November round-up: Climate Summit and Tree Planting Launch

Mid-month your co-chairs, Julia and Richard, took part in the Council’s Climate Summit, in the session on greenspaces. We were asked to show examples of how climate change was affecting the Common and what was being done about it. With amazing help from one of our members – Rosa Navas - we shot a lovely short film of us in conversation with Annabel Osborn, Parks Biodiversity officer at Enable. You can watch it here.

That led very nicely into National Tree Week at the end of the month and the launch of our 150th Anniversary Tree Planting scheme, where we’re aiming to raise £5,000 to plant individual trees and an area of mini-forest on the Common, doing our bit for both climate change and biodiversity support. To read more about it, to donate and to get involved, click here.

The oak, pictured thanks to another of our members, is the so called ‘boundary oak’, sitting on the border between the former parishes of Battersea and Wandsworth. You can see the iron boundary markers crossing the Common in a line N-S. We’ll be highlighting more of these heritage items as we build up to the 150th Anniversary of the Wandsworth Common Act in July 2021.

October round-up: Tree Trail launched

We’ve long been asked for a tree trail leaflet, to accompany the virtual trail we’ve offered for some time. Well now we have one, thanks to Sarah Webley who made it her lock down project. 40 trees linked by an easy walk round the Common, though it does take around two hours. We launched it with no fewer than seven small group tree walks led by a variety of guides. All were pretty much fully booked – a great success and a perfect time of year given the great autumn colours. The idea is that you can easily do it yourself so if you’d like a leaflet to try it out let us know. They’re free to Friends or £2 on sale at Skylark. A perfect lockdown pursuit.

October was a busy month for walks. Not only the tree walks but two more plant walks, a bird walk and a fungi walk. Many thanks to all our walk leaders who’ve willingly put on more walks to give more of our members the opportunity given current constraints on numbers.  

There was a stakeholder meeting earlier in the month to discuss the future of Neal’s Lodge – the buildings in the middle of the Common that have been empty for over a decade. There’ll be a bigger public consultation soon when everyone can have a say.  

September round-up: Small group walks

Our highly popular nature-focussed walks and talks were a casualty of lock down, but with the help of our walk leaders we’re gradually bringing them back. Limited to groups of six of course, which means they quickly book up and we have a wait list. But we hope to satisfy demand over time. Nick Rutter was first with his bird walks in August and September. Roy Vickery of the South London Botanical Institute added a plant walk in September. Both will lead another walk in October when we’ll also be resurrecting our tree walks – watch this space.

The MAC held its APM over zoom, hearing from Enable, the Parks Police and the Council about issues in the management of the Common. Jo Shearer announced the imminent completion of the toilet refurb and the arrival of two drinking fountains, which we’ve been pushing for since we launched. The minutes of the meeting are here.

The Wandsworth Greenspaces Forum, which brings together Friends groups and MACs across the borough to share ideas and engage with Enable and the Council, held its regular meeting, with a special focus on the upcoming tree planting season. More on that in a future newsletter.

Finally, we were happy to talk to the judge assessing Wandsworth Common’s bid for a green flag. Awarded to well-managed greenspaces, Battersea Park has flown a green flag for many years and Wandsworth Park was awarded one last year. One of the key criteria is to have a Management Plan, and with ours published last year, we’re hopeful we’ll be flying our own green flag soon.  

August round-up: Virtual AGM

No party or birthday cake this year! We delayed our AGM till the last possible date in the hope we could gather as a group. But it wasn’t to be. So we met over Zoom instead – very successfully. 44 people including our guest speaker, Ian Mitchell, MD of EnableLC who took on a new year 5-year management contract for Wandsworth greenspaces just after lockdown!! We’re all familiar by now with the increased footfall on the Common and the problems it’s brought. Fortunately Ian had more positive news too: he confirmed that recycling is on the way, drinking fountains too to help reduce single use plastic, better regulation of sports bookings and personal trainers, improvements to biodiversity and greater engagement with Friends groups (which we’ve seen already).

