By Rob Robb, CDRA executive committee member
Published: 5th September 2024
Members of the RBK South of the Borough Neighbourhood Watch Dog Watch Group expressed concerns about the proposed management of Tolworth Court Farm Fields and its implications for dog walkers.
Rumours circulating ranged from completely stopping dog walking to developing the site for housing.
Fortuitously, Ben Stockwell of Citizen Zoo was holding a dog friendly nature walk at Tolworth Court Farm Fields on 22nd August 2024.
I joined Ben and his dog Ernie, fellow Citizen Zoo Urban Rewilding Officer Digby Wheeler, along with other residents and their dogs, at the main entrance to the site on the east boundary by the A240. One person had come all the way from Chelsea.
Tolworth Court Farm Fields is a 43.3-hectare (107 acre) Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in Tolworth, part of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. The Hogsmill River runs along its southern border. It was designated an LNR in 2004 and is destined to become one of London’s leading nature reserves.
History
The fields have been under cultivation since the Domesday Book in the 11th century. Back then, they were associated with a prestigious manor during the Middle Ages. The manor house was situated on the land now owned by the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames across the other side of the A240, off the Old Kingston Road.
The Tolworth Court Farm Fields likely existed even before the late 18th-century Enclosure Acts came into play. Remarkably, the landscape has remained largely unchanged over the past 150 years. From 2003 until 2023, these fields were carefully managed as neutral hay meadows.
The Roman Road, Stane Street, which runs from Chichester to London Bridge, goes through part of the fields.
Rewilding
Despite the prescribed annual hay cut, which should increase the botanical diversity of the meadows, recent surveys have shown that the assemblage of plant communities has either remained the same or degraded over time. Similarly, despite recording over 1000 invertebrate species on the fields, this is less than a site of this size should have. Increased usage by dog walkers over the past few decades has led to a reduction in ground-nesting birds, such as skylarks, that were found on site in the 1970s.
The aim is to restore and enhance the site with a diverse and wide range of flora and fauna. Other local projects have been successful with reintroducing water vole along the Hogsmill River, and more voles are to be introduced to strengthen the genetic diversity. However, existing mature and well-established hedgerows will remain, as they provide safe highways for mammals and invertebrates to cross the site in safety.
We looked at one hedgerow which was made up of a wide range of plants, bushes and trees. One of them being the blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). Its berries are sloes that are used in the process of making sloe gin. The hedge also had blackberries and young trees such as oak saplings.
Ben explained that the Brown Hairstreak butterfly relies totally on the blackthorn for its life cycle, laying its eggs in the joint between a stalk and a branch and for its caterpillars to survive.
In the gap between the hedges was a beautiful oak tree and Ben said that they can grow up to 40 meters tall, and it is believed that an oak can live for up to 1000 years. The tree we were looking at could easily be over 300 years old. Oak trees have a mutualistic relationship with jays that bury acorns, like squirrels, so they have a larder to sustain them over the winter. Jays don’t recall all the locations where they’ve buried their acorns, resulting in well-established saplings.
Roe deer inhabit the site, and coupled with the ongoing annual hay-cutting, any saplings exposed in the open become deer delicacies or are cut out. After a period of ‘vegetation pulse’, where the hedgerows spill out and expand, we saw saplings thriving near the hedgerows and within the fields, often protected from grazing animals by thorny vegetation.
A herd of Sussex cattle will soon grace the landscape. These clever bovines, armed with their trusty tongues, create a delightful variety of vegetation heights by deftly pulling out plants. The cattle will be wearing a GPS collar which emits a sound telling them to turn back when they reach the boundary of their grazing area.
Sheep, on the other hand, graze closer to the ground, not allowing seedlings to get established.
The grazing area will be enclosed by a perimeter fence and dog walkers will be allowed to cross this area, but will be asked to keep their dogs on leads. There will, however, be a strip running parallel to the Hogsmill River that is outside the grazing zone where dogs can be off the lead. It is up to residents and dog walkers to respect the area and ensure all gates are securely closed behind them.
During the walk, Elliot Newton, our Royal Borough of Kingston Biodiversity Officer, joined the group.
