Wildlife Circus

Me and Monbiot photo S. Sivanesan So whilst 10,000 of us were at the People's Walk for Wildife, singing in the rain with Billy Bragg, chatting to George Monbiot and hearing more about the charter for wildlife proposed by Chris Packham...... This was happening at Seething Wells.....   The council have confirmed that there is no planning application, and that the felling of trees is not allowed due to the conservation area status; but they have not been able to stop the digger removing the vegetation, topsoil and in many cases the subsoil, destroying some of the industrial archaeological features - while revealing new ones - previously hidden; some of the structures are subject to local and national listing. When Thames Water was the owner of the site, operatives regularly scraped off the vegetation to remove tree growth, which is not good for the structure.  This assisted the growth of the diverse chalk grassland plants -see Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNC...

    In 'Places and Buildings by H.V. Molesworth Roberts 1970, it is asserted that Dancer Dick wood, at the junction of Cromwell road and  Salisbury road, is a relic of the Great Park of Nonsuch. This woodland copse owned by Epsom and Ewell council is partially responsible for the strong woodland bird community in the district, which includes nesting nuthatches, tree creepers and woodpeckers; there must be some association with these birds  and those in a nearby  wood designated a Site of Nature Conservation Importance at Riverhill north-west of the Hogsmill. The wood may have been a pasture - according to the 1871 OS map - although some of the old oak trees may  pre-date this; could wood pasture be more likely.  I  was first told of the wood's existence from Lucy Furlong, recounting family walks. After a couple of visits , I was able to ascertain that pipistrelle bats are using the trees for roosting, emerging rarly, at 30 minutes before sun...

This long awaited new Guidance replaces the Bat Conservation Trust Guidance 2009 and can be downloaded from here: https://www.theilp.org.uk/news/ilp-and-bat-con-trust-launch-latest-guide-on-bats-lighting/