Photograph: Amanda Boardman.
Mudlarking on Upper Pen Pond
Under the guidance of Sarah Ive, The Royal Parks biodiversity officer, and dressed in wellies and waterproofs, Friends Conservation volunteers and Rangers searched the pond bed looking for litter.
With the water drained while repairs are carried out on the causeway, this was the first time since the pond was drained during the Second World War this could be done. Would there be unexploded ordnance or human remains?
More prosaically, the bulk of our findings was dog toys! We filled 5 bin bags with 608 items of assorted balls; tennis balls, fancy balls and balls on ropes.
We collected 96 bottles of a variety of shapes and uses; milk, juice and alcohol. These have been washed and kept for historical interest.
Also collected were one and a half bags of broken glass and 5 bags of assorted litter (crisp packets, bits of plastic, odd socks and shoes, bones – not human). The oddities included one stirrup, a baby doll’s head, a pair of plastic sandals, a cycle padlock and children’s toys.
Perhaps to be expected we found several fishing lures. The photos reveal the variety.
Cycling and 20mph limit
The Royal Parks have written to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport requesting that the Park Regulations are amended to ensure that the maximum 20mph speed limit on park roads is made applicable to cyclists as well as motor vehicles.
Although The Royal Parks ask cyclists to observe the motor vehicle speed limit it is not currently a specific requirement of the Regulations. The Park Regulations include an offence of cycling “in any manner that endangers or is likely to endanger any person”.
The Royal Parks said: “Whilst we recognise there are challenges associated with this request, most notably on enforcement, we believe it is a change that would ensure clarity for all our road users and improve safety within the parks for both cyclists and other park users. We have a responsibility to everyone who uses the parks to ensure we are acting in a way that protects and promotes their safety.”
We welcome this request from The Royal Parks which, if accepted, should improve safety in the Park.
Heathrow flight paths update
Heathrow Airport continues to develop new arrival and departure flight path options (including over Richmond Park) as part of the national Airspace Modernisation. This is a complete overhaul of UK airspace usage – and is separate from any plans for a third runway.
We continue to be deeply concerned by Heathrow’s plans for new flight paths over Richmond Park. We remain actively engaged including meeting with Heathrow and with local politicians.
If you want regular email updates on this, do sign up at frp.org.uk/save-richmond-park.
Adopt-an-Area (AaA) litter picking scheme – areas available for adoption
At just over 200 members, many of whom are Duke of Edinburgh volunteers, our Adopt-an-Area litter picking scheme continues to help significantly to keep the Park clean. However, the litter dropped seemingly never stops so it always is open to recruiting new volunteers. In particular, following several of our original 2017 members recently deciding it was now time to step down, we are looking for volunteers to cover some of the 29 designated areas, notably on the Richmond/Sheen side of the Park.
If you are interested in taking up a designated area or more generally joining our Adopt-an-Area scheme, please look for further details on the volunteering section of our website: frp.org.uk/volunteering
Pembroke Cottage
Photograph: Knight Frank
Pembroke Lodge had been languishing for a number of years when it was acquired, restored and transformed by the private company Hearsum Family Limited on a long lease from the Royal Parks Agency in 1998. When visitors now enjoy the lodge and its magnificent gardens they might just see a tantalising glimpse of a chimney pot and the top of a thatched cottage hidden between the flower gardens and King Henry’s Mound. Discreetly tucked away in almost half an acre of lawned garden nestles Pembroke Cottage. It is understood that Pembroke Lodge was built sometime before 1754 and Pembroke Cottage was added far later in the late 1800s.
The cottage has been substantially redeveloped and sympathetically extended by the Hearsum Family to provide a delightful three bedroom, four bathroom residence. Mrs Hearsum, now a widow, has decided the property is too large, and as such considered it to be a good time to sell the property. It is with estate agents Knight Frank to be sold through informal tender with a remaining leasehold of 142 years and a guide price of five million pounds.
Piers Eley
The Friends were sorry to learn of the recent death of Piers Eley. Piers served for more than 20 years as Chairman of the Richmond Park Wildlife Group, the group that brings together the Park’s wildlife experts and volunteer groups. He was the inspiration for many of the Park’s conservation projects. As the Park’s expert on butterflies, he led the Park’s Butterfly Group for many years. Simon Richards, the Park Manager for all of Piers’ time as Chairman of the Wildlife Group, has called Piers the ‘conscience’ of the Park, the person who really understood its ecology and wildlife and called out anything that threatened it.