Wildlife Circus

                                                                  One of two ponds Chessington G.C. 2018 A planning application has been lodged to develop the former Chessington Golf Club site with 256 units between 2.5 and 4 stories high on 11.6 Ha of land. Objections need to be lodged before 9.2.26. Paragraph 2.1 of the Design and Access Statement, describes the site as a “poorly performing Green Belt site” , on the basis that it is enclosed on three sides by development. Enclosure by development does not , in itself, indicate poor Green Belt performance. Under the NPPF (2024), the assessment turns on how land performs against the five Green Belt purposes , particularly openness, prevention of sprawl, and safeguarding the countryside from encroachment. Sites at settlement edges commonly perform these functions pr...

                      Brown Hairstreak egg on Blackthorn 1 of 4 found by P. Snevets.   Kingston Cemetery Nature Group are a group of volunteers meeting once a month at the Cemetery to carry out a range of practical tasks that support nature conservation. The cemetery is a Grade 1 Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC). The groups tasks are relevant to the designation and include: tree and hedge planting, litter picking and some bramble clearance.  Previous posts on this blog highlight the significance of the CHEGD and mycorrhizal fungi that have been recorded see  Cemetery fungi  2020     2025   2019  2016     2014  . There are also posts on other taxa such as trees Cemetery Trees  orchids and Slow Worms.   Y esterday I photographed these Brown Hairstreak eggs, kindly shown to me by Paul, who found them recently. The photo below shows two orange eggs, o...

    Biodiversity Checklist Hook park, Ecologist qualifications Kingston Council and Ecology Requirements Kingston also references professional competence in its ecology-related planning guidance , often aligned with: The NPPF Natural England standing advice BS42020:2013 Biodiversity – Code of Practice These documents collectively emphasise that ecological information must be prepared by a competent professional , which Kingston interprets as: An ecologist who can demonstrate competence, normally through CIEEM membership and relevant experience In professional practice, CIEEM guidance is interpreted as requiring that: Ecological reports name the author(s) The author(s)’ qualifications and/or CIEEM membership grade are stated This information is normally included: On the report title page, or   In a “Personnel” or “Author details” section Failure to do so can be challenged as non-compliant with CIEEM guidance, particularly in planning and appeal contexts.   ...

                       Hogsmill Community Garden indicating the suns position 2pm 5.1.26 25/02541/FUL The proposal is for  demolition of existing student residential blocks at Middle Mill (Block A and Blocks G-L), and erection of a new 5-storey purpose-built teaching building for Kingston University with ground floor cafe and gallery space, associated access, blue-badge parking, landscaping and ancillary development. This is work in progress and subject to change. The Ecological Assessment prepared by Buro Happold (September 2025) states that biological records were obtained from the Surrey Biological Records Centre, rather than from Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL). This has significant implications for data coverage. Personally, I have supplied GiGL with approximately 17,000 biological records collected since 1994 from surveys undertaken across the Greater London area, whereas only a few hundred records—...

Brown Hairstreak butterfly Tolworth Court Farm ‪ Richard Jefferies in Surbiton & other Surbiton highlights www.mixcloud.com/swindon1055/...  * see below “The beauty of the hill is spoiled, not by nature, but by man’s neglect. The very ground seems sick.”— Richard Jefferies, diary Jefferies Lament  https://on.soundcloud.com/AKVkRrrdyHJDGVrOuY Mid-century Surbiton presented a contradiction: a rapidly developing suburb marketed for its beauty, yet one whose sanitary arrangements were dangerously inadequate. The 1854 General Board of Health report —rediscovered by Bob Philips and published in The Story of Tolworth —records in stark detail how many of Surbiton’s new roads and houses relied entirely on cesspools , often left until “the ground around is all saturated.” Westfield Road was singled out as especially alarming, its back-garden pits receiving “all the filth, without any proper drainage away from the premises.” The Minutes of Inspection confirm that twenty-five newly b...

                              Note bark strips with access hole retained at the top I recently attended a talk at Bruce Castle Museum, a short bus ride from Seven Sisters, where Russell Miller, of the Ancient Tree Forum, spoke about the conservation of an ancient Oak in the grounds. We also saw a video by wildlife film maker, Ian Phillips, showing how the team has cared for the tree over the years. One of the major challenges has been dealing with large voids inside the hollow trunk. These cavities have been used —three or four times—to light fires, which has seriously endangered the tree. After trying various solutions, the team decided to cover the voids to reduce the risk of further damage. They built a wooden framework, covered this in chicken wire and secured bark strips using special screws. If you look closely at the photo below, you can still see some of the underlying structure.      ...