We took part in three green events this month. The first - St Mary Magdalene’s Eco-day - was also a chance to see the famous parish cope, with its lavish scenes of the Common, which features on page 133 of ‘The Wandsworth Common Story’. At the end of the month our stall at St Mary‘s Balham eco-day was the culmination of the Great Big Green Week - bringing together numerous local eco organisations. There was a real buzz networking with other community groups involved in environmental and ecological issues. We also hosted a litter pick by Planet Patrol, an environmental group specialising in litter picking on rivers by paddleboard and with a unique twist of beginning with a yoga session.

We held three walks -a bird walk by Nick Rutter, a walk round all 12 sections of the Common led by Trevor Morris, and a bat walk hosted by Iain Boulton of the London Bat group. Another ecological highlight was the discovery by recorder Ian Cunningham of a rare white hairstreak butterfly on the Scope, the first ever for the Common. They’re becoming more common in London and one of our objectives is, together with Enable, to increase habitat for hairstreak butterflies to encourage more. This is a good start.

The highlight of the month was the installation of the Common’s first water fountains in many decades. There used to be seven fountains but these gradually fell into disuse. We’ve been encouraging the Council to install new drinking fountains for over three years, so we’re very pleased this has finally happened. At the centre of the Common by Skylark café and by the Three Island Pond, both hotspots for sporting activity, this will be an important contribution to reducing single use plastic. Together with the introduction of recycling bins last month, the Common is becoming greener.