Flora of Fulham Project

---

Find out more about the local wildlife

· Interested in your local wildlife?
· And want to find out more?
· Feel you might be able to take part in surveys of plants, birds and insects in Fulham?

Then you will want to know more about the ‘Flora of Fulham’ Project.

Volunteers are needed, of any age or ability, to build a picture of Fulham’s wildlife, SW6 – that’s all Fulham south of the Lillie Road plus the River Thames.

Five training sessions/workshops for local volunteers in April/May 2005 will introduce basic identification and survey techniques for trees, flowers, birds and butterflies, with a view to you carrying out survey work in your local park, back garden or school grounds over the summer and beyond. ALL findings will be placed on a London-wide biological database and website – accessed via the internet by schools, community groups and individuals. www.floraoffulham.org

This is the first scheme of its kind in the UK. If you want to be part of it or want to find out more, then register your details, plus your 1st and 2nd choices of sessions with Stephen McAndrews, Team Leader Environment Policy & Projects, Environment Department, Hammersmith & Fulham Council, emailing is the preferred means of booking: stephen.mcandrews@lbhf.gov.uk (9am-5pm 020 8753 3329) or Jill, Duchess of Hamilton apra38@dsl.pipex.com (020 7352 5655)

· All FREE training sessions will consist of an hour of illustrated presentations followed by up to 2 hours of guided walks/surveys around a nearby open space. Sessions will start at 10.00 a.m. finishing around 1.00 p.m. (Bring drinking water, snack, notebook and digital camera if you have one)

Dates and venues:

· Sat 30 April All Saints School Bishops Avenue &Fulham Palace Grounds
· Sat 7 May Mathews Community Hall, Margravine Rd & cemetery
· Sat 14 May Holy Cross School, Parsons Grn& Parsons Grn/Eel Brook Cmn
· Sat 21 May Hurlingham Stadium & Hurlingham Park and river
· Sat 4 June Hurlingham Club grounds and river banks

The Flora of Fulham

Flora of Fulham – FoF - to be officially launched in May, aims to make Fulham’s 59,000 residents, young and old, more aware of Fulham’s natural heritage. Activities will be organised around a unique wheel of biodiversity.

FoF, funded by the Heritage Lottery, is run by the charity Flora for Fauna and Hammersmith and Fulham Council, (represented by Jill, Duchess of Hamilton and ecologist Stephen McAndrews). FoF will raise interest in Fulham’s heritage by making information on local plants, animals and history accessible. It aims to redress both the decreasing wildlife in urban areas and the loss of local identity. Regional distinctiveness and the plants indigenous to an area are becoming more important as high streets and suburbs become more and more homogenous. Architectural landmarks and anecdotes about past residents – from Henry VIII’s first wife to George IV’s mistress, will be mixed with information on how to increase bird and butterfly life by encouraging wildlife gardening practices and restoring the flora of Fulham.

The hub of this wheel of biodiversity information will be a website storing all existing and future surveys of Fulham’s birds, butterflies, trees, flowering plants, bats, frogs, and other wildlife. It will also contain facts about local history stretching back to the Romans. While Fulham residents, especially school children, will be able to learn from this interactive website, they will also be able to make personal contributions to it.

Spokes radiating from the wheel hub will reinforce core activities by sending out and receiving information. Residents will be able to join in:

· Training sessions/workshops for local volunteers and residents in SW6
· New Surveys of Fulham’s flora and fauna
· Trees on the Bus Routes Posters
· The Website – www.floraoffulham.org
· What Arrived with the Romans Exhibition, at historic Bishops’ Palace

1 Training sessions/workshops for local volunteers and residents in SW6 will invite residents to undertake wildlife surveys in Fulham. Sessions will introduce basic identification and survey techniques for trees, flowers, birds and butterflies, so volunteers can carrying out further surveys in parks, back gardens or school grounds. Attendees will receive a certificate of attendance. There will be a wider range of surveys next year. 2005 surveys will include Butterfly Alert to draw attention to ‘butterflies in an urban environment’. For example, if it is found that orange tip butterflies are in decline, then the council and householders will be encouraged to grow the orange tip butterfly foodplant, the cuckoo flower. Votes will be taken for a ‘Fulham Flower’, such as rosebay willowherb, Epilobium angustifolium, the ‘London Fireweed’ common after the Great Fire of 1666 and the Blitz of 1940. It is the foodplant of the very dramatic looking elephant hawkmoth caterpillar. Another candidate is the British bluebell.

2 New Surveys of Fulham’s flora and fauna, to be carried out by both professionals and volunteers. Greenspace Information for Greater London (GIGL) the Open Space and Biodiversity Records Centre will be computerizing, managing and making available the data on Fulham’s ecosystems, habitats and species.

