Friends of Crofton and Sparrow Woods

All welcome to a free talk: A celebration of Crofton Woods and its wildlife.

Join us on Wednesday 17 May 2023 at 7.15pm for 7.30pm at Lakeswood Hall, Lakeswood Road, Petts Wood, BR5 1DH 

Hear a lively and interesting talk about the history and wildlife of Crofton and Sparrow Woods, as well as all the latest news on plans for improving the area.  Hot drink and cakes available.    (Followed by short FoC&SW AGM)

Our local badgers are getting increasingly active as spring warms up the weather, and cubs are on their way. The one in the picture was out of the sett after dawn this morning. 

The woods are stunningly wet and muddy - definitely a time or boots. But the wood anemones are flowering, and buds are splitting open. 

Lots of brimstone and peacock butterflies to see too.

Yesterday three buzzards swooped lazily over the woods, and then spent the afternoon rising in the warm thermals until they were specks in the sky. Maybe they will nest in the woods again this year.

Join the Friends of Crofton and Sparrow Woods to receive your quarterly e-newsletter packed with news about the woods - from its history through to events and new project deveopments. Hard copy availabe for local people who are not online. 

Good news for 2023, our pair of Mandarin Ducks are still with us this year. They were spotted by two Friends Group members as they waded along the eastern branch of the Kyd brook picking up litter. (Please don't fill dog waste bags, and throw them into the water - it makes clearing up after you horrible!).

These lovely wood ducks actually nest in trees overhanging water, and their nestlings fledge by dropping in the water. We have seen a pair every year for 5 years - but no sign of successful fledglings. 

Friends of Crofton and Sparrow Woods has recently confirmed that sewage is discharged into the western branch of the Kyd Brook that runs through the woods - the branch that runs alongside the Eynsford Recreation Ground and playground. You can see this when the sream runs very high suddenly - as seen in the photos below.

Committee Member Kirsty has been researching the issue. We have long known that rainwater from some of our very local roads is run through pipes into both branches of the streams - which does cause some pollution from diesel spills and if people dump unsuitable liquids into the road drains.  

More concerning is the sewer system. This was designed many may years agao, and as time has passed we have more toilets with longer flushes, and there are more houses. All that waste goes into the sewer, with waste water from our houses.  However, those sewers are also required to carry a lot of rainwater, so when it rains hard for along time, the amount of liquid can become so great that the sewer floods.  The sewers are designed with over flows -and we have confirmation that at least one is discharging into the stream.

That is being monitored, so that the number of times a discharge takes place can be checked using the link https://www.thameswater.co.uk/edm-map?embedded_webview=true -and the postcode BR6 8LT. Click on the tick that appears for more informaton.

We know that there is a storm drain in Crofton Road, but we do not yet know whether this also is a sewer overflow- Kirsty is curretly trying to find out.

So, after a lot of rain, we suggest you keep children and dogs out of the stream.

The first sweet violets are in flower, the catkins are starting to emerge, and our seagull numbers are dropping - although we think this is a second winter Common Gull, which makes a change from the usual Black-headed and Herring Gulls.  

The alternate Tuesday morning Work Group decided to tackle Gumping Common. Dividing into three Groups, we have tackled some of the cherry laurel. It is a non-native species which spreads like wildfire and blocks light from our native flora. We also tackled holly that was overhanging the path, as well as tackling the woodland edge. It took idverde a while to load all the rubbish into their truck! 

The December edition of our e-newsletter is now with members (hard copy is available for non-computer users). Packed with information about what has happened in the woods in the last three months, a summary of the butterflies seen in 2022, and more on the history of the woods and the link with the Isleworth Blue School. Join to receive your copy. 

We applied for a ‘Lucky Dip’ run by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association for a package of around 400 plant bulbs of several varieties. 

We were delighted to be successful, although the need to plant them all before Christmas along the entrance track to the Recreation Ground car park is a real challenge. 

There are going to be two very cold planting sessions on Saturday 17th and Tuesday 20th December to plant then - please do come along and help. idverde have leant us some bulb planters. 

There have been daffodils alongside the entrance for some years – although they are diminishing as their vigour reduces, so we are hoping for lots of colour in Spring 2023.