Nature Near London

Jubilee Wood Pond and Meadow Management, Sunday August 11th 2013

As it's been a few months since the bat roost was repaired and the meadow patch was sown, it was time for a return to Jubilee Wood Local Nature Reserve in Malden Rushett on the southern-most tip of the borough of Kingston. The ponds, created in the 1980s, are fast disappearing under a growth of reeds, so today's task was to remove some the reeds, to retain a patch of open water. This is particularly important for dragonflies, that rely on open water to lay their eggs.
The second task for the day was to weed out docks and thistles from the patch of wildflowers that was planted earlier in the year. As well as dragonflies over and around the pond, a number of butterflies were spotted, including a peacock, meadow brown, and perhaps the elusive white-letter hairstreak. It is hoped that the meadow patch might be expanded on our next visit.

Gerrard and Elliot get to grips with the reeds in the large pond.

Meanwhile, Martin and Susan 're-discover' the small pond.

A southern-hawker dragonfly rests on an road cone removed from the large pond.

A broad-bodied chaser shows off its distinctive markings.

An undetermined darter also makes an appearance.

The meadow patch before weeding ...

...and after.

A non-native poppy blooms in an area of the meadow that was reseeded after underground pipework.

The Wood, Surbiton, Tuesday August 6, 2013

To mark our first event at The Wood in Surbiton, it was decided to welcome local residents with a summer picnic. After a bite to eat and a sip of ginger beer, a light taster session of volunteering was held where new volunteers, and not so new, cut back bamboo and self-seeded sycamore saplings, and removed the remains of a burnt-out car. The site, although highly cherished by the locals, suffers from anti-social behaviour. It is hoped that by holding occasional nature conservation events, that the site will become better-used by locals and less attractive to those looking for somewhere to engage in anti-social activities. As the site is small and used by local dog owners, fouling is another serious problem, which needs to be addressed. This first session allowed us to get to know the park better, as well as helping to open up the site by selective thinning of the vegetation, to make it more inviting. However, the emphasis is on keeping the park as the lovely wood that it is, but improving visibility and reintroducing some vegetation management. The park is located within a short walk of Surbiton station and directly adjacent to the Richard Jeffries Bird Santuary, and so it was that a sparrow hawk was seen and heard high up in the oak trees, along with the common sound of ring-necked parakeets. To read more about Richard Jeffries see this link. Local ecologist, Alison Fure, has recorded several other bird species and bats, at the park.

Isabelle, our 'master-chef', awaits 'customers'.

Early birds enjoy the refreshments...

...then get down to a spot of scrub clearance.

Selective vegetation management will help to make the park more inviting.

Sprucing Up Barnes Waterfront, Saturday Aug. 3rd

It's been said before, but there really is no better place to be in the borough on a sunny Saturday morning than at the waterfront in Barnes. The intention had been to complete the painting of a half-finished section of railings, however, due to a shortage of volunteers the decision was made to clean up (and recycle) the hundreds of plastic bottles and cans littering the slipway. Vegetation getting in the way of joggers and walkers was also cut back, a road sign was removed from the river, along with three tins of paint, that were at risk of polluting the Thames.

Red valerian (Centranthus ruber) in all its glory.

Flourishing riparian plants reveal a semi-natural floodplain.

The view along the front downstream towards London.

The not so attractive view of the waterfront.

This is where old helium balloons reside.

The remains of another merry evening.

Used and flushed cotton buds make up a large proportion of the plastic debris.

Another 'usual suspect'.

A refreshing drink ends up polluting the Thames.

Is this local multinational (GSK) truly responsible?

Plastic disposable lighters are yet another familiar sight.

Catalogue company pencil no longer needed.

A fun game of tennis.

The curse of the disposable straw.

Why not put a 5p deposit on each can?

Little plastic rubbish is benign.

Tee-time for plastic rubbish?