3 Trees on the Bus Routes Posters Fulham & Hammersmith Urban Studies Centre will be undertaking the research, survey and preparatory work with five Fulham schools to create tree/heritage trails along five bus routes in SW6. Posters will be created to be displayed in each bus running through Fulham. The first two will go into 14 and 22 buses on 23 July. Although all trees will be included in the posters, emphasis will be on native trees such as ash, alder, silver birch, hornbeam etc. Historical events will also be highlighted. Some of these include Charles II on his horse going down the New Kings Road (once the King’s private road), Catherine of Aragon waiting in Parson's Green for her 19 year-old groom, Henry VIII, the French philosopher Voltaire staying in Peterborough House, Queen Elizabeth having her silver stolen at Fulham Palace. Posters will also refer to useful links on the website www.floraoffulham.org Urban Studies will be incorporating curriculum materials for Key Stage 2 students and science activity sheets will relate to habitats, food chains and oxygen production. They will also organise a 'No tree, no me' competition.

Bus passengers will be invited to nominate sites for native tree planting. Requests will be emailed to the website for assessing by council tree officers to ensure that shop fascias are not obscured and subterranean service ducts are avoided. In the autumn of 2005 there will be commemorative oaks to plant mark the Battle of Trafalgar. Oaks were once known as the ‘wooden walls of England’.

4 The Website This will be highly interactive and allow people to enter and retrieve local records based on their Postcodes and it will be linked to Greenspace Information for Greater London, a further partner. (GIGL’s key partners include London Wildlife Trust, Greater London Authority, London Boroughs, English Nature, London Natural History Society, London Biodiversity Partnership, London Bat Group and the Environment Agency). All findings will be placed on a London-wide database and website – accessed via the internet by schools, community groups and individuals. Details will be given on the website. These include: identification keys, size, characteristics, appearance, plant/animal relationships, photographs and/or drawings. Maps of the Fulham area, broken into recording squares with grid references, will also be on the website. Each recorder will be able to download Electronic Recording Forms and grid maps. Recorders will email results to a central address for compilation into the computerized Flora of Fulham inventory.

5 What Arrived with the Romans Exhibition, at historic Bishops’ Palace, home of the bishops of London for almost 1300 years, will be opened on 5 October and run until the end of the summer term, 2006. (It will replace the exhibits of church history while extensive building works are carried out at the museum). This exhibition will show the impact of the Roman colonisation of Britain, especially how the plants they introduced affected the landscape, culture, medicine and cooking. Activities will include interactive computers; Roman costumes; styluses and wax sheets on which to write Roman numerals; leaves of soapwort to clean hands; and seeds to give away to grow in milk cartons. Archaeological finds prove that Fulham, without doubt, was inhabited by the Romans after their invasion in 43 AD.
However, some historians have suggested that earlier, in 54 BC, Fulham was part of Julius Caesar’s campaign trail during his second invasion of Britain. The question of exactly where he crossed the Thames has never been solved. All that is certain is that it was somewhere between Westminster and Kingston. Claims have been made for Fulham, but Brentford and Battersea are other contenders. Around the ancient stones of this medieval palace, archaeologists have excavated many relics of occupancy by the Romans. Even a legionary sword with an embossed bronze scabbard, the Fulham Gladius, was found in the Thames when dredging. It is preserved at the British Museum. Traces of defensive works can be seen near the gatehouse and elsewhere.
Combining history and local natural history, the exhibition will show how the Roman invaders changed the landscape and the lives in the British Isles. They brought everything from cosmetics to concrete, food to frescos, lighthouses to loos, new religions, carrots, garlic, onions, olive oil, pheasants, peacocks, grape vines, figs, mulberries, sweet chestnut, sycamore, rosemary, cultivated roses and the laurel. By showing what was here – and the changing populations -- the exhibition will graphically answer the question, What is a native plant? The generally accepted definition is a plant which has not been introduced by man – having arrived without human intervention and was here before the Romans.

Taking part in community activity FoF volunteers will man a stall at the Londoners' Wildlife Gardening Day Conference and Fayre at the Natural History Museum on Saturday 11 June 2005, organised by the London Gardens for Wildlife Group. Flora for Fauna’s Postcode Plants Database -- www.nhm.ac.uk/science/projects/fff is part of the Natural History website.

A by-product of FoF will be highlighting neighbourhood landmarks of environmental or historical interest, thus engendering a sense of pride of place. Will Moreno of the London Biodiversity Partnership summed up the aims of FoF, ‘This approach will allow local people to gain a better understanding of their natural surroundings which hopefully will lead to a sense of ownership and consequently improve flora protection.’

This multi-faceted scheme focuses on ‘local activity across the community’ with maximum participation by volunteers, local groups, families, schools and people of all ages. The aim is to make each resident curious about what is around them so they see their natural and cultural heritage as something worth protecting -- and turn conservation into action. This would result in sensitive habitat creation, shelterbelts and improved parks, schools, streets and nature reserves. The project will also help redress the loss of regional distinctiveness -- now a serious cultural and environmental problem in ‘urban villages’. It is envisaged that FoF will be a pilot scheme for every town and borough in the UK. Enquiries from other organizations wanting to participate are welcome.

Stephen McAndrews stephen.mcandrews@lbhf.gov.uk (9am-5pm 020 8753 3329) & Jill, Duchess of Hamilton apra38@dsl.pipex.com (020 7352 5655)

April 24, 2005