Wildlife Circus

                                                       Nitrate top score   Last weekend was the annual Waterblitz co-ordinated by the Earthwatch Institute's Freshwater watch. Volunteers head out with testing kits over the same long weekend so that all the data points are comparable to the next.The data goes to a central database so that researchers can identify areas for further investigation. Nitrates and Phosphates are tested at 5 sample sites and I usually choose the same ones. The confluence of the Bonesgate and the Hogsmill has had phosphate levels and the two sites below the Hogsmill Sewage works always has high nitrate readings.     Sample site three is just above  confluence of the Tolworth Brook with the Hogsmill near Green Lane recreation ground. Less than 24 hours after taking samples a sewage spill occurred at the Green Lane Recreation ground at the site where it was suggested we should have a community orchard. It is almost  a year since the last event 15.10.18 t

  I wondered if there was ever a time that the progeny of an old apple tree, that was situated by the A240 (just by the bridge over the Hogsmill stream... was ever.... kept in  darkened trays, affixed to the walls of the old Apple store or as windfalls rolled around the orchard floor to be pannaged by pigs Trying not to get myself wet I took some home for a prod and taste  the skin was tough, but the flesh quite sweet with essence of droves, fields and streets.

Soundwalk on the Cambridge Road Estate, curated by Alison Fure I love the walks that Alison organises, I discover so much about the place I live. This one didn’t disappoint. About 20 of us assembled outside the cemetery gates wrapped up and ready to go, some from across London, mostly local. It was going to be a chilly evening. We took time to listen to the birds, Jackdaws, making a racket in a tree next to us, and notice the connections and avenues that the trees created both on and off the estate. The older the tree, the richer the biodiversity that it houses. Walking with Alison is a different way to experience place. A deeper more personal way, seeing things I wouldn’t see and sharing knowledge that google wouldn’t know how to provide. With recorded snippets of sounds and stories of her own life there, Alison introduced us to the people, the place, and the wildlife. The community hall where Save the world Club rescues perfectly good food destined for landfill and stocks th