River Thames Bat Walk, Monday July 15th, 2013

In order to measure the results of our project work in Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow, it is necessary to be able to survey sites for species that it is hoped will benefit from the creation of habitat or the reintroduction of certain management regimes. One animal that is an important indicator is the bat. We're blessed in Richmond that 55 percent of the land area is open space, compared with a mere 12 percent in Kingston, while Hounslow claims to have the "highest percentage of green areas of all London boroughs" (http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/index/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_open_spaces.htm). All this open space, together with continuous mature tree lines along our rivers are important for bat foraging and roosting.
Our guide and trainer for the evening was renowned local bat expert, Alison Fure, who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of these fascinating creatures. The group met on the Hampton Wick side of Kingston Bridge and were issued with the all-important bat detectors. After a short introduction about the use of the detectors and what we might be able to detect, we started off along Barge Walk in the direction of Hampton Court Palace.
After walking for some time, without detecting anything other than bush crickets at 30 kHz, the light was quickly fading as we approached the outlet tunnel from the famous filter beds at Seething Wells on the Surrey bank. This is a prime site for bats, and so it was that the first bats we detected were Daubenton's emerging from the tunnel. Now it was pretty dark, particularly away from the light pollution of central Kingston, and it wasn't long before bats were all around. Within no time at all, we'd detected six species, including Common pipestrelle, Soprano pipestrelle, Nathusias's pipestrelle, and the rather rare Leisler's and Natterer's, as well as Daubenton's feeding over the water. Occasionally, Alison would shout "20", which was our instruction to turn our bat detectors to the frequency where we might detect Leisler's or perhaps Nocutule bats, but being novices we were usually too slow and the bat had gone.
It's easy to forget the time as one focuses on trying to distinguish between the different species according to their ultrasonic behaviour, and so within no time at all we needed to head back to Kingston Bridge, detecting as we went. By now bats were foraging on insects all along the towpath.
By the time we got back to Kingston it was late, but everyone had enjoyed a fascinating evening. Strangely, joining a bat walk is perhaps one of the few occasions when you would choose to venture along the banks of the Thames at night.
Now, hopefully we feel better equipped to try and survey bats at other sites across the three boroughs, to help us understand how our work can benefit different species.

Alison explains the mechanics of bat detectors.

The group heads off.

The bright lights of Kingston are left behind.

To listen to a Leisler's bat click on the link http://www.bats.org.uk/nbmp_tutorials_NI/tutorial33.html

Noctule http://www.bats.org.uk/nbmp_tutorials/tutorial33.html

Serotine http://www.bats.org.uk/nbmp_tutorials/tutorial34.html

Soprano pipistrelle http://www.bats.org.uk/nbmp_tutorials/tutorial39.html

Common pipistrelle http://www.bats.org.uk/nbmp_tutorials/tutorial40.html

Daunbenton's bat on Springwatch

Bench-painting and balsam bashing, Tolworth Brook/Surbiton Stream, Berrylands , Tuesday July 2nd, 2013

There's always plenty to keep the Kingston Greenspace Volunteers busy around the Meldone Avenue car park in Berrylands. If it's not picking up 11 rum bottles from the bushes, removing chairs from the undergrowth, or retrieving dumped garden waste, it's painting graffiti-covered benches. Using the famous 'Kingston Green' paint, provided by Quadron Services, a small group of volunteers set about transforming three benches.
Once this task was completed, the group continued to clear invasive Himalayan balsam from the Tolworth Brook, in a bid to reduce the impact of seeds travelling downstream to Elmbridge Meadows on the banks of the Hogsmill River. This stretch was much more badly affected by the plants than had been expected, so it will be necessary to make a return visit on July 14th. Please join us, if you can.

First, the all-important preparation.

Then comes the 'Kingston Green' paint.

What a difference!

Himalayan balsam grows well in soft sediment at the margins.

Non-native wall species such as Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) and Ivy-leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis), thrive on artificial river walls.

Rather surprisingly, native Branched bur-reed (Sparganium erectum) is holding up well, despite the fully-reinforced concrete-lined river channel.

Tolworth Brook Himalayan Balsam Clearance, Sunday June 23rd, 2013

With the balsam bashing season in full-swing, it was time to take a strategic approach to dealing with the problem of this invasive species. The idea is to try and replicate what has been done on the River Quaggy in Southeast London and also on the River Wandle in South London, and to try and remove the source of the invasion of the downstream reaches of the Hogsmill River. In this case, the intention is to reduce the impact of the plant on Elmbridge Meadows. With a small group of volunteers, we worked our way down the Tolworth Brook from Alexandra Park to the Meldone Close car park. While it's inevitable that some plants will have been missed, or other seeds may germinate, over a couple of seasons it should be possible to remove one source of future invasion from the catchment. Of course, rubbish was also collected (five bags) and a hedgehog bridge was repaired.
The Trust is continuing to work with a range of groups to clear as much Himalayan balsam from the Elmbridge Meadows area. Recently we worked with 45 employees of VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) http://www.vso.org.uk/, who have relocated their offices to London Road, Kingston. See photos of the day here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151712433924308.1073741851.10986039307&type=3. We've also worked with the First Tolworth Scout Group on an area upstream at Sixty-acre meadow, to reduce the amount of seeds arriving at Elmbridge from upstream.