10/10/09: Southwark brownfields could be better for wildlife, but benefit from 'negative growth'

I was surprised at the number of brownfield sites I came across en route from London Bridge to Waterloo station.

As the invertebrate conservation charity Buglife have made clear, brownfield sites can be extremely valuable for wildlife

http://www.buglife.org.uk/conservation/currentprojects/Habitats+Action/Brownfields/allaboutbrownfields.htm


I was less surprised by the fact these sites weren't being worked on, given the current 'economic climate'. So yes, there are positive things about a 'recession'.

What is a 'recession'? According to the BBC the UK economy is in recession when it experiences two successive quarters of what is known as "negative growth". For this to happen, the total amount of goods and services produced by the UK - known as gross domestic product (GDP) - would have to contract on a quarter by quarter basis for a total period of six months.

Welcome to the wacko world of Westminster party extinction economics. Has our pile of existing material wealth suddenly vanished? No, but you would think so given the screaming headlines. Is it a good idea to consume more and more resources at an ever faster rate when the UK is living a three-planet lifestyle already, and according the the New Economics Foundation the world went into ecological debt for the year in September. Er, no. But according to Gord, Dave and Nick THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE. But that's because they've got everyone on the same debt-laden treadmill, so if too many people wise up and stop guzzling the goods all of a sudden a load of people become unemployed and the whole system starts to unravel. And never mind that GDP is an extremely gross measure, including all manner of damaging activities as 'positive' economic activity.

Well here, for the historical record, are the havens I came across before we 'recover' (albeit not our senses) and most probably build all over them .........

Brownfield site, Union St (south side of the London-Bridge-Waterloo railway, line which is on the viaduct above). Note some kind of art installation (?) looking like so many bracket fungi growing out of the brick wall. I quite like it!

Brownfield site a bit further west along Union St, again on the south side of the London-Bridge-Waterloo railway line.

The flora of these sites included several Tree of Heaven (see below) and typical plants for such places such as Buddleia, Canadian (or Jersey?) Fleabane, Annual Mercury, Woody Nightshade, Pellitory-of-the-wall and Oxford Ragwort. All that rubble would be great for reptiles, in the somewhat unlikely event there are any in the vicinity.

What the Americans would call a 'vacant lot' at the corner of Risborough St and Union St., with the ghostly outline of former buildings plainly visible. I couldn't resist getting the name of the bar in the shot. And although you can't read it without enlarging the picture, the upper advertising panel on that end wall says 'Rose Brand Fine Teas'.

Perennial Wall-rocket made an appearance here, along with Herb Robert, Black Horehound, Creeping Thistle and Purple Toadflax but ........

the most interesting specimen was this non-native purple Convolvulus (Ipomoea)

False Acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia) spilling over the boarding round this large brownfield site on Bear Lane, bounded on the other side by Great Suffolk St.

The same site pictured through the small hole in the previous photograph. Row of Silver Birch as street trees in the background. Quite a lot of hard surfacing still in place here.

Large site on the east side of Blackfriars Rd, on the north side of Burrell St. , through a gap in a gate. According to an official notice posted on the hoarding, the TfL-granted licence for it to remain in place had expired on 31st May ...........

On which note, it seems to me that several of these sites were not dangerous to the public (unless ridden with toxic chemicals), and probably less so than crossing the road. It would be good if some people at least were allowed in to sow or plant things that would enhance them for wildlife, even if just for a year. I suggest that amongst other things the annual Phacelia tanacetifolia, the best bee attracting plant I've ever grown (sold as a green manure), could usefully be employed. In my experience you just sow and grow. It will self-sow itself thereafter, is not mown down by molluscs, reaches a good size and can provide flowers over a long period. It is ornamental-looking enough to keep the public happy. A few 'portholes' in the hoardings would allow anyone interested to have a look.

Going back to the Chinese Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) mentioned earlier, this is an increasingly common and invasive non-native in this part of the capital. It grows quickly and reproduces from prolific wind- and water-dispersed seeds and from numerous root suckers that allow it to re-sprout vigorously from cut stumps and root fragments.

Here is one in fruit:

Fruiting Tree of Heaven by Waterloo station

10/10/09: Southwark and Lambeth's progressive parks and planting

I was pleased to see good use being made of both native and 'garden' plants in the parks that I came across on my back-streets walk from London Bridge to Waterloo station, and in general the more relaxed, less formal styles of planting being adopted.

Red Cross Park on Redcross Way has a nice pond, a wildflower mini-meadow under development, and some 'European new wave' type plantings of perennials and grasses.


I saw one of the species of Darter dragonfly on this boardwalk by the pond, but couldn't get close enough for a certain ID as to which one.

Native water plants here include Marsh Marigold (centre top) and Bogbean - which will have beautifully fringed white flowers (the thing that looks a bit like a Broad Bean plant, bottom).

A number of seedlings of Meadowsweet and of the non-native ornamental grass Stipa tenuissima had 'escaped' into the crack between the pavement and the outside face of the garden's boundary wall.

