Wildlife Circus

Dead barbel Clattern bridge abuttments Unfortunately,  the same river that  Lucy wrote so lyrically about in a previous post,  was  subject to a serious sewage spill during the early hours of 8.2.16. This was apparent from dead fish floating in the water, including this adult Barbel seen at the Clattern bridge 4 days later. Due to an electrical failure, pumping equipment failed and subsequent pressure caused a blow - out at the Green Lane Recreation Ground. Many will remember this site has been subject to lengthy closures in the past (2003) due to sewage contamination and remedial works. Green Lane Recreation Ground will be 'closed until further notice' reads the notice on the gate. The clean-up is a lengthy operation and 2,500 blue bags (to the right of the photo)  containing rag (toilet paper etc.) have been removed so far. Toilet paper hanging from low-lying vegetation  But who is going to clean-up the river banks as the tide of s...

Four generations of my family have played and spent time walking ‘Over the Fields’, as we refer to the stretch of land along the Hogsmill. My paternal grandparents moved to Tolworth from Wexford, Ireland, in the 1940s, and these fields, back then much more substantive and less developed, and in some places still farmed, were an important reminder of and connection to rural Home for them.  Two years ago I started a writing and walking project with my father and son accompanying me on regular walks, where we talked about my dad’s experiences of playing in this space as a child in the 1950s, and where my son has had a chance to experience and get to know the space himself. I documented the walks with photographs, and then began to write poems about some of my father’s memories, my own memories, and our new experiences of walking and spending time there. The poems, photos and research eventually took shape as a poetry map, which was published last September and launched with an...