Agenda item

The Superintendent of Burnham Beeches, Stoke Common and City Commons to be heard.

The Committee received the following update from the Superintendent:

Countryside Partnerships

The two countryside projects that we support, the Lower Mole Countryside Project and the Down lands Countryside Project (£15k each so £30k in total), have been merged under a single management unit along with a third - the Surrey Heathland Project - to form the Surrey Countryside Partnerships. The partnerships have a new organisational structure and new governance arrangements, including a Project Board to oversee their work. At recent Project Board meetings the partnerships have reported a funding shortfall for 2015/15 and funding partners have been asked to provide additional financial support. We have stated a reluctance to provide any additional core funding (against backdrop of SBR etc.) although it might be possible for us to accommodate additional task days to allow them to earn some additional money.

Burnham Beeches and Stoke Common

At Stoke Common, small scale heathland restoration was undertaken in October with 38 Cubs, Scouts and Explorer Scouts from Aylesbury plus leaders and Friends of Stoke Common attending. We cleared a 200metres by 150metres are of small birch in a 5 hour day. We have had an average of 2 volunteer sessions per week focussing on heathland restoration from Mid-September until Early December.

The Litter & recycling officer led his last task before retirement on 27 December.

The dog control order (DCO) project was a focus for November. Old 'No Cycling' signs were taken out and 36 dual message signposts installed, made from Oak cut at BB and milled locally. The sign installation took 1 week and Rangers patrolled more in the build up to the 1st December when DCOs came into force. Rangers have been continuing these high visibility patrols and handing out leaflets to educate people for the lead in period (4 weeks).

For the first month since the introduction of DCOs, Rangers have been increasing their patrols, concentrating in the busiest areas. This has been done as an educational exercise, issuing DCO leaflets and informing people about how and where the DCOs apply and how they can comply with the new rules, if they weren’t already. On the whole the majority of visitors seem to be adhering to the new rules – of those that aren’t most seem to have made a genuine mistake and have complied when asked to do so but a small minority have persisted in breaching the new rules. Rangers are making notes of people they speak to and having weekly debriefs to flag up any regular issues.

About 200 people attended a very popular Christmas Carols event on 14 December.

Ashtead Common

Bridleway 29 at Ashtead Common was resurfaced in October. The contractor used crushed granite to restore the degrading right of way. The bridleway is of particular importance since it takes the public past the majority of the Common's veteran trees.

In November and December, Ashtead Common Volunteers cleared scrub and Sycamore at Willow Field and Craddoks to allow more light to the woodland and grassland flora and coppiced Hazel near Bridleway 33. Volunteering on these projects took place on 19 days between with volunteers giving a combined total of almost 1,100 hours of their time.

Veteran tree work is ongoing at Ashtead Common. In December, the most iconic tree on the Common – King Oak (pictured before work), had its crown trimmed as part of the conservation work to extend the life of the tree. Each veteran tree has its own management plan to determine what treatment will be done when. The crown trimming mimics natural processes, such as the snapping of branches. In January, halo release work will be undertaken on selected veteran trees – clearing woody vegetation from around trees to minimise the competition for resources, such as water, light, nutrients and crown space between old veteran tree and young vigorously growing trees. Halo release will also support ground flora such as wild flowers and brambles. Bramble patches are an important habitat for nesting birds and dormice and fruits are an excellent food source.

Coulsdon Commons

The annual Remembrance Parade, led by the RAF, was held on Remembrance Sunday at Kenley Airfield. A two minute silence was observed at 1:00pm and the Superintendent laid a wreath on behalf of the City of London.

Kenley Revival Project

Following a meeting with HLF at the end of November Officers have been progressing the application towards the concept design stage (RIBA C). The conservation workshop held in June altered the approach taken to conserving the airfields heritage assets and meant that further consultancy work needed specifying and procuring to ensure designs and costs reflected the new approach. This delayed development work and meant that the proposed submission date of December was no longer achievable. At the time it was thought that this work, together with the completion of the Conservation Management Plan, Activity Plan and Maintenance Plan could be completed in time for a March submission. However further feedback from the HLF indicates that this is no longer viewed as possible, so we are now aiming for the next available submission date in June. Unfortunately this means that we will not know the outcome of the bid until after August, which is when Kenley will mark the 75th anniversary of 'The Hardest Day' of the Battle of Britain.     

Two charcoal making activities were run at Kenley Common in November using timber from scrub clearance. Rangers and volunteers worked together to clear the scrub at Bunker Bank to reveal heritage features of the old airfield and extend the chalk grassland habitat. There were 9 days of volunteering on scrub clearance and charcoal burning at Kenley Common, a combined total of over 300 hours of volunteering time.

Blood tests were carried out on the breeding herd ahead of the majority going to Epping Forest. All clear for everything except 4 new cases of Neosporosis. These may have picked it up from the ground and the likely cause would be dog faeces. Neosporosis has already caused the abortion of one calf this year, a reminder of the importance of picking up dog mess. We will not breed off animals that have tested positive as the disease can be passed on this way. They will be kept as part of the grazing heard. 10 pregnant cattle were moved to Epping early in December. The remainder of the breeding herd were moved to Epping shortly before Christmas. All will be returning to our Commons in April or May dependant on conditions.

New hi-tech nature trail at Farthing Downs and Happy Valley. The new Nature Trail uses ‘QR codes’ which can be scanned by smart phones and similar devices to tell visitors about the wildlife and history of these areas. The project was made possible by partnership working between Croydon Council, the City of London Corporation, the Friends of Farthing Downs and Quadron Services Ltd. Article in Croydon advertiser.

West Wickham Commons

Heavy horses were used at Spring Park during the first week of November to tow approximately 25 tonnes of timber out of the wood as part of the Small-leaved Lime Conservation Project. This project was funded for a second year by the SITA Trust, who awarded us £5,000 for this year’s work at Spring Park, which has the largest population of the rare Small-leaved Lime tree in London. Heavy horses were used as they are kinder to the woodland ground, roots and understory than machinery. The heavy horses week was well promoted with a printed article in the local NewsShopper paper, online news articles and event listings and through social media. Other activities during the week included a tea and coffee gathering which attracted about 30 people, an opportunity for a local photography group to come behind the scenes to see the horses up close, and the chance for volunteers to try layering of the Small-leaved Lime trees. A local film group has also kindly volunteered to create a video of the horses in action from footage they gathered during the week. We should receive this sometime in January and will use this to promote the work further.

The West Wickham & Spring Park volunteers (WWaSPs) met on 10 days in November  and December and volunteered over 130 hours of their combined time. The WWaSPs cleared holly from the edge of West Wickham Common’s heathland which forms part of an ongoing restoration project which will eventually increase the area of heath to the edge of the easy access path. November was also Hazel Coppicing week where the WWaSPs came to Spring Park to coppice another compartment on the scheduled rotation of coppicing in the wood.

Members queried the use of ‘QR’ codes, and Officers agreed to investigate whether this could be implemented at other Open Spaces. Officers confirmed that usage information could be retrieved should Members like that data.