Wildlife Circus

Note: Zuihitsu is a Japanese style of literature that can drift like a cloud or read like a song. It comprises a number of loosely connected themes, often featuring poetry inserts, expressing typical Japanese themes, such as nature and the changing seasons. Here 'Tolworth Day' (29.7.19) and  Tolworth Court Farm, are connected to lines found in John Clare's poems.  1. The trickling brook veins sparkling to the sun J.C. Actually there are two rivers here: the Hogsmill rising east to west from its spring ponds, boldly crosses the county boundary from Surrey into London at Tolworth; and the Bonesgate rising unseen, with two sediment laden arms, somewhere between  Chessington's farms and roads, only traced in places by  power and tree lines. A Guardian article (2015) attests that its  named from the resting place of London's  plague victims, but it seems only part of the story, due to its inaccessible location. Bonesgate sediment     2. The bla...

  Oaks and maples Cambridge Gardens 2019   Street trees can often be the most beautiful objects in our streets. They are important to their communities as well as having environmental benefits. They are a living history in our landscape and can have particular connections. They may be fragments of a previous landscape incorporated into a modern street scene, such as the oaks at Cambridge Gardens once  part of the Duke of Cambridge's estate.  A great read with information on how to research street trees is a  History of Street Trees by Dr. M. Johnston.  London plane trees CRE 1976 Beech tree, Chesterton Terrace 1976 Studies show that the difference in local tree cover can reflect the various socio-economic groups. In Victorian times middle class areas were planted with many street trees or had higher quality front gardens than working class districts; now referred to as 'green equity'. It can be demonstrated by looking at old photos of the seven...