A great time to see spring flowers and birds. I did the monthly lake water sampling on the 15th and bird count on the 22nd. I saw the first Swifts hawking insects over the lake on the 15th, although doubtless they returned earlier than that. So, migration was over, the Swift being the last.
As happens at this time of year, the geese were mostly out on the grass of the Great Field in the early morning before the arrival of the first dogs off the leash sent them to the security of the lake. The gates were opened at 06:20 and the geese had moved within 10-minutes of that. All the geese species had goslings, several groups of Greylags, but fewer of Canada and Egyptian. We have yet to see any Mandarin ducklings, now the second spring they have been present, it should be just a matter of time.
Many wild flowers were seen in May. By arrangement with the parks contractors, a small, triangular, grassy slope by the steps at the south-east corner of the tennis courts is left for two species to flower. First came the pale pink Cuckoo Flower from late April through to mid May and that was followed by Germander Speedwell at the end of May. Both of these are perennials and so the appropriate management is as a meadow: mowing and then raking off the resulting hay in summer, once the flowering is over. Around the edges of the wooded areas Cow Parsley was in full flower, going over to seed by the end of the month in the hot, dry conditions. It was the same story with Stinking Iris, a specialist for dry shade, with flowering quickly over.
The same meadow management is applied to the grassland strip between the perimeter path and the railside hedges on the south-eastern side of the park. In both places it is taking time for the flowers that have long been supressed by scheduled mowing to return, but we have more than daisies to enjoy. Dandelion, White Clover and Creeping Buttercup flower there, "weeds" where they invade a tidy lawn or cottage garden border, but here wildflowers. These meadows have been managed appropriately following good consultation between Idverde contract staff and the Friends of Wimbledon Park, but sadly this is the exception. And, even here, not all is well. The edges of both places have been sprayed. Sadly, this is the case also for the perimeter of the stadium, where a good range of plants colonise and would soften the ugly, bare bases of the Leyland Cypressus were they given a chance. If allowed, Ivy would green the bare ground, the Herb Robert, Sow thistles, thistles, Round-leaved Crane's-bill, Creeping Buttercup and Black Nightshade are modest plants, showing promise in April, withered and dying from the spray in May
Dog roses were in flower both where they colonised naturally, as in the hedgerow beside the golf course in the north and below the Veteran Oak, and where planted beside Horse Close Wood and in the newer hedgerows. By the end of the month Bramble was just beginning to flower in these same places.
The vegetation of the brook was looking good, with the planted Yellow-flag Iris and Brooklime and the naturally colonised Watercress. In the protracted drought there is but a trickle of flow in the brook most of the time, much of that deriving from surface water drainage from the Home Park Road suburbs, rather than the lake outflow where there is a small residual flow down the Eel pass only.
At the end of April topsoil and grass seed were spread over the worst of the bare patches in the Great Field, a great boon for the Feral Pigeons that gleaned much of the seed. One hopes that the grass seed wasn't treated with insecticide. Sadly, the drought prevented any germination.
The watering of the bowling green was a boon for the Starlings commuting to and from their nests with food, and later bringing the fledglings to it. Perhaps an act of desperation, as the grassland invertebrates elsewhere had been decimated by the drought or forced to go down in search of moisture. This will affect other species, like Blackbirds, that risk predators at this time of year to venture out of shelter to find food in the open grass.
Consultation
There is a consultation under way on the future of Merton's parks, with Idverde's contract coming to an end soon. One fears a continuation of one-size-fits-all actions, perhaps inevitable in a cost-effective contract. Nevertheless, many problems could be overcome with improved consultation with parks users and friends groups. Here, I relate how consultation has worked well for those wanting a more natural aspect to the vegetation of the park and lack of consultation has not.
The natural character of the park has suffered from failures of consultation and by continuation of past practices. It's all too easy to mow much more frequently than is required by the use. A place where this happens is the Crazy Golf area. This is one of the best grasslands in the park, but that is hidden when it's scalped to a schedule and the hay left on the surface as a thick mulch, suppressing the regrowth of wildflowers. Meadow management is needed here and the results celebrated. Raking off such big areas could be done if the mowing was on a meadow schedule, coordinated with volunteers or the Community Payback team. Alternatively, it could be mown with a machine equipped with a grass collector, so obviating the need to rake off.
