A murder of crows
Perhaps, if crows were brightly coloured, they would be loved instead of feared.Part of the Corvid family which includes magpies, ravens, jays and jackdaws they are arguably the most intelligent and fascinating of all birds. I have watched them fly off with a chicken’s egg, wash the salt off a chip in a puddle before eating it and mobbing a fox. Set aside an hour to watch this brilliant documentary which will make you view crows in a whole new light.
Just a piece of unkempt turf on the common that is providing shelter, protection and food for next summer’s butterflies, grass-hoppers and maybe the odd frog.
Inviting new pathways in the Nature Area in Burgess Park west.
We don’t hear so much about acid rain these days, but it’s still there, scrubbing clean the tree trunks of moss and lichen, so a treat to see this.
Lichen on Horse Chestnut bark near the underpass.
Not one organism, but two, a fungus and an alga that can’t live without each other. The fungus provides the structure and the algae make the sugar. There are many different species of Lichen. It’s not feeding on the tree, but is affected by the acidity of the water running off the bark . You will find Lichen on brick and stone, glass, metal ,leather surfaces too.
Lichen is used to make Litmus paper. Dies are extracted and added to filter paper so that it turns red in acid conditions and blue in alkaline. Some lichens contain Usinic acid which is anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and attacks cancer cells. Unfortunately, it also damages the liver.
Still some lingering seed heads from last year’s spectacular display in St George’s Gardens. Many seeds have a protective coating and won’t germinate until they have been exposed to frost. This keeps them fresh and hydrated ready to send out new roots into the warm moist spring soil.
Burgess Park fishing lake was redesigned in 2012/13 and opened to the public along with the rest of the park after five years.
Nature and caring people have made the lake as you see it today with reed beds. The very tall reed is Norfolk reed mace. The shorter reeds are Phragmites. We also have Yellow Flag Iris, Bulrush and Water Mint in places.
In 2016 we received 6 rolls of coir matting which were planted with various water plants. These you can see between the bridge and the bird sanctuary. So have fun finding out the rest of the names of the plants for yourselves.
Birds
Mute Swans
Waterfowl or birds that live on the lake are Mute Swans, three different types of goose (Canada Goose, Greylag Goose and Egyptian Goose), Coots (black body, white beak and head dress), Moorhens (brown body, red beak with yellow tip), and Tufted Ducks (males – black and white and females – brown).
Egyptian Geese
Sometimes there are Common Pochard (grey body with reddish head), a pair of Great Crested Grebes (on Burgess lake in July 2018) and also the Little Grebe.
Coot
There are many other birds that visit the water to feed – Kingfisher, Grey Heron, Cormorant, Common Tern and different types of Sea Gulls.
There is as much that lives underwater as above. The most common plant seen is Blanket Weed, next is Najas Minor which is growing in the non-fishing side of the lake, and some patches of Silk Weed out towards the middle of the lake. The lake bed is made up of areas of mud, rubble and rubbish that have been covered in silt. In the pockets of silt can be found Bloodworm (larvae of the non-biting Midge – the little flies you see over your head sometimes) Dragonflies, Damselflies and other types of water insect, too many to list.
Friends of Burgess Park will be pond-dipping by the lake on Saturday 21 July, 4.30 to 6pm as part of London’s National Park City Week. Come and join us.
Fishermen at Burgess Park lake
Fishing
There are many fish in the lake. Carp is the main species found, Tench is next, then Bream, Roach, Rudd, Perch, Dace and Catfish. Carp can be divided into sub species Common, Mirror, Linner, Fully scaled, Ghost and Koi.
When fishing at Burgess Park lake you must have a rod licence before you fish. You will need to purchase a day ticket from the council web site. The Environment Agency, Southwark Council officers and community wardens come around regularly to check on licences.
While fishing you will need to have a landing net 36 inches minimum and unhooking mat as there is a chance of a large carp or more. You must fish from the swims only. Swims 1 to 6 are concrete. There is a dirt area at the side to put up a shelter and they are on the school and toilet side of the lake. Swims 7 to 10 are on the other side of the lake and are dirt covered.