In our chairs’ report we highlighted the growth in members -  80 this year with the total around 475. Joint working with our sister organisation, the MAC, as well as Enable and WBC had allowed us to achieve a tremendous amount during lockdown, notably on litter and signage policies, while our outreach through walks and talks, now done virtually, has continued. A key focus in the coming year will be the 150th anniversary of the Wandsworth Common Act, which saved the Common as we know it. More of that soon. We bid farewell to two committee members but elected a new one, Gabriela Ducat, who will be working on IT and social media.

We’ve resumed small group socially-distanced bird walks. Our first, kindly led by Nick Rutter, spotted chiff chaff, blackcap and willow warblers. Finally, a few volunteers teamed up with Enable to start repairing some of the damage done to the Scope by increased footfall during lockdown – more and wider desire lines and a huge increase in den building. Both are detrimental to biodiversity due to habitat destruction so the dens have been dismantled and the wood used to create habitat for the Common’s wildlife. Fingers crossed we’ve acted in time.        

July round-up: Butterfly & litter awareness

To mark Butterfly Conservation’s annual Big Butterfly Count we were delighted to host Simon Saville of their SW London branch to talk (virtually) about what species to expect on the Common and where. Inspired by his talk we went to the Scope and found lots we hadn’t seen before - ringlets, skippers, green-veined whites and the comma - more here than on Box Hill a few days earlier. Get out there and start counting.

At the end of the month we were very pleased to open Wandsworth’s ‘Love Parks’ month - celebrating our lovely greenspaces that we’ve all come to appreciate better during lockdown. We know we’re a Common, not a park, but we decided to stretch a point for the opportunity to pile 140 bags of litter - mostly recyclable - in front of the huge pink ‘Love Parks’ letters. We were delighted to have Plogolution with us. Together we had around 50 people litter picking, adding to the haul we’d collected over a couple of previous events. The idea was to show how many recyclables can be collected across the whole Common in a single day. A drop in the ocean of course compared to what the professionals from idverde collect on a daily basis.

A total of 8 local councillors came along to help, including Cllr Sutters who has Cabinet responsibility for open spaces and litter. We had terrific organisational support from Enable and idverde which we’re very grateful for. THANKYOU to all the volunteers who came along to help make the day such a success.

Earlier in the month we were delighted to start weekly litter picks - Thursdays 10-11 - with a biodiversity focus. We provide the volunteers and equipment while Enable provide Annabel to organise. This means we can mount more regular picks, not constrained by our personal availability. We’re very grateful to Enable for listening to our needs. If you’d like to join one e-mail: litterati@wandsworthcommon.org

June round-up: Drowning in Litter

We continue to be astonished, not to say dismayed, by the mountains of litter left on the Common particularly at weekends. We’ve been doing our bit, mounting our biggest ever litter pick with 18 people collecting 70 bags one Sunday morning. Lots more people do this every day and of course our efforts pale into insignificance compared to the amounts collected by Michael, the Common’s sole dedicated litter picker, with a bit of help at the weekend. At least two-thirds of the litter is recyclable and we’re pleased to say that more recycling is on the way. We’ve been working behind the scenes alongside the MAC with the Council, Enable, local residents and businesses, tying to make a difference. We attended a ‘litter summit’ at the end of the month to brainstorm different ideas, some of which are being rolled out. Collections have increased and more bins deployed. Bigger bins have been put in strategic locations. Anti-litter signs have gone up and new ones are coming to try and change behaviour, which is the hardest part of the equation. Ideally we want people to take their litter home. There have been talks with local businesses to encourage them to play a part in solving the problem. A deposit return scheme is something we’d like to see introduced. No-one has yet been fined for littering and we’d like that to change. Despite all these efforts we fear that increased litter is here to say for the summer – unless we see a change in behaviour. It’s a nationwide problem

May round-up: The Common takes a battering

Increased footfall combined with drought
are giving the Common a battering. Litter has become a huge problem. We’re
pleased so many people have discovered the Common for their health and
wellbeing. But we do wish more would take their litter home. Three times as
much litter is being collected than at the height of a normal summer. Over 12
tonnes last weekend alone. The Common’s managers have put out bigger bins and
increased collections, but it’s been a struggle. The Common has just one dedicated
litter picker – Michael. More and more people are doing their own litter picks
to clear up the mess. That’s great, but it does hide the scale of the problem
and doesn’t get the message across to the culprits. When the Friends litter
pick we do it in hi-viz jackets to raise awareness and also separate litter into recyclables and
other. Most of it is recyclable, which is another issue. Drop us an e-mail if you’d
like to help.

