Petition against Church Wood project in Trent Park[]
London Bird Club members are being asked to sign a petition protesting at a destructive project in Church Wood, on the edge of Trent Park.
Pete Lowman reports: “The London Borough of Enfield has embarked on an environmentally and ecologically destructive project by trashing Church Wood to accommodate a project called Go Ape. Church Wood has held Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Tawny Owl, Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Firecrest and lots of other more common fauna. There was no discernible consultation and no discernible environmental assessment.”
According to a letter from Tim Leffman published in local newspapers, you only have to Google "Go Ape protest" and you will find that the Go Ape company has previously targeted "beloved and beautiful" parks such as Lever Park in Chorley (near Bolton) and Pollok Park in Glasgow. "Their business plan involves implementation by stealth", says Mr Leffman.
See a local newspaper report HERE.
London birders are asked to sign the petition HERE
(added 26 January 2012; updated 6 February 2012)
Threat to Botwell Common and Lake Farm Country Park[]
Hillingdon Council is planning to build a new primary school on Botwell Common and Lake Farm Country Park. This will destroy one of the last areas of green belt open space in the area and set a precedent for eroding all the green belt in the south of the borough.
The Council has argued that it needs a new primary school and yet has refused to consider properly alternative sites. Many believe that the Council is driven by financial motives and not by local educational needs. Many suspect that if it builds a school on our green belt park, it will be able to sell off other sites in the south of the borough to use these resources in the north of the borough. Yet again our community will suffer by this asset stripping of our area. There is also a fear that once a primary school is built, taking up nearly half of the existing park, the council will inevitably come back at a later date to build a secondary school on the remainder of the park.
The Council is trying to rush through this attack on our green belt park. Already drilling has taken place on Botwell Common as part of the tests for construction on the site. We now need to mobilise urgently a large scale community campaign to prevent the Council destroying our local green belt open spaces.
Please comment HERE
(Added 23 January on behalf of Nigel Sluman)
Survey of owls in Greater London[]
London Bird Club members are being asked to help with Owl Prowl, a survey of owls across Greater London. The aim of the project is to raise awareness of London’s owl populations and their conservation requirements.
The survey is being carried out by Greenspace Information For Greater London (GiGL), which is run by the London Wildlife Trust.
The survey is a follow-up to an earlier Owl Prowl in 1985, when 441 records were received from the public (12 for Barn Owl, nine for Little Owl, one each for Short-eared Owl and Long-eared Owl, and the rest for Tawny Owl). From this data GiGL estimated that 105 pairs of Tawny Owl were living in London. The more interesting records included Tawny Owls in Berkeley Square and Bloomsbury, a Barn Owl in Ealing and a Little Owl in Willesden Junction. Only one London borough (City of London) provided no sightings.
London Wildlife Trust says that although Owl Prowl was in no way scientific, it did provide some baseline data. It adds: "Our survey may detect any changes in the owl populations of London and of course raise the profile of these elusive nocturnal hunters."
The trust asks for records of all owls seen or heard within the London boroughs to be submitted via the GiGL website. If you have reports to submit, you can find the website link HERE.
(added 3 January 2012)
HS2 petition[]
Birders are beign asked to sign a petition urging the Government to abandon the proposed HS2 (High Speed Rail) link between London and Birmingham. The route will pass through environmentally sensitive areas and will include a viaduct across the Colne Valley lakes, an important birding area. It will also destroy ancient woodland and farmland as it cuts a wide swathe through the Chiltern Hills.
You can sign the petition HERE
Death of Steve Pash[]
Steve Pash, who regularly posted birding news from Brunel Bicentennary Gardens (Uxbridge), died suddenly over the New Year weekend, reports Roger Morton.
The following tributes have been placed on this wiki:
- A sad piece of news (Roger Morton).
- I am sure that I speak for everyone who uses this site when I say that I am very sorry to hear that. Please pass on our condolences to his friends and family (M Bournat et al.)
- Bless you Steve - you were & are a star xxx (JR)
- Yes it is very sad news about Steve. Condolences to his family. Will be sorely missed (Sue Giddens).
- I only met Steve a few times but I shall miss his records on this site - especially those for my local area near Brunel University. Thank you, Steve, for your contribution to natural history in Hillingdon borough (Roger Dewey).