If you’re lucky and catch a fish then you must return all fish back to the water.
Lime or Linden blossom by N P holmes [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)Any day now, the Lime trees (Common Lime or Linden, Tilia Europea) will come into bloom. They perfume the air with one of the most delightful scents of summer. Walk along the main avenue by the tennis courts, especially in the evening and enjoy. This tree wants to attract bees and moths to pollinate it, so gives off most scent in the evening. The flowers are not showy, but worth examination as they are grow directly out of a leaf-like structure; this acts like a helicopter later on in the year when it separates from the tree and floats away to spread the seeds.
Lime blossom produces lovely honey and bees also collect honey dew to add to their honey. Honey dew – that sticky stuff on car windows is what the greenfly pass, they eat enormous quantities of sap to gain small amounts of protein and excrete the surplus sap.
Many types of moth and their caterpillars also feed on the heart shaped leaves and the nectar, Lime Hawk Moth being the most spectacular. May and June are the time to find them on a warm evening. It’s worth looking in lime trees outside the park as the park trees are kept trimmed at the base, look for a tree with arisings (Twigs growing from the base.) and you may spot a caterpillar with a spine on its tail. You may also find some strange red things on the tops of the leaves, lime nails which are produced by tiny mites.
As a child, I used to place a leaf over my pinched index finger and thumb, then pop it with the palm of my other hand – goes off like a paper bag.
Lime blossom is made into many perfumes, cosmetics and medicines. You can easily make a tea from them to treat a cold but the flowers must be freshly opened or they become narcotic. You preserve them by drying them so that they are available to use all year.
The inner bark layer is very fibrous and is used to make paper and fabric in Japan. The timber is soft and almost grainless so easy to carve. The Cravat by Grinling Gibbons will be on display at the Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, 20 October 2018 – 24 February 2019.
Butterflies and bogs
The nearby mounds are a good place to spot butterflies at this time of the year. There are several small blue butterflies which are difficult to distinguish, the one called ‘Small Blue’ has a sooty, dusty blue appearance, so I didn’t spot that one, there were either common blue or holly blue. The mounds are not mown, so the clover is able to bloom and provide food for butterflies and other pollinators.
Pendulous Sedge by AnemoneProjectors [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]See how the vegetation changes on the mounds. At the base, the plants are bigger and you will find clumps of sedge. This plant seeds itself all over the area and tells us about the soil and terrain. It is a plant that likes poorly drained or even boggy soil and Burgess Park can get quite boggy. if it were not for the Thames Barrier, it would be subject to flooding as it is quite low lying and used to be on the banks of The Earl’s Sluice (One of London’s lost rivers). This ran from Ruskin Park to Rotherhithe cutting across a corner of the park by the junction of Albany Road with Camberwell Road. It now feeds into the sewer system, what a shame!
Pendulous Sedge (Carex Pendula) looks like a grass, but feel the stem. It is a most unusual triangular shape with sharp edges, almost like something engineered. Find some grass to feel the difference.
On a drizzly Saturday morning in April, Burgess Park was bright green with new growth on trees and shrubs. Despite the terrible weather the Friends of Burgess Park were finding out how much people knew about the birds on the lake; their names; what they eat and the problems of feeding bread to the ducks.
Most people could name a few of the species we have on the lake but did not know that feeding bread is bad for the birds’ health, pollutes the water and encourages rats.
We tested out lettuce as one of the alternatives to bread. At first the geese and coots ignored it but after a while and a few pecks the Hooper geese ate lots. They like small pieces of lettuce and the smaller birds like it quite finely shredded. Some were eating out of one of our volunteers Tom’s hands.
Regular dog walkers told Susan about the lone pair of swans who for the last three years have laid a clutch of eggs, but none have hatched. This year there are five pale blue eggs in their next, so we will have to wait a few weeks to see what happens this year. Fingers crossed there will be some baby cygnets wandering around soon!