As a Grade I site of Importance for Nature Conservation that
recently welcomed its first pair of kestrels, the borough's biodiversity
team are concerned by the increased wear and tear we’re seeing. Paths or
'desire lines' have increased, soil compaction has worsened and there's been a
proliferation of den building. New paths interrupt wildlife corridors and
confine animals to smaller and smaller areas, reducing their habitat. Soil
compaction reduces the number of worms, reducing soil quality and food sources.
Fallen dead wood and its surroundings are habitat for many invertebrates that
are an essential part of the wild food chain. Dens can play an educational role
but there's always a balance to strike, and the Scope isn't big enough to
sustain its biodiversity with so many dens now uprooting wildlife and food
sources.

Enable’s Head of Biodiversity has penned a very
timely article about the pressures she’s seeing. Please read it and spread the
word

April round-up: Biodiversity matters

We’re all learning how to zoom, which means we can continue
to operate during lockdown in some fashion. Both the Friends committee and the
Heritage sub-group have met by zoom and the MAC will have a go in May.

At the end of the month we interviewed the Common’s
biodiversity officer – Annabel Osborn, pictured left – via zoom to get an update on plans for
a new biodiversity strategy and how it will impact the Common: the new meadow
and wildflower areas you’ll start to see over the summer; the importance
of preserving and enhancing the remaining areas of acid grassland; issues with
the lake including water quality (mostly good), fish and finally - what
everyone wants to know about – the terrapins and parakeets. Listen to Annabel’s
interview here (it lasts about 50 minutes). More zoom events coming in May.

Sadly Annabel was furloughed the day after our interview, along with several other Enable staff. The lockdown has had a major impact on their ability to operate so they won’t be able to respond as quickly or effectively to problems as usual. We look forward to when Enable are back to full strength.

March round-up: Coronavirus

What a month! It started well, but now normal activity is
suspended for the foreseeable future to minimise the spread of coronavirus.
Notices appeared on the Common stressing the importance of 2 metre social
distancing, the closure of playgrounds, fitness equipment, toilets etc –
everywhere where the virus could potentially be transmitted. A new rule states that
dogs must be on leads at all times, to prevent their owners getting too close
to each another. Follow the links to the relevant Council advice.

Before the lockdown, we held a swan and duck food bagging
session to get us up to Easter. Jess Stocks, who sadly has now left Enable to
work for another London borough, kindly led a spring tree walk. A small group
of volunteers helped rake over some of the newly cleared patches of the Scope to
encourage the spread of meadow habitat with native wildflowers – perfect for
butterflies. And Nick Rutter’s first official bird walk for Enable attracted about
30 people. Nick has subsequently reported that kestrels are nesting on the
Common, in the large box in the black poplar on the path by the railway track
running north from the Hope Tavern. The Heritage group held a successful virtual
meeting. Sadly that’s what we’re confined to for the time being.

Keep well everyone and follow the social distancing rules
when you’re on the Common. We look forward to meeting up again when we’re allowed.

February round-up: Spring bird sound

Enable LC, the charitable company that manages the Common on
behalf of Wandsworth Council, has been awarded a new five year contract after
beating three other bidders. The MAC and Friends, together with greenspace groups
across Wandsworth, held detailed conversations with Council officers over
several months about the contract specification and lobbied successfully for increased
weight to be given to quality over price and to increase Enable’s community engagement
and educational outreach, amongst others. The new contract runs from April 1st
and is renewable for a further five years.

The Heritage group met to finalise its input to this year’s
Wandsworth Heritage Festival, which runs from May 23 to June 7. Last year we
contributed one event about the Craig telescope. This year we have three events
under the general theme of Houses and Homes. Details on our website calendar and
in a future newsletter. We also began planning how to celebrate next July’s 150th anniversary of the Wandsworth Common Act, which ended creeping encroachment and preserved the shape of the
Common pretty much as we see it today. More details later in the year.

