Wildlife Circus

    Fircroft today                   It is possible that a further planning application affecting Hillcroft may be submitted in the future, perhaps when we least expect it or when many of us are away on holiday. In anticipation of that possibility, it is important that the history of Hillcroft is properly documented and made publicly available. The heritage report submitted with the RHAAC application was, in many respects, inadequate. One of its most significant omissions was the failure to acknowledge that Powell House at Hillcroft was named in honour of Margaret Joyce Powell OBE . This omission is particularly painful because it reflects a wider pattern in which women's contributions are rendered invisible. Margaret Joyce Powell OBE was one of the founder members of Hillcroft, and Powell House was officially opened in her honour by Joan Lester MP. To omit any reference to this history is not merely an oversight; it obscure...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3r25edye9do   Kingston Cemetery is not only a place of remembrance for loved ones — it’s also a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, home to birds, bats, hedgehogs, insects, and mature habitats that deserve protection for future generations. The petition is asking Kingston Council to discuss reducing the use of plastic tributes, artificial flowers, and cellophane wrapping in the cemetery. The QR code will take you there but it requires an account to be opened and some people have had problems with that. The council state that any VPN users will not be able to progress to sign. People who Live, Work and Study are eligible to sign. If you have problems signing I will send you a hard copy.   While plastic items are left with good intentions, they often become litter, blow around the grounds, and gradually break down into microplastics. Those tiny plastic particles enter the soil, waterways, and food chain, where they can harm wildlife a...

You remember that sign for a C o2 pipeline across the Wirral and into the Irish Sea? It has received funding from Central Government and objections are not being accepted.  Well, I suspect it will be a wedge into accepting the barrage. UK needs cement. UK needs the barrage. The barrage needs a lot of cement.    Who cares about lives and wildlife on that blingy dump, Merseyside.   Suddenly we are in the headlights of the enormous grinding-down development machine. Love Marg  

This will be a resubmission of a proposal originally submitted in 2024 (24/02369/FUL) seeking permission for a 3G pitch and associated floodlighting. However, the scale and height of the proposed floodlights are significant and raise serious environmental concerns  Project proposals Key changes to the revised scheme include: - Removal of built structures from within the river buffer zone to safeguard local ecology - Relocation of the non-turf cricket wicket and outfield further south - Reduction in car parking to 25 spaces, set further from neighbouring boundaries - Additional soft landscaping, buffer planting and watercourse enhancements This proposal should be considered in the context of Kingston’s recently adopted Biodiversity Action Plan. The Species Action Plan for bats explicitly states that ‘there should be no new lighting near rivers’ due to the sensitivity of bat species to artificial light. Bat surveys submitted with the previous application recorded eight spe...

  It’s that time of year when Seething Wells features at council meetings (see below) and the SWAG AGM 10.3.26. News in brief  Kingston Council expects a speculative (“chancer”) planning application for around 300 homes , following recent changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)  [Although the owners have been trying to sell the land since last year]. SWAG has proposed an alternative plan : approximately 20 homes built on the existing hard-standing area (mandated at EGM May 2025). However, there is concern that the Mayor may not support such a small scheme , on the basis that if Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) is to be released for development, the expectation would be for a much larger housing yield . There was also discussion at the meeting about wider strategic issues affecting the area, including the River Thames Scheme and the future of the Thames Barrier , both noted as relevant to flood management and longer-term planning along the Thames corridor....

                                                                  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.   ...

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...