Park users made a number of suggestions about what they would like to see:
Signage explaining about the wildlife on the lake
Temporary signs when food like rice is left for the birds
Some system for swapping bread for alternative bird food
As well as educating people about what should and shouldn’t be fed to birds, we also undertook a waterfowl bird count. Despite the awful weather, there were still a lot of birds. Here’s what we saw:
All through June we doing #30DaysWild #wildaboutburgess part of the London Wildlife campaign. The perfect excuse to share your favourite photos @BurgessPk.
Saturday 21 July – 4.30 to 6pm Pond-dipping by the lake. Part of London’s National Park City Week.
Chumleigh Gardens
Daphne odora
In a corner of the English Garden you’ll find Daphne odora. As the name suggests, it has a gorgeous perfume.
Spot the frogs in the pond. There is some frogs spawn and probably more to come. Creep up slowly and you may hear them croaking. The tadpoles will emerge over the next 21 days. At first, they stick themselves to plants digesting the remaining egg yolk in their guts, then they swim about feeding on algae. As they grow, their diet expands to include other pond life and even plant material which they grind up with tiny teeth. By 12 weeks, they look like tiny frogs and at 16 weeks, they assume their adult shape and can leave the pond.
The Wattle tree which I think is Acacia gunii is just about to burst into bloom.
Between Chumleigh Gardens and St George’s Church
Alder trees
These are native trees that are usually found in boggy ground. Tap one of the yellow catkins and you will see a puff of pollen. These are wind pollinated plants that don’t need insects to fertilise them though you may see bees collecting the protein rich pollen to feed to their larva.
Alder tree catkins
There are male and female flowers on the same tree. The female flowers are much smaller catkins which develop into cones. You will find brown cones from last year still on the trees. The leaves are round with a notch cut out at the tip and the bark has small holes in it.
Alder trees fix nitrogen into the soil, so add to the fertility.
Because they grow in boggy conditions, their orange coloured timber will not rot in water so it was used in the foundations of Venice and for water pipes. Above ground, it will quickly rot.
Siskin, Redpol and Goldfinches eat the seeds, several moths feed on the leaves and the bark is used in medicine.
The Dry Garden
Hellebore flowers in The Dry Garden behind St George’s Church
Click on the icons to find out more about plans in and around Burgess Park
Burgess Park Planning and Redevelopment Facts: Redevelopment around the park
These are important issues for coming local elections. Raise them with ward councillor candidates.
There are at least six planning application in the pipeline for sites around Burgess Park. All are for tall buildings which will make a significant impact on the park.
Each application is made separately there is no consideration for cumulative impact. Tall buildings have already been approved for the Aylesbury redevelopment along Albany Road.
• Impact of tall buildings
Burgess Park is a very long, narrow park. Tall buildings all around will have a significant impact on the green space; how it looks and feels, if the immediate horizon is dominated by buildings.
The new Southwark Plan does not define a tall building or the amount of green space which would need to be provided for the new residents.
• Pressure on green space
Planning applications for development around Burgess Park (including current applications) all make the assumption that green space and play space can be provided by the park.
No assessment is made of cumulative impact of redevelopment – with resultant local population growth – on existing green space.
Burgess Park is a relatively new man-made park; it has increased in popularity and is well used all year round. It requires high levels of maintenance and repair to keep pace with wear and tear of heavy usage. Areas of the park will be out of use at some time; current drainage improvement works will restrict access to central portions of the park for the two years.
Friends of Burges Park proposals:
• Planning and Regeneration
Cumulative impact of new developments on Burgess Park must be a standard part of the planning application process. A comprehensive development plan which monitors and sets a framework for development around the park is needed. The Southwark Plan should:
specify maximum building height for developments bordering the park taking into account the extent of shade from new buildings given the park’s narrow shape and the current tree heights;
monitor the park’s capacity to absorb increases in user demand;
• Metropolitan Open Land
The council should compulsorily purchase buildings within Burgess Park Metropolitan Open Land footprint. This would prevent excessive building being proposed (and then having to be opposed by local residents).
• Sunshine ordinance
The council should set up local planning requirements for high standard for green spaces including access to sunshine. The impact of multiple tall buildings on green space must be considered. Sunshine ordinance is already used in places like New York, San Francisco and Japan.
