Join volunteers creating biodiversity in Willesden New Cemetery October 12th

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Join in an amazing biodiversity activities-based afternoon at the Welsh Harp on Saturday July 29th 12-4.30pm

 From Thames21

 

Join us for a series of workshops and events at Welsh Harp - all designed to improve awareness of biodiversity and the environment as well as benefiting health and wellbeing.

 

Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre, follow the signs toward Birchen Grove Garden Centre

Birchen Grove,
London, NW9 8RY 

Get involved with offerings from: Let's Grow Brent (with activities running from a stall - come along and join us for potting, talks, demos and more), Forest & Family Stories by Moonlight, Brent Friends of the Earth, a biodiversity walk, Climate Fresk, Brent Scouts, Brent Body Balance tai chi, Brook Way Biodiversity Project talk, Lulubell's Wildlife Rescue, Brent (Young) Wildlife-Recorders, Harrow Nature Heroes and Friends of Welsh Harp.

To sign up for the individual activities, please choose from the add-ons. Spaces are limited for most events so be sure to book a place!

 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/welsh-harp-biodiversity-event-tickets-666747157697

Meet us at Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre - follow the signs towards Birchen Grove Garden Centre using the postcode above. Birchen Grove is a minor road off Blackbird Hill with traffic lights at the junction. Drive/walk all the way to the end of Birchen Grove and straight through the big green gates, following the signs to the Birchen Grove Garden Centre. Continue along the road a short way and the classroom building is on the left before arriving at the Garden Centre.

Public Transport:

83, 182, 245, 297, 302 busses pass within a ten minute walk of the centre. Nearest tube station is Wembley Park.

Anyone with known allergies to bits, stings, must advise us in advance via Eventbrite ™ - and bring their steroid pumps on the day.

If you have any known food or drink allergies, please bring your own snacks and drinks. We will have milk in flasks for hot chocolate at the last event at 3pm Stories by Moonlight, and also in the classroom tea area. Please take care to avoid consumption or contact. We will also have coco -chocolate and coconut milk powder that contain malto-dextrose. This may be an allergy trigger to those sensitive to these ingredients.

Dogs Welcome: Must be kept on leads and under control at all times within the main activity area. No more than two large dogs and four small dogs at any one time within this area. We reserve the right to ask an owner to remove their dog if it is not under control or suffering undue distress. Water provided: Please bring your own bowls.

Guest Post: Biodiversity and geological conservation not taken into consideration in Brent Council's Newland Court infill proposal

 Guest post by Marc Etukudo in a personal capacity

I just been made aware that Brent Council have failed to conduct a SPECIES SURVEY for their  proposal at Newland Court, planning application 22/3124  as numerous habitual wildlife are living in the trees in a conservation area where they intend to remove 13 trees. The numerous species of wildlife includes BATS, MAGPIES, PARAKEETS, ROBINS and even SQUIRRELS. BATS are a protected SPECIES under the wildlife and countryside ACT 1981 and regulations ACT 1994.

 

The Royal Town Planning Institute states that ‘PRE-APPLICATION INFORMATION GATHERING 5.3 Chapter 2 deals with the way that planning authorities can develop and maintain any evidence based upon which to plan for biodiversity and geological conservation. This will supplement the further information required to determine a planning application.’

 

SPECIES SURVEYS 5.10 Many individual wildlife species receive statutory protection under a range of legislative provisions and licences may be needed when they are affected by development. The development control process plays a critical part in ensuring that the statutory protection of species is applied and the Circular sets this out in detail. PPS9 also requires that other species identified as requiring conservation action as species of principal importance for the conservation of biodiversity in England are protected from the adverse effects of development, where appropriate, by using planning conditions or obligations.

 

Bats are a protected species under schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) and schedule 2 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994. It is illegal to kill, injure or capture a bat, or to recklessly disturb their roosts.

 

SOME OF THE 13 TREES BRENT COUNCIL WANT TO REMOVE

 

Having read through Brent Council’s planning application that they have submitted I have also found that they have answered numerous questions with misleading answers. I have highlighted them in yellow with comments of what should be the right answers in blue below. (PDF Version HERE)

 

 

 

 

 

 

So as you can see, Brent Council have submitted their planning application with lots of misleading answers. I have raised these same misleading answers and the fact that they are also breaching numerous of their own planning guidance rules to the Brent Council’s planning department. With this and other culminating factors, if this was a private planning application submitted, it would have been rejected, shredded and binned straight away. But it’s not, it is Brent Council’s own application so let’s see what happens.

 

Marc Etukudo

 

 

New urban wildflower sowings boost biodiversity along Brent’s roads and on its roundabouts

Barham Park (last year)

Sudbury Court Drive (recently)

Fryent Roundabout (May 2020)

From Brent Council

Newly sown verges and roundabouts are bringing life and colour to Brent's roads this summer, as the borough's biodiversity-boosting Bee Corridor is expanded for 2020.

Last spring, wildflower-rich urban meadows were introduced in 22 of Brent's best-loved parks. Together, they formed a 'bee corridor' - the first of its kind in London - and prompted a rare species of butterfly to return to the capital.