Nick Rutter gave a fascinating talk about the birds to
expect on the Common this spring and how to recognise them, by both appearance
and sound. Put your skills into practice on Nick’s first bird walk of the year
on Sun Mar 15 (8.30am Wandsworth Common station). Peter White and Nick reported
a record 81 species on the Common last year, including several new ones.
The picture shows another new one this year – the lesser spotted woodpecker.

January round-up: A packed start to the New Year

We began the New Year with what is becoming a tradition –
Trevor’s New Year’s Day walk around the Common to see all 12 disparate sections,
and clocking up 10,000 steps in the process. A good way to kick-start that NY resolution
to get more active. The MAC and Friends committees both met (minutes are posted
on the website) and our regular events continued, including the increasingly
popular Heritage group. The month’s nature-focussed event was a talk about the
Common’s swans by long-standing local volunteer for the Swan Sanctuary – Ann Aitken
Davies – which was both informative and entertaining and gave us a better
understanding of the various hazards to our swans and wildfowl. We wish them
good luck in the breeding season!  We closed the month with a thankyou party for our volunteers – swan and duck food baggers, litter pickers, community gardeners, walk and talk organisers and
people interested to find out more about volunteering. Do get in touch if you have
some time to spare and would like to get more involved.

December round-up: A spate of owl sightings

An exciting climax to the year, with the reported sighting of a tawny owl on the Common, just before Christmas, and then two little owls in the same NW corner of the Common in the New Year. Local birder Nick Rutter saw them first and then Peter White went along to confirm the ID - not an easy task given that the owls only appear at dusk, making positive ID very challenging. There are definitely little owls around (see picture) and this is not the first time they’ve been reported. The tawny owl, however, is not confirmed and it may be that this was actually a little owl. We’ll only know if it returns, in which case it would be the first tawny owl sighting in over 60 years.

Earlier in December a few sturdy Friends helped the Common’s
contractors - idverde - clear brambles from areas of the Scope, to enhance the
meadow areas and encourage wild flowers and butterflies to thrive. This involved some of us receiving a lesson in scything - not something many of us have cause to do in the garden! We’re
pleased to have done our bit to help and hope there will be more volunteering
opportunities this year.

Two other bits of news. First, the Jaggard Way planning application, against which the MAC and Friends had objected because of its impact on the Common, was rejected again. Second, the Council are to upgrade the toilet facilities behind the bowling green, to include full accessibility, after prompting by the MAC/Friends. A small group of us met the project lead on a site visit and look forward to work commencing soon.

Happy 2020 everyone

November round-up: Tree planting season

National Tree Week at the end of November marks the start of the annual tree planting season. We were pleased to participate in three events to mark the occasion.  Jess Stocks, Enable’s tree officer for Wandsworth Common, led one of her ever-popular tree walks, enjoying this year’s spectacular autumn colour and hunting out some of our rarer trees, such as the pagoda tree (sophora japonica) as well as old favourites like the lime, ash and silver birch. There were two tree planting events; one in early December, attended by Honeywell School’s eco committee, who helped plant a Scots pine and an alder, both suited to the boggy conditions near the 3-island pond. We were also proud to receive a gift from the Council of a field maple (acer campestre) ‘in recognition of the dedication and commitment shown by the volunteers who are part of the MAC and Friends groups’. Go take a look at ‘our tree’ next to Skylark (pictured) and keep an eye on it.

Later that day, at the MAC’s bi-monthly meeting, retiring chairman George Meakin, received a gift (pictured) in appreciation of his three year leadership which has seen the formation of the Friends, the publication of the first Management Plan in 40 years, and the setting up of the Neal’s Lodge Community Project, to help find a use for the building that has been empty for over a decade. George remains MAC vice chair and treasurer of the Friends.

At the end of the month our Heritage group heard an interesting talk from Janet Smith of the Tooting History Group about the lessons learned from implementing heritage projects under their Heritage Lottery Fund grant. Janet’s entertaining and useful talk will come in very useful as we get closer to applying for some serious grant funding next year.  