Southwark Council will close the section on New Church Road that runs through the park. The road will no longer be accessible from Monday 4th December. Southwark apologises for any inconvenience caused. The new Quietway 7 cycle pathway which will cut through the park will be built as an alternative route. It is expected to open in spring 2018.
Consultations on the Burgess Park West new play area will take place on:
Tuesday 28 November 3.30 to 5pm Chumleigh Gardens play area, next to the Park Life café, off Albany Road. If the weather is poor the consultation will be inside the Chumleigh West building, which will be signposted from the play area.
Monday 4th December 6pm to 8pm Southwark Council’s offices 160 Tooley Street, SE1 2QH
Drop by to see the emerging design which has taken into account previous consultation results, and tell the designers your ideas and opinions.
If you cannot attend either session and are still interested in the play area design, please get in touch with Pippa Krishnan pippa.krishnan@southwark.gov.uk
Listen to the fascinating podcast audio adaptation of the Animated Walkfrom the Friends’ Zeppelin 1917 season. It tells the story of the Zeppelin Raid on Camberwell, in the industrial and residential area that existed before the creation of the park itself, and puts the tragic events of that night into the context of local life at that time. Read about the Animated Walk.
The sculptures
Plans and production of the houses for the Silent Raid sculpture installation by Sally Hogarth. Photos by Alexander Christie
Wednesday 17 October 2018 from 5.30-7pm
Sally Hogarth will unveil her new art work memorial ‘Silent Raid’. The installation was commissioned by Southwark Council and has been a year in the making. The art work commemorates the Zeppelin raid on Calmington Road (now part of Burgess Park) in 1917 with ten replica houses representing each of the people killed in the attack. Read Sally Hogarth’s blog about creating the sculptures on the Southwark Heritage website.
Meet at Theatre Delicatessen, in the Old Library on Wells Way, for a walk around the locations for the memorial, with speeches, refreshments, a poem by Koko and more. To book tickets for the launch event, please see the Eventbrite page.
Take part in the drop-in family art workshop by Art in the Park.
Refreshments
2.30 pm Camberwell Community Choir sing songs from the First World War
3.15 pm History walk to view the art installation of memorial houses including Q and A with the artist Sally Hogarth
4.30 – 5.30 pm Performance of THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER
The Unknown Soldier is a moving show, often humorous, but above all thought provoking. It looks at the First World War from a new perspective, through the eyes of a man who has survived the carnage but who finds it hard to return home. A story of comradeship, betrayal and of promises both broken and kept following the carnage of World War One. Official EdFringe 2016 sell out show by award nominated writer of Casualties.
FOBP have just won the Mary Boast History Prize, organised by the Camberwell Society. Copies of our winning essay will be available at the events, and you can read more about the Prize here, or read the essay here.
2017 events: Revealing the impact of World War I on people’s lives and society
Southwark News reports on the FOBP Zeppelin 1917 project
Almost one hundred years ago, on the night of 19th October 1917, a Zeppelin bomb landed in Calmington Road, Southwark. It killed 10 people, injured 24 more, and destroyed a fish and chip shop, a doctor’s surgery, and many homes. The Friends of Burgess Park project “Zeppelin 1917” will uncover the stories of local heroes and piece together the dramatic raid right over what is now Burgess Park.
Jon Pickup and Andrew Pearson, from Friends of Burgess Park are leading the project supported by a successful £9,800 Heritage Lottery Fund award. Jon Pickup said “We’re looking for people to volunteer, get involved and during the summer we’ll be visiting the Imperial War Museum and Southwark Heritage Library to look into archive material about the people who lived in the street. This is a fantastic opportunity to do some original research and uncover hidden stories. We’re also delighted that Southwark Council are funding an art piece for the park to remember this event.” Sally Hogarth has been appointed as the artist.
The project kicks off over the summer. Volunteers will find out more about the Zeppelin and the lives of ordinary people who took heroic action as part of the war effort. In September, children’s workshops led by Art in the Park will take place at the Creation Trust, Giraffe House.
