Deer cull
The deer cull started Monday 2nd Nov and will continue for approximately 6 weeks. During this time, the pedestrian gates will be locked every day at 8pm and, for public safety, there will be no access to the Park between 8pm and 7.30am the following morning.

Richmond Park Fungi Safari Zoom presentation 21st November
The Fungi Safari is the first of a Zoom virtual series of talks and presentations about nature and wildlife in Richmond Park.
Reserve your free place HERE!
Janet Bostock has been out in the Autumn wind and rain to find fascinating, fabulous fungi in the Park.  Janet will be showing videos and photos of dozens of colourful and unusual species and talking about the essential role of fungi in the natural world and in a growing number of manmade applications.  There will be a Q&A at the end of this live session.  21st November, 10.30 – 11.30 (approx.).
Watch out for further live sessions coming soon in 2021.

Movement Strategy update
The Royal Park’s (TRP’s) Movement Strategy consultation on Parking Charges ended on 1st November. Thank you to all members who participated in the consultation and also sent us their responses. We now await the results of the consultation and TRP’s announcement on next steps. Meanwhile, there will be a further, and final, consultation on the current trial to restrict through traffic, starting in mid-November. 

Another deer killed by a dog
On 1st October, a deer was killed by a dog, despite the attempts of brave cyclists to stop the attack. The dog owner was charged and will appear at Wimbledon Magistrates court on 15 January. This follows the September dog attack we reported last month, and the dog walker in that case will appear at court on 29 December.
Reported in Richmond Nub News    Also in the Mail Online

Give your views about Richmond Park in this short TRP survey
The Royal Parks (TRP) have a new visitor survey that aims to “explore ways to enhance the visitor experience across our Parks, both for long-time users and newcomers, with improvements beginning in 2021”. We encourage all our members to do the survey so that TRP have a good picture of why you come to Richmond Park and what you value about it. We had hoped that the survey would show the value visitors place on the Park’s tranquillity and natural environment rather than any particular activity or ‘visitor attraction’. However, the survey does not mention ‘peace and tranquillity’ anywhere, although previous surveys have always shown it as the number one reason for visitors coming here. There is a category ‘health and well-being’ in Q2 and within that (Q5) a category that lumps ‘relaxing’ with growing food, horticulture, arts and crafts, walking tours and meditation. If, like us, you value the peace and tranquillity of Richmond Park above all, we suggest you write that in Q13 and Q14 with as strong wording as you think appropriate.  Complete the short survey here  

Richmond Park Police Panel
In mid-October the Safer Parks Panel (SPP) had another quarterly meeting with most of the Park stakeholder groups managing to join via Zoom. This meeting focused on July-Sept. police activity, the draft Code of Conduct for cyclists being developed by Richmond Park Cyclists, a report on road traffic incidents and policing priorities for Oct.-Dec.
Parks police activity in July-Sept. Among over 3,000 breaches of Royal Parks Regulations were:

  • 1,018 verbal warnings for harassing deer (over double the norm);
  • 250 commercial vehicles receiving a ticket;
  • 40 verbal warnings and one fine for littering;
  • 500 verbal warnings and 28 formal notices given to speeding cyclists, for “use of a pedal cycle in any manner that endangers or is likely to endanger any person”. Most of these were in the centre of the park, particularly near White Lodge and on the Middle Road (between Ham Cross and Pen Ponds car park, a pathway shared with pedestrians where the speed limit is 10mph).

Road traffic incidents for 9 months Jan-Sept. Half of all incidents involved cyclists only, typically coming off or coming into contact with another cyclist. Fewer than 10% of incidents involved a pedestrian, notably a blind person being struck by a cyclist on the Tamsin Trail.

Rutting deer strikes car
Two fallow deer bucks, battling for supremacy, ended up with one being chased away and colliding with a car. See video

Friends 2021 Calendar and Christmas Cards online

The Richmond Park Calendar (Now sold out 18/12/20)
Our 2021 edition has 45 beautiful photos of the Park and its wildlife. A pleasure throughout the year and a wonderful gift or memento. Wall calendar, stapled, punched hole, size when open: width 29.7cm, height 42.0cm. On FSC-certified paper. Price £8.50

Richmond Park Christmas Cards (only a few left at the Visitor Centre 18/12/20)
6 beautiful images of the wildlife and scenery of Richmond Park. Packs of 8 of one design. Plastic free packaging and glitter free card on FSC-certified paper. Size 14cm x 14cm. Price per pack £4.50.