October round-up: Mapping the Common's History

October saw a capacity audience in Naturescope for a talk by local historian Philip Boys who treated us to a captivating evening of historical anecdotes illustrated by a series of maps. The earliest to feature Wandsworth Common was the one in the picture, by Rocque, dated 1746. Subsequent maps show the impact of the sale of parcels of land by Earl Spencer in the 1850s and the increased amounts of housing at the edges of the Common, including a row of prefabs along Bolingbroke and Bellevue Roads after the war. This was the first event organised by our heritage group which has met monthly since January. Our most recent meetings have been buzzing with ideas, including an environmental and botanical history of the Common, interpretation boards to illustrate key moments in the Common’s history, an oral history project to capture the memories of long-standing residents, and even a History of Wandsworth Common book. Get in touch if you’re interested in joining in any of this fascinating research.  

Earlier in the month we marked UK Fungus Day with a fascinating walk around the Common with Fabrice Boltho of the South London Botanical Institute. He enthused our band of foragers by finding fungi of all colours, shapes and sizes, and made us realise just how much biodiversity there is on the Common if only you have eyes to see.

Now that the new Management Plan for the Common has been published, work has started on some early priorities, with meetings of the joint WBC/Enable/MAC/Friends steering groups on interpretation/education and installing a drinking fountain to cut down the use of plastic bottles. We’re also pleased to announce that All Star tennis have installed recycling facilities by the tennis courts, a similar system to the long-standing scheme operated by Skylark. This marks a small but important step to getting more recycling on the Common. The Friends committee continued its discussion of the year ahead and heard that over half its members had attended at least one of the many events we’ve organised since our May 2018 launch. Increasing educational outreach is a key objective going forward. Let us know any ideas you have for future events.   

September round-up: The secret life of flies!!

September was packed full of varied events, but we never expected to attract 30 people to hear about flies. That speaks a lot to the pulling power of Dr Erica McAlister, Head of diptera at the Natural History Museum. It really was a fascinating introduction to flies and why they, like every other living creature, are vital to biodiversity and the survival of the species. For one, we learned that flies are essential to the pollination of cocoa!! And without them, what would happen to all that organic waste that’s lying around?? The crowd were buzzing with questions and Erica’s book flew of the shelf. We’ll get her back next year for sure.

Charles Walton repeated his ever-popular history walk earlier in the month, with well-researched stories and anecdotes about the Common’s heritage. We’re hoping to do a lot more of this kind of thing going forward as people are fascinated by how the Common used to look and to share their memories.

We had another bat walk (where would they be without flies to eat??) thanks again to Iain Boulton of the London Bat Group, and a bumper swan and duck food bagging session where we filled over 1,000 bags – a record. Thanks to all our volunteers.

Our stall at the Bellevue Road Fair was a great success – helped by glorious weather and highly efficient organisation by Rachel. Thanks to all our volunteers who fielded questions, signed up 14 new members and sold our maps, leaflets and duck food to huge numbers of passers by.

The MAC held its regular meeting on Sep 16 – minutes are here.

New Management Plan published

In mid September, after two years hard work by independent consultants LUC (Land Use Consultants), other experts, and substantial input from the Wandsworth Common Management Advisory Committee (the MAC) and also the Friends, and after a major user consultation, a new Management and Maintenance Plan for the Common was published – the first in 40 years!!   

It’s a long and detailed document (plus a 2nd volume of supporting data), with a huge number of fascinating facts on the Common’s history, ecology, trees, hydrology, governance etc, not to mention a list of over 100 actions. It’s well worth dipping into.  

You can read the official press release and the report itself by following this link
It's also available on our website here

The MMP is a blueprint for the Common’s managers for the next 10 years. It is also a key reference document for the MAC, whose Constitution gives it prime responsibility for advising on its implementation. Although a lot of the Plan represents 'business as usual' there will also be many new projects. A joint WBC/Enable/MAC/Friends oversight group has been created to agree priorities and monitor implementation of key projects.

Not everything can be done at once, so the first priorities include:

• Drinking fountains/bottle-fillers, to reduce single use plastic (supporting Wandsworth's new environmental strategy)

• Interpretation schemes (information boards, apps and educational materials) with nature and heritage content

• Educational events and schools outreach

• More active management of the Scope (woodland at the SW corner of the Common) as an ecological area

• Renovating and making accessible the toilet facilities on the Common

• Exploration of options and feasibility of renovating Neal’s Lodge and Neal’s Cottage and establishing it as a multi-use facility for the benefit of the local community

WATCH THIS SPACE!!

