On Friday 11 July last year, Sir David Attenborough opened Attenborough Pond and launched a public appeal for £16,000 to improve and restore wildlife habitats along the historic Beverley Brook.
You can see photos from the day on our Facebook page and a short (1 min) video here
The Appeal has raised £17,500, well above its target of £16,000 and we have now closed the appeal.
The funds have come from a combination of a few large donations and many smaller ones. We thank all those who kindly donated to the appeal.
Match funding is being provided by the Friends, the Park’s Visitor Centre and the conservation charity Healthy Planet, that will take the total up to £35,000. With this funding secure, further funding is being sought from environmental bodies and Trusts.
The broad scoping of the project has been done over the winter and detailed design work is now underway. Once the necessary environmental approvals are in place, some work is likely to start in the summer with most of it next year.
Thank you very much to all those who contributed to the appeal. You have made an important wildlife project possible.
If you have any questions about the project, please e-mail chairman@frp.org.uk
Beverley Brook restoration
Beverley Brook runs through Richmond Park for 2 km. Its name derives from the beavers that lived in it in medieval times.
Over the last 150 years, the brook has been straightened and widened, replacing the original natural meandering watercourse with an ecologically sterile channel. It now has little variation in flow and few habitats for fish, birds and other wildlife.
The restoration work uses in-channel changes to create a more natural flow and a variety of new habitats to support a more diverse fauna and flora. These changes include flow deflectors, fish shelters and spawning grounds, kingfisher nest tunnels, pollarding of willow trees to reduce overhang and shade, and stabilising and protecting the banks.
Attenborough Pond
On Friday 11 July, Sir David Attenborough opened the newly constructed Attenborough Pond.
The Pond is located a short way up the road from Robin Hood Gate to Pen Ponds car park. It is fed by the outfall from Martin’s Pond (higher up the hill) via a newly opened ditch, and drains into Beverley Brook and from there to the Thames at Barnes.
Attenborough Pond folds around a single Black Poplar tree – one of the UK’s rarest native trees and a priority species for conservation. Liverworts, mosses, grasses, rushes and celandine, as well as amphibians are likely to colonise the pond and its margins. The marshy areas around the pond have great potential for Great Crested Newts.
Attenborough Pond was funded by Healthy Planet, Richmond Park Charitable Trust, The Friends of Richmond Park and The Royal Parks.
Attenborough Pond and Beverley Brook are the third and fourth projects in the Friends’ Ponds & Streams Conservation Programme. For more information on both ponds and the Ponds & Streams Programme, click here