By building on the programme to rewild parks and open spaces, the Council hopes to encourage even more visits from pollinating insects. This year, 13 verges and roundabouts have been transformed into urban oases for bees, butterflies, dragonflies and moths.

Studies have revealed a huge drop in the number of pollinating insects across the UK since the 1980s, prompted in part by the loss of wild habitats. More than 97% of the UK's wildflower meadows have disappeared since World War Two.

Cllr Krupa Sheth, Lead Member for Environment at Brent Council, said:

Many of us have been lucky enough to reconnect with nature during lockdown. Seeing the human impact of this pandemic has brought home just how fragile life is, and that's why it's so important that we protect pollinating insects. They play a crucial role in our food chain. I'm incredibly proud of our commitment to boost biodiversity in Brent, and hope our residents enjoy the new splashes of colour too.

Locations for the new wildflower areas are as follows:

• John Lyon Roundabout
• Sudbury Court Drive
• Kingsbury Roundabout
• Fryent Roundabout 
• Fryent Way 
• Bridgewater Road 
• Sudbury Green Junction with Bridgewater Road
• Sudbury Roundabout
• The Avenue Mayfields Green
• The Avenue Basing Green
• The Mall 
• Queensbury Station green
• Neasden Roundabout

Soil isn’t sexy but we need to dig in and help conserve it

I am just back from a few days away in Cambridge and the surrounding countryside so this press release from Green MEP Molly Scott Cato has come at a time when I am reflecting on what I saw.  It is not just the concreting over of vast tracts of land on the outskirts of Cambridge but also the intensive and vast mono-culture that is evident.


Molly Scott Cato,, who sits on the European Parliament’s Agricultural Committee, has echoed calls for radical reforms to agriculture as the UK prepares to leave the EU.  A campaign for reform is being launched by campaign group Greenpeace who have called for an end to the single payment scheme, arguing it disproportionately benefits large landowners and fails to deliver enough public benefit.
Greens have long championed reforms to the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) calling for a farming support policy which improves soil fertility, protects and encourages biodiversity, safeguards animal welfare, reduces the use of pesticides and fertilizers and promotes crop rotation. They have also called for a ceiling for farm payments of €100,000 a year, allowing more money to go towards supporting a shift to smaller scale sustainable farming and creating long-term employment in rural economies. However, Molly also believes the government have stood in the way of implementing green measures under CAP. She said:

We need to ensure that farm payments are not directed towards wealthy landowners, a choice that was made by the UK government rather than the EU during the CAP era. The government had an opportunity to cap payments over a certain threshold and allow payments to smaller farmers with under 5 hectares. They chose not to. Likewise, with part of farmers’ payments under CAP already dependent on implementing greening measures, DEFRA chose a restrictive approach, failing to give farmers many options in implementing such measures.

I have long argued to cap the CAP and for CAP payments to be based on the achievement of environmental benefits but it is often conservative governments, supported by their land-owning baron chums, who have blocked reforms.

Molly and her Green colleagues Jean Lambert MEP and Keith Taylor MEP recently made a written submission to the Commons inquiry on The Future of the Natural Environment, expressing their concerns about the future of farming support following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Molly said:

The government has failed to outline its vision for British farming following the vote to withdraw from the EU but shows worrying signs it will try and take us down a route to intensify our farming industry. There is also the risk of losing the environmental protections pioneered in the EU, such as the Birds and Habitats directive. We must also acknowledge the huge and important part farming can play in averting climate chaos by capturing carbon.

So, this is a critical time for small scale farmers, environmental campaigners and progressive politicians to seize the moment and help shape a healthy, economically sustainable and environmentally-friendly agriculture sector for the future. 

Molly is also supporting a new European Citizens’ Initiative, People4Soil which aims to get over a million people to sign a petition to put pressure on EU institutions to adopt specific legislation on soil protection. Writing for the New Scientist on the new initiative, Molly said:

Soil is critical to much of our food. It also safeguards biodiversity, as a habitat for below-ground life as well as helping mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. Given the importance of agriculture, food sovereignty and security to the EU, it’s time legal safeguards for soil were introduced in Europe and beyond.

Biodiversity check in Masons Field, Kingsbury

The Big Butterly Count started yesterday and I walked in Masons Field this afternoon to see how the creation of a wildflower habitat and the re-establishing of a Green Lane were affecting the number of butterflies.

The number of butterflies and other insects is of course a clue to the healthiness of our biodiversity as well as a way of assessing the impact of climate change.

I was pleased to see significant numbers on the Green Lane, although they are quite hard to see in the video. Masons Field was one of only two arable fields in the area, the rest are pasture, and having been recorded as long ago as the 15th century it had latterly been partly used for housing and the remainder as a Sports Ground. Much more about its history can be found HERE

It is pleasing that the hard work of Brent Council and the Barn Hill Conservation Group seems to be paying off and the field is well worth a visit. Enter via Fryent Country Park or Larkspur Close.

To contribute to the Big Butterly Count and for identification charts  and a free App click HERE