Mint St park had varous formal elements like the clipped Box in the foreground and stepped grass area beyond.

The flower beds had an eclectic mix of garden ornamentals like Lavender, Cotton Lavender, Sage, Rosemary, hardy Geraniums, Asters and Japanese Anemone and natives such as Teasel and Common St. John's-wort, plus self-sowing garden herbs like Lemon Balm and Borage.

There was a single Common Stork's-bill in some thin gravel.

Further on it was good to see street trees in what might be considered less promising locations.

Tree close to railway viaduct on Burrell St.

Junction of Chancel St and Treveris St.

An example of the welcome new idea of growing food round blocks of flats.

I would rather see areas of grass like this - frequently mown to within an inch of its life - formally or guerilla-gardened than 'sanitise' brownfield sites, since the latter can be much more valuable for wildlife.

There was a stand of Bracken in a park on Ufford St.

Waterloo Rd park, Lambeth, at the junction of Waterloo Rd and Baylis Rd. The large plant on the right is Thorn Apple (Datura stramonium) , an introduced 'weed' from central and south America in the Potato family which, being highly poisonous, was presumably not planted here deliberately.

The garden plant Rudbekia laciniata under Silver Birch.

One end of the park has a stream with water plants such as Water Mint. The other had the cut-down remains of a man-made meadow, with what looked like a very similar mix to the one at Hall Place, Bexley, namely species such as Bird's-foot Trefoil, Black Knapweed, Ox-eye Daisy, Lady's Bedstraw and Sainfoin. There was also the remains of some kind of Primula, plus Red Clover, Hemlock, Wild Carrot, Musk Mallow, Hop and a single plant of Gorse.

Man-made meadow in Waterloo Rd. park - the yellow of Lady's Bedstraw in the foreground, looking towards Waterloo terminus station.

10/10/09: Some Southwark and Lambeth side-street species

Having messed up and failed to check for weekend engineering works, I couldn't get to the London Natural History Society meeting I'd intended to go to in time because of bus substitution. But I bought a Travelcard anyway, and decided to set out from London Bridge station with no particular route in mind. As it happens, I eventually ended up by the terminus at Waterloo. Most of the journey was within the London Borough of Southwark, with the end part in Lambeth.

There was a lot of Galinsoga around London Bridge station between Railway Approach and London Bridge Street, in O'Meara St and Redcross St.

A Hart's-tongue Fern was growing in a wet spot under the railway arches on O'Meara St.

The flora around St. Joseph's School on Redcross Way included Pellitory-of-the-wall, Woody Nightshade and Spotted Medick.

Take away the car, the road markings and recast in sepia or black-and-white and Copperfield St (below) with its large Limes wouldn't look out of place in a collection of pictures from the early 1900s.

Copperfield St - olde worlde, semi-countrified feel (apart from the car ....)

There's a battle going on with the church over a proposed re-development of All Hallows, where this huge Fig (Ficus carica) - the largest I've ever seen - grows in the grounds by the road.

Very large Fig tree, All Hallows Church, Copperfield Street

A couple of ferns were growing in the recessed corner of the churchyard wall at the corner of Copperfield St and Pepper St. One was Asplenium (probably) trichomanes. A piece of the other, the fronds of which had by now died and dried, is pictured here:

Fern from Pepper St, Southwark, believed to be Chinese Holly Fern (Cyrtomium falcatum), an introduced species.

I don't have a modern fern identification, guide so have resorted to websites. Please comment if you think I've got this wrong (or right!).

There were also 24 small Hart's-tongue ferns in the wall further along Pepper St.

There was more from China ....

Juxtaposition of the very old and the very new: the Gingko, or Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo biloba), increasingly used in urban streets, looks the part as a 'modern' architectural plant when set against this recent development at the junction of Dolben St and Great Suffolk St.

Fossils recognisably related to today's Ginkgo date back 270 million years to the Permian period, with one of perhaps only two species, G. gardneri, having been found in the Paleocene of Scotland.

Geranium rotundifolium seedling (left) - with characteristic dark spots at the lobe junctions, in a stone sett 'lane' off Dolben St

The Lambeth Borough side of Gray Street is the first place where I've found both of the South American Soldiers, Shaggy Soldier (Galinsoga quadriradiata) and Gallant Soldier (Galinsoga parviflora), growing within a stone's-throw of each other. In my experience the latter is taller, more slender, has longer internodes (to the fowering stems), is more widely branching, not noticeably hairy, with usually smooth or far less idented leaf margins and tends to be a paler colour. If there are any other naturalised Galinsoga that these might be, I'm not aware of it.

Gallant Soldier (Galinsoga parviflora), by the Stage Door pub on Gray Street

Some of the large number Gallant Soldier (Galinsoga parviflora) growing on steps outside a disused office building on Waterloo Rd (next to No. 133-155)

There were a further 6 Shaggy Soldier in the sloping road leading up to the side of Waterloo terminus station.