I asked about bats, as we see them in our back garden in Chessington this time of year. Elliot told us about an event he is holding to look for bats. There are three species of bats: Common Pipistrelle, Daubenton’s who catch predatory insects from the water’s surface with their large feet or tail, and Soprano Pipistrelle.
A new wetlands area
Originally the Hogsmill River meandered through the fields but was straightened sometime around the 1950s, likely as part of a flood reduction scheme. However, the old route of the Hogsmill can still be seen and has left an indentation in the ground. It is here the construction of a new wetlands area has been proposed.
After considering the option of redirecting the Hogsmill River through this area of the site, it was determined that this would not be possible. This was due to the presence of gas and sewage infrastructure, as well as UK Power Network’s overhead pylon passing through that part of the site on its way to the substation at Fairoak Lane, Malden Rushett.
The fields are within the Thames Basin and the underlying earth is London Clay. The ground going down to the clay will be dug out and used as a natural liner and for constructing a sustainable drainage scheme. Surface water runoff would naturally migrate towards the wetlands area, as it is at the bottom of the natural valley area formed historically by the Hogsmill River. It will also collect rainfall and hopefully be full for most of the year and, at the very least, always be boggy with a high-water table.
This wetland would attract a wide range of invertebrates, insects and other mammals and with them returning, encourage a wider range of bird life.
There will be a boardwalk over the wetland, allowing people to walk over the top and experience it first-hand. Further down the line, there are plans for a dedicated path constructed to make the site more accessible to wheelchair users and those with walking challenges. The path will join the boardwalk bridge that will cross over the wetlands area.
We did see a heron pass over during the walk – anything that will keep them away from our garden ponds would be much appreciated!
Safer Neighbourhoods
Our group was also joined by PC Connor Gaymer, Tolworth Court Farm being part of the RBK South of the Borough Community Safer Neighbourhoods Team under Sergeant Oli Shearer. The Safer Neighbourhoods Team plays a major role in spotting and dealing with anti-social behaviour. Hopefully, our Neighbourhood Watch Dog Watch members will help to keep an eye on the area and report back to Sergeant Oli Shearer and his team.
How we can protect nature
This will be a fantastic natural resource, and we should be proud to have this wonderful Local Nature Reserve on our doorstep. We all need to play our part, understanding and respecting that it is the home to a wide and diverse range of flora and fauna, and we are intruding on their space. Therefore, let’s respect nature and do our bit to ensure we do not upset the fine balance.
We can do this by:
- Keeping our dogs on a lead when we are within the areas designated for grazing the cattle.
- Ensuring we shut the gates and stick to dedicated paths as much as possible.
- Reporting any anti-social behaviour e.g. fly-tipping that you see.
Want to exercise your dog off lead? There are two options:
There is a strip running along the Hogsmill River where dogs can be let off their leads.
At neighbouring King George’s Playing Fields, dogs can be run off lead.
Your canine members of the family should always be under control wherever you are on the fields, respecting the wildlife and livestock.
Citizen Zoo
Citizen Zoo is a London-based conservation organisation specialising in rewilding. They will be creating a team of Wild Guardian volunteers to help monitor and maintain the site. The plan is to have people on site most days monitoring cattle, the fence line and engaging with the public, which will help to regulate the site.
The Wild Guardians monitor and report issues including anti-social behaviour (ASB) such as fly-tipping. Drawing from their experience with other projects (e.g. the one where they introduced a beaver family in Ealing), Citizen Zoo has observed that having daily volunteers on site and hosting more events naturally leads to an impressive 80% reduction in ASB.
Citizen Zoo plans to reduce the issue of quad bikes and motorbikes through renewed gateways, preventing access to these vehicles. They will also continue to engage with the Police Safer Neighbourhood Team on criminal activity.
Future dates
Citizen Zoo is organising similar dog-friendly wildlife walks on 22nd September, 31st October and 5th December – each walk starts at 12noon.
And finally …
If you live in the Royal Borough of Kingston South of the Borough community, you are welcome to join our Neighbourhood Watch Dog Watch Group and help keep an eye on all our green spaces.