Three years of the London Living WaterProgramme

Queens Wood - Haringey Ruskin Park, Lambeth

Foots Cray Meadow - Bexley

The London Living Water Project is refreshingly simple

To identify habitats in need of restoration for the benefit of amphibians and reptiles - both terrestrial & aquatic.

To identify areas for habitat creation for the benefit of amphibians and reptiles – both terrestrial & aquatic.

To provide training/support/advice to volunteers/local groups/councils to maintain habitats and to replicate work elsewhere.

To encourage wide ranging community engagement

The programme started in 2008 with a £98,600 grant from CityBridge Trust to work in six boroughs. This in turn generated a total income over the three year periodof £375,879. The programme employed two Project Officer’sand in total worked in nine boroughs.

Forty Hall, Enfield Lewisham Kidbook Green, Greenwich

The Stats

Over the three year period Froglife has:

Created 23 pondsRestored 18 ponds1,500 people engaged in activities1,260 people trained in new skills23 pond doctor visitors5 demonstration sites33 events hosted by Froglife102 site visits16 amphibian surveys19 management and pond planting days31 terrestrial habitats improved

Sites worked on

Lambeth: Palace Road Nature Garden; Ruskin Park; Roots and Shoots Community Garden; Myatt’s Fields; Norwood Park.

Bexley: Foots Cray Meadow Haringey: The Paddock; Muswell Hill School; Railways Fields;

Scout Park; Queens Wood; Bury Lodge; Alexandra Palace; Springfield Park; St Gildas school; Broadwater Farm School; Rhodes Avenue School; North Haringey School; Downshill Park

Enfield: Bury Lodge Park; Trent Park; Conway Recreation Ground; Lee Valley Regional Park; Cherry Tree Wood; Durance Park

Ealing: Trumpers Way Hounslow: Bedfont Lakes Lewisham: Sydenham Gardens , Frensbury Gardens Greenwich: Eaglesfield Park; Greenwich Royal Parks; Kidbrook

Green. Tower Hamletts: Mile End Park

Case Study: Railway FieldsHaringey

The pond in this small reserve of only 1 hectare had its butyl liner punctured by tree roots and was in need of restoration.

1500 school children visit the reserve every year with pond dipping being a central focus.

Froglife working in partnership with Haringey Council & BTCV was awarded a £40,000 HLF grant.

Froglife relined the pond and increased the size of the dipping platform to allow double the amount of children to pond dip at any one time.

A ramp for wheelchair access has also been constructed. The project has a large educational and Volunteering element and

Froglife organised over

ten activity workshops, two training courses; set up a Friends of group; organised a pond planting day; installed interpretation board and photo exhibition.

Open day - shadow puppets Removing the old liner

Restored pond

Case Study: Ruskin Park

A 14ha prk and Site of Borough Grade 11 Importance for Nature Conservation. Opened to the public in 1907.

An ornamental pond is spring fed and has limited value for wildlife

Froglife carried out habitat management work to improve the marginal vegetation using coir rolls, staked faggot bundles and coir pallets.

Froglife also created a new wildlife pond, located close to the existing pond and railway corridor in some rough species poor grassland.

The pond was planted up with help from council staff and a good number of volunteers.

Both ponds are establishing nicely with invertebrate interest and in time it should offer a good habitat for amphibians.

Workers installing faggots Volunteer planting day

Pond filling up

Case Study: Roots & Shoots Roots and Shoots is a community project providing vocational

training for young people from the inner city. The main pond had a split liner Froglife reprofiled and enlarged the pond area and installed a new

bentonite lined pond. Newts and frogs are returning

David Perkins, Educational Officer and wildlife garden deeper provided a spring update:

“The frogs that returned to the restored pond were very wary in the normalweek of spawning and scarpered to the deeper water as soon as disturbed. The newts are laying like mad – on the straw bales and now on the watercrowfoot I put in February that is now growing well. I have done work aroundthe edges and around the platform and using it with children in the last fewweeks”

Step by step Palace Road, Lambeth

Large pond – old liner being removed from 10m diameter pond

Large pond lined with GCL – looks like carpet impregnated with cat litter!

Large pond top dressed with 300mm compacted screened subsoil

Large pond - part filled

At Froglife we believe that wildlife is foreverbody – it is all about conservation

in the community

David MacDonald, The Friends of Downhills Park, Tottenham, Haringey“Thanks...you did a great job for us. Until the Living Water project no hope of the park managing approving it. What a turn around!”

Del Spencer, The Scouts Association & member of Conway Recreational Ground Friends Group

“Thanks very much for allowing me to attend the course...I really enjoyed the day and the instruction was excellent. I have borrowed some waders and, with confidence, will now go into Conway Road pond and clear some debris.

Michael Rowan – Director of Mile End Park, Tower Hamletts“I write to thank you for all the help and support that I have received from

Froglifeover the past two years or more. In particular I would like to thank RebeccaTurpin for her advice and support which has proved invaluable. She has beencrucial in securing funding for the park that will take the biodiversity agendaforward in ways that we would not have imagined without her enthusiasm andsupport.l

High praise indeed

Andrea Perry, Friends of Norwood Park“ We are a park in an area of high density housing with highlevels of child poverty and the impact of the work about totake place should not be underestimated. So thank you forFroglife.”

“The pond is a great addition to the park. You can reallysee its future potential. Particularly when looking down formthe top of the hill youcan imagine what it will look like onceit has blended in with the surrounding landscape. It alreadyhas water in it and hopefully will havesome wildlife visitors soon”

And more praise

Our London work is ongoing

• Great Crested Newt Revisited project – SITA funded – now in 2nd year of surveying and habitat restoration

• Dragon Finder – HLF funded – development phase – encompassing all of Froglife’s previous work in London: London wide allotment surveys 2000-2002; Pond Doctor; London Living Water – bringing it all together into one holistic project delivering across all London boroughs.

Kathy Wormald, Froglife CEOwww.froglife.org

kathy.wormald@froglife.org