Agency in 2011, but still has not been rectified.

 

A sunny day greeted volunteers at Richmond Bridge. 

Thankfully, the tide receded further than last year.

Marymount girls tip-toe along the edge of the river as the tide goes out. 

Volunteers brave the mud and remove accumulated rubbish.

Boys from Tower House School win the muddiest volunteers competition. 

A pile of muddy rubbish is testament to the volunteers' enthusiasm.

Ganesha makes his usual appearance close to the bridge. 

Ever wondered what happened to all those 1970s Chopper bikes? 

Despite previous reports to the Environment Agency, sewage pollution is still evident close to Richmond Bridge, most likely a misconnected washing machine.

 

 

 

Heathland restoration, Hounslow Heath, November 21st and December 19th 2013

London used to be covered in vast areas of heathland. These places remained open as a result of grazing by livestock, and supported a diverse mix of plant and animal species, including reptiles, such as the adder. However, 80 per cent of lowland heath has been lost, much of it in the last 50 years.

Hounslow Heath is a remnant of the Forest of Staines and used to cover over 4,000 acres, including the area which is now occupied by Heathrow Airport. Hounslow Heath was formerly a hunting ground for Henry VIII, a military encampment occupied by 20,000 of Oliver Cromwell's troops during the English Civil War, and was known as one of the most dangerous places for travellers in Britain as a result of several notorious highwaymen and women, such as Claude Duval and Moll Cutpurse. In the early 20th Century Hounslow Heath was occupied by an airfield from where the first scheduled London to Paris flights took off. Gravel extraction took place at the Heath from the mid-20th century, which was later used as a landfill site for domestic waste.

Now the Heath consists of a patchwork of habitats from restored heathland, woodland, and acid grassland.

Heathland restoration has been going on since the late 1980s, which includes the use of grazing cattle. Heathland is characterised by low-nutrient soils, however, without grazing the heathland will revert to woodland. This is where volunteers come in.

The Environment Trust again teamed up with the Hounslow Council (Carillion Services) and the Conservation Volunteers to clear away birch, gorse and bramble scrub. 

Regenerating heather on Hounslow Heath. 

This is one that was prepared earlier. 

Volunteers remove gorse, birch and bramble scrub. 

The less common dwarf gorse (Ulex minor) is also present, and was retained.

Smothered by common gorse, heather begins to die. 

Steve tends the fire. Burning is the most efficient means of removing unwanted material. 

Pink shows the former extent of heathland in London. The purple dots show what remains. Hounslow Heath is the small dot at the extreme left of the picture.

Sunset over Hounslow Heath.

 

Thursday December 19th 2013

 

Today the Environment Trust and TCV returned to Hounslow Heath to continue the task of restoration.

Who would guess this is in west London?

Simon warms mince pies...

...which are subjected to 'quality' testing.

 

 

 

Kingston University, Saturday November 16th, 2013 and December 7th, 2013

It's always a pleasure when the Environment Trust teams up with the Kingston University Biodiversity Group as so many fascinating habitats can be found at the Kingston Hill campus. On this occasion, our combined efforts were devoted to maintaining the small pond. The volunteers worked to cut back sedges that were threatening to swallow the pond up again, plant a few yellow flag iris, create log piles for invertebrates and amphibians, and later turned our attentions to removing more rhododendron. After only a couple of seasons of rhododendron removal, the campus woodland is recovering from decades of darkness, and the sound of small birds can be heard amongst the oak and young hazel trees. We'll be back at Kingston Hill on December 7th for a full day of rhododendron removal work. Please join us, if you can.

Rachel from Kingston University, briefs volunteers.

Half the group donned waders and got to work removing encroaching sedges. 

In the afternoon, the group turned their attention to cutting back invasive rhododendron plants.

A bold fox surveys the pond. 

A puffball fungus (Lycoperdon depressum). 

Recovering woodland at Kingston Hill, minus Rhododendron ponticum.

Compared with this photograph from Nov. 2012, when the rhododendron was being cleared.

Nearby, a tree house has been toppled by the recent storm.

 

Rhododendron Clearance Saturday December 7th, 2013

 

Environment Trust and Kingston Biodiversity Group volunteers work to remove invasive rhododendron plants from the Kingston Hill Campus. 

Kingston Biodiversity Group volunteers getting into the festive spirit.  

Volunteers stand triumphant after digging out a massive rhododendron root.

 

 

 

Tree planting, Manor Park, New Malden, Saturday November 9th, 2013

For the second year in a row, Environment Trust volunteers have helped to increase the tree cover in Kingston to provide additional habitat for wildlife, and to help tackle the effects of climate change, and at Manor Park, our efforts will help to offset the destruction of a piece of woodland by a inconsiderate private landowner. Volunteers from Marymount International School, Kingston, and Tower House School, Sheen, helped plant over 200 new trees to supplement existing woodland. This will help to consolidate the existing woodland, and will also hopefully ensure that the new trees are less vulnerable than the trees that were planted at Churchfields Recreation Ground in November 2012. A short section of hedge was also planted along the perimeter fence, to screen out the railway embankment, although it'll take several years before the plants are large enough to do this effectively. Eventually, it is hoped that this section of hedge may be laid.

Students from Tower House School, Sheen, plant trees at Manor Park. 

Girls from Marymount International School brave the rain to add another tree. 

It's all about teamwork.

The end result will improve this rather patchy woodland. 

The Tower House boys also planted a short section of hedge.

Churchfields Recreation Ground, Tuesday November 5th, 2013

The Kingston Greenspace Volunteers last visited the hazel coppice at Churchfields Recreation Ground in Chessington back in March. On that occasion two hazel trees were coppiced to create a greater diversity in the age structure of the woodland, to revive a traditional form of woodland management, and to improve the woodland for wildlife. On this occasion, despite the rain, we spent the morning coppicing another two hazel trees, and to prepare hazel poles for future hedge repair work at St. Mary's Church.

With funding secured from Kingston Council, we'll be back at the coppice in February 2014, to continue working with the local community to improve this site for wildlife.

Elliot coppices hazel. 

The finished result is neat coppice stools, with stools cut in March 2013 in the background.