Question Time with Simon Richards
We were delighted that 120 members joined us from their homes using Zoom for our Question Time with Simon Richards, the Park Manager. Simon answered a wide range of questions from the traffic trial and car parking charges consultation to parakeets and the future of the Park. Members appreciated Simon’s great knowledge of the Park.

Autumn Tree Photo Competition – ends 30 November!
Open now! Closing date 30 November
The overall theme is images that show the character of the Park’s trees.  Photos can be of any part of a tree, whole trees or groups of trees. Entrance is free. See here for details of how to enter, the prizes and Terms and Conditions. This competition is one of a series that we are running in 2020 – one for each season – to celebrate the Park’s trees.

Summer tree photo competition results

We are pleased to announce that the winner of our ‘Year of the Tree’ Summer Photo Competition is Paul Thompson MBE with his image of a Phoenix tree lit by the rising sun, which gives a hopeful message at this difficult time.
There are two equal runners-up with very different images: David Lloyd’s black and white photo of a veteran oak and Kasia Ciesielska–Faber’s photo of a browse line in the morning mist.
You can see their photos as well as the shortlisted and longlisted entries here.
Read all about these photographers in our Autumn Newsletter, out next week.

Tree of the Month
The November Tree of the Month is the Scots Pine. There are over 100 species of pine in the world but only the Scots pine is native to Britain and even this tree is not native in England. Scots pine can grow up to 35m tall and live for up to 700 years. Find out more here.

Quarterly Newsletter – online option
Friends members currently receive the Spring, Summer and Autumn Newsletters as a printed booklet. If any member would like to receive them instead as a pdf document that they can download, please email Chris Mason at membership@frp.org.uk with the Subject heading “Online Newsletter Only”.

You can see examples of newsletters as pdfs here on this website

November  in  the  Isabella  Plantation

Autumn colour and fruits

Acers throughout the gardens assume a variety of autumn tints.

Nyssa sylvatica, the “Tupelo tree”, growing on the bank of Thomson’s Pond turns to shades of rich scarlet, orange and red in the autumn.

Liquidamber styraciflua stands set back from Thomson’s Lawn; this tree was selected for its reliable autumn colour. At this time of year leaves take on shades of rich black, crimson and red.

Taxodium distichum, the “Swamp Cypress” grows by the side of Peg’s Pond and also on the bank of Thomson’s Pond. This deciduous conifer colours bronze in the autumn. When grown by water, larger specimens produce ‘knee-like’ growths called pneumatophores. These growths come from the roots and project above ground to enable the uptake of vital gasses in waterlogged, anaerobic soils.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the “Dawn Redwood” is another deciduous conifer and can be seen growing on Thomson’s Lawn. Its leaves colour russet before dropping.

Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’ grows along the Small Stream from the Still Pond. This shrub bears striking purple berries on bare stems.

Euonymus myrianthus can be found growing in Wilson’s Glade, this evergreen shrub bears stunning orange-yellow fruits that split to reveal orange-scarlet seeds.

Arbutus unedo, the “Strawberry Tree” can be found growing above Thomson’s Pond as well as other locations around the gardens. Red strawberry-like fruits are produced at the same time as white small bell-shaped flowers.

The Heather Garden

Forms of Erica x darleyensis and Erica carnea flower throughout the winter. Also look out for Ericalusitanica, the “Portugese Heath” a type of tree heath whose stems are crowded with white tubular fragrant flowers that are pink in bud.

Nandina domestica, the “Sacred Bamboo” is planted at the top end of this garden. This evergreen shrub has purplish-red tint to the young leaves and a bears a profusion of red spherical berries at this time of year.

The Bog Garden

The leaves on two stands of Gunnera manicata, the “Giant Rhubarb”, have been cut down and placed over a layer of cut bracken covering the plants crown to protect the plant from the elements during the cold winter months.

©The Royal Parks