Over the last few weeks, a team of 20 people has been nest-spotting, about half of them Royal Parks employees and contractors, the other half Friends' volunteers. The volunteers have put in around 300 hours between them, and we and The Royal Parks are very grateful to them.
As of July 1, about 130 nests have been found, all north of a line between Ham Gate, Pen Ponds car park and Roehampton Gate. Where they have been in areas of frequent public use, they have been removed immediately. If not, they have awaited a removal team which was in the Park the week ending July 2, and should have removed them all. The spotting and removal is likely to continue for another two weeks. Their removal means that there is minimal risk to the public, but you will find that some trees have fences around them and you will see temporary notices where nests are awaiting removal.
Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story. Last year three nests were spotted, this year 130. Nests have been found in neighbouring golf courses, on Star and Garter HIll, and in other surrounding areas. So we can expect next year to be worse.
This item first appeared in the Friends' July bulletin.