During October 2017 a festival of events at Theatre Delicatessen, in the Old Library, Wells Way, will showcase the work created by local residents. John Whelan will bring together the historical research with volunteers to tell the story of the raid through an animated walk. Stephen Bourne, local historian, and author of Black Poppies, will talk about the armed services as well as men and women who stayed at home and played a role in the civil defence.
The Zeppelin 2017 festival will feature:
Exhibition – A timeline of the raid and archival display – open Saturdays during October 2017, with opening talk by Zeppelin expert Ian Castle on Saturday 7 October.
Hidden Heroes – Talk by Stephen Bourne, author of Black Poppies, on the black community and the Great War, Saturday 14 October 2017.
Animated Walk – Created by actors using research by local volunteers, to animate the history of WW1 and the Zeppelin Raid on Calmington Road in October 1917, on Saturday 21 October.
Family events – Drop-in family events including art workshops with Art in the Park, Cuming Museum object handling, stories and rhymes with Vanessa Wolf, Saturday 7 and Thursday 26 and Friday 27 October.
* This will be lead by the head of the Library and Archive at the National Gallery Alan Crookham and historian/ archivist Jane Ruddell from the Mercers.
* It will be an introduction into archives and how best to use them and where and how to look for history/ archives.
Session 2:
Thursday 31st of Aug. 7-9pm. Theatre Deli.
* This will be a handling session of historical artefacts from WW1 from the Cuming Collection.
* It will show how artefacts and ephemera are really important resources in animating the past.
* It will also highlight the Southwark collection from WW1.
Session 3:
Saturday 9th of September. 12-2pm. Southwark History Library.
* This will be lead by Dr Patricia Dark and Lisa Soverall.
* It will look at their extensive document and picture collection around WW1 and the Zeppelin Raid and train participants in how to best use this resource
Thursday 11 January 2018, 4.00 -7.00pm at Burgess Park Community Sports Centre, Cobourg Road, SE5 0JD
Southwark Council with match funding from Parklife Funding Partners (The FA, the Premier League and Sport England) are presenting draft design proposals for developing the community sports hub. Who will run the new facility? Will there be more fencing of sports’ fields? Will Cobourg Road and Neate Street be closed? What will the provision be for access to Cobourg School? Will there be through routes for pedestrians and cyclists? What about parking? Will trees be cut down? Please come along and say what you think about the new plans. Download a pdf of the latest plans.Email your comments to Southwark by 19 January 2018.
2016 plans for Cobourg Road and the Sports Centre development
Southwark Council are proposing a major redevelopment of the Community Sports Centre on Cobourg Road. Friends of Burgess Park are concerned that the plan will fence off more of the park, reduce accessibility, cut down mature trees, increase pedestrian/cyclist conflict and cause parking problems. Read the Friends of Burgess Park submission.
The Living Streets charity for everyday walking studied four paths shared by cyclists and pedestrians in London, including Burgess Park.
The study found that pedestrians experience more conflict than cyclists and there is a disproportionate impact on disabled people. Cycle speed is the key issue for pedestrians and cyclists should be slowed down. Where sharing is unavoidable, signage should make the situation clear. Improving alternate routes may help to diffuse the pressure and tension.
The specific recommendations for Burgess Park are:
Focus on designing an on-road facility for the Southwark Spine cycle route, e.g. along Wells Way rather than through the park
Introduce a small amount of signage to alert park users to the presence of cyclists.
Encourage slower cycling speeds in the park.
Continue to prioritise the destination function of Burgess Park and the leisure facilities.
In the longer term, it is suggested that improved facilities for commuting cyclists be provided on the Old Kent Road, Walworth Road and surrounding roads.
“Because of cyclists coming up behind me, I am always having to look over my shoulders”
“Burgess Park is essentially a giant cyclist interchange, and the [proposed] spine route will make it even busier”
“Are park users pedestrians in the classic sense? People strolling in parks wander around slowly, they turn, walk to the sides… There are also people walking with children and dogs and they are disproportionately affected”
Friends of Burgess Park were consulted for the LIving Streets study.
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Just a piece of unkempt turf on the common that is providing shelter, protection and food for next summer’s butterflies, grass-hoppers and maybe the odd frog.