August round-up: Lepidoptera

August is when the ‘Big Butterfly Count’ is held and for the second year in a row the Friends took part by sending groups of people to the parts of the Common favoured by butterflies – the scope, the frying pan and the prison banks (find them on our map). The groups were led by Ian Cunningham, the Common’s butterfly recorder; Simon Saville, Chair of SW London Butterfly Conservation; and May Webber of Big City Butterflies who is hoping to launch a project on the Common next year. Our sightings are pooled centrally and are an invaluable resource for tracking this key indicator species for biodiversity. We also produced a butterfly leaflet, with help from Ian   and Sarah Halonen, which you can download here.

‘Moths matter’ too so we held two ‘moth breakfasts’ where we identified the moths that had been attracted overnight to a moth trap provided by May. Simon and May were there to identify them and there was a lot of early morning excitement as all manner of moths – at least twenty different species - were released back into the Naturescope garden.

The Friends committee met in August (alternate months) for a strategy discussion - what to do more of and what to do less of. Our successful ‘walks and talks’ will continue (see what’s on) as well as our monthly swan and duck food bagging and litter picks. A future priority is engaging with schools where we are working closely with Naturescope. Minutes of our latest meeting are posted here.  

July round-up: London becomes a National Park City

On July 22nd, London became the world’s 1st National Park City. Your Friends co-chairs, Julia and Richard, were honoured to be at the launch and to sign the charter on behalf of FoWC. You can read more about what this means and sign the charter yourself here.

To mark the occasion we organised a number of events: a summer butterfly talk, following on from our spring talk and once again hosted by Simon Saville of Butterfly Conservation. We also launched our summer butterfly leaflet, all set for the Big Butterfly Count on the Common on August 3rd.  We were also pleased to have Roy Vickery, a local wildflower expert, who helped us identify some of the 30 or so wildflowers to be found on the Common in the areas being managed specifically for that purpose. We’re designing a new leaflet based on some of the flowers we saw.

The climax of the celebrations was an inspirational talk by Daniel Raven-Ellison, the man whose idea National Park City was, attended by over 90 people from all over the borough, including councillors, council officials, Enable, borough wide Friends groups and other local organisations. Coming the week after Wandsworth announced its ambition of becoming the greenest of inner London boroughs, we’re very pleased to have introduced our local decision makers to Dan to learn from his experience and knowledge base.

June round-up: Telescopes to trees

At the beginning of the month we were privileged to host Greg Smye-Rumsby during Wandsworth Heritage Fortnight who gave a fascinating talk about the Craig telescope - built on ‘the Scope’ area of Wandsworth Common in the 1850s but sadly never working as intended.

The month ended with another of Jess Stocks’ (Enable LC) popular tree walks, this time looking at some non natives such as the tulip and strawberry tree. Meanwhile, Trevor took some keen walkers further afield to Battersea Park. 

The Friends committee met for the first time since the AGM and our sister organisation, the MAC, held its APM in the middle of the month. Minutes of both meetings are on the website.  

Friends and MAC reps also met with the Council/Enable to start discussions on how to monitor implementation of the forthcoming MMP. 

Last but not least we held another litter pick and also resumed swan and duck food bagging as the Skylark cafe reopened in time for the Summer.

May round-up: Birds and bees

As well as our very successful AGM and 1st birthday party, May saw two fascinating first time talks.

Nick Rutter, a Friend and local birder, explained what birds we could expect to see on the Common at different times of year and in their different habitats. Among many other things we learned that skylarks used to nest on the Common and there was also once a tawny owl. No more, alas, but we’ve gained stock doves, Egyptian geese, the sparrow hawk and, of course, parakeets. Over 100 different species have been observed at various times over the past several years.

Later in the month we heard about bumble bees, solitary bees and honey bees from Michelle of The Little Honey Bee company. Amazing to learn there are approximately 270 different types of bee in the UK, but only one is the honey bee. We’ve been watching them closely ever since.

Thanks to both our speakers.