Another excess was the use of a flail machine to cut back the hedgerows around the perimeter of the park. It's great that this is done in the winter, so avoiding the bird breeding season, but that leaves garish scars there until late spring growth comes to cover them up.That winter hedgerow work would be much more sensitively done with hand tools, perhaps again by the Community Payback team, with help from volunteers. Hedgerow work in the bird breeding season needs to be much more sensitive, which is only possible with careful use of hand tools. This also allows the flowering and fruiting branches to be spared and to be enjoyed, being pruned back once the birds have taken the fruit.
When the Lofthouse Glade was developed at the eastern end of Horse Close Wood, the Friends of Wimbledon Park asked for the heavier management, the meadow cut, to be included within the maintenance contract. The Friends would do the raking off and spot control of invading trees and shrubs. Without this cooperation and coordination, the Friends are left cutting the meadow with hand tools, an onerous task.
A difficult issue is the spraying of "weeds" around the paths, fences, standard trees, seats, notice boards... well everywhere that a mowing machine cannot easily access. Some people resent the unsightly dead grass that results and don't like the idea of their children getting contaminated when investigating the flowers unaware they have just been sprayed. In most cases the contract could redefine some of those "weeds" as wildflowers, tidied by hand or a strimmer once the flowering is over, and we can accept some vegetation at the edge, between paved paths and grassland, again cut back occasionally. Pathside plants once provided food for House Sparrows, but now we have neither the sparrows nor the plants. Needless spraying beside the hedge in the north beside the ex-golf course has prevented establishment of the valuable hedge-bottom wildflowers that grow there naturally, instead there's a strip of dead grass from the spraying. Hedge bottom plants need cutting back, but not very often. Merton's parks contract need employ no weedicides.
A one-size-fits-all approach also applies to schemes that are rolled out across Merton's parks. These schemes are efficient and so deliver improvements in a cost-effective way. There are also one-off initiatives led by elected members, a valuable connection between local democracy and action. Sadly, however, there is little or no consultation with local volunteers on these borough-wide initiatives. Trees arrive unannounced and at odds with a long-term local programme of planting. That programme was developed using volunteers planting to fill the gaps left by the 100-year-old poplars that are going one by one as they become dangerous and to provide a wooded boundary, reflecting the Capability Brown heritage. It was designed in co-ordination with Merton tree officers. This Council-volunteer partnership thought through what species to plant and where, raised the finance and the planting was done by volunteers. Clearly the institutional memory of Merton Greenspaces is poor, or this local initiative is seen as trivial, for whatever reason there is no consultation with locals.
Perhaps the most gross problem, however, comes from schemes imposed upon the park by Merton's development planning. AELTC needed to prove a "biodiversity net gain" in their proposed gross overdevelopment of grass courts on the golf course. Unable to prove the gain within their area, they needed places to flag up as "gain" nearby. There's been no real consultation on these proposals in the public park, which were developed late, inadequately described, and buried amongst hundreds of other documents, nor any acknowledgement that there are existing programmes of work in the park. These proposals would deny most of the lakeside promenade to the public. New path diversions are proposed. Without consultation, we don't know if park users really want to see the promenade wholly devoted to watersports? And, if we want this, are the proposed path diversions designed for disabled access? Another AELTC idea is for Horse Close Wood car park. There has long been a proposal to return this back to woodland, but, hidden away in the "gain" is a proposal to upgrade the car park for continued vehicle use. Other planting proposed by AELTC affects places that are part of the 10-year community tree planting. It would be great to get some capital investment into the park, 100 years after it was originally laid out, to refresh tired facilities and reflect community wishes. Locals will be able to help find constructive projects, after all it's our park. But the urgency of statutory planning approval dictates that we will not have a consultation on the proposals, we are meant to simply welcome them.
I could go on. It's difficult to consult, it takes time and needs willingness. The most vital test of the success of Merton's parks going forward in these cash-strapped times, will be a willingness to discuss and consult, and to work together with locals.
 |
| The meadow triangle |
 |
| Cuckoo flower |
