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Natural Environment and Biodiversity
The Natural Environment and Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth. In Kingston, it ranges across a wide variety of species and environment from sparrows, dandelions, woodland, rivers, grassland to human beings. Biodiversity makes the environment in which we live a more interesting, lively and healthy space.
The Council manages about 100 hectares of land with the conservation of biodiversity in mind. The best way to ensure the survival of the plants and animals which live there is to protect their habitats. We do this by declaring the site a Local Nature Reserve (LNR).
The Council has prepared a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) with local community involvement and partnership. The plan identifies habitats and species that are important in the brough and sets targets to maintain and enhance them.
Tolworth Court Farm Fields
Tolworth Court Farm Fields is piece of countryside that resembles the rural landscape of the past (LEU 1993). It consists of a relict enclosed farmed field system comprising of 7 fields, of neutral, semi-natural and unimproved, lowland grassland of which one meadow is wet grassland. The site is rectangular in shape and extends over an area of approximately 50.00ha. Old hedges and associated veteran trees with small pockets of secondary woodland dissect and bound the site.
The site lies to the south west of Kingston Road forming one side of a broad shallow valley along the course of the Hogsmill River. There are two Public Rights of Way (RoW) the first footpath is an old route that runs down the entire length of the site and divides the valley of the Hogsmill/Bonsegate from the more level ground running parallel to Jubilee Way. A second footpath (RoW) runs across the site at its south-western boundary and leads out across the Bonesgate Stream. There is another permissive footpath running parallel with Jubilee Way and the RoW on the north west side of the site.
The roadside boundaries of Tolworth Court Farm Fields consist of large grassed bunds. These extend along the Kingston Road in the northeast and along Jubilee Way to the northwest where the bunds are situated on the southern side of the boundary woodland and hedges. The Hogsmill River and Bonesgate Stream run along the southern edge of the site. An ancient trackway provides a boundary along the southwest. In the northeast corner of Field 7 a small pond was dug in 2002 to alleviate the waterlogging at the end of the path which passes through the bunds.
The site forms one side of a shallow valley, where the south facing slope gently rises to a height of 25m. The rest of the site, with the exception of the peripheral bunds, is relatively flat.
The whole site is prone to water logging during periods of high precipitation and surface cracking during long dry spells, as is dictated by the type of soil. There are ditches in the hedge bottoms which run north south toward the stream and river and occasionally carry water Field 1 is low lying and damp for most of the year and can become flooded during prolonged rainfall.
The overall management aim is to conserve, enhance and restore the existing nature conservation interest of Tolworth Court Farm Fields and to provide local people with an accessible place to enjoy nature.
- To conserve, enhance and restore the existing ecological value of neutral semi-natural grassland, unimproved grassland, wet meadow, ancient hedgerows and associated trees, streamside, pond, scrub, and other habitats
- To control invasive species
- To define access points and footpaths and facilitate greater public use and enjoyment of the area
- To provide opportunities for educational use by local educational establishments
- To collect further ecological information on the site and to monitor the effectiveness of management
- To build and maintain partnerships with relevant organisations and voluntary groups to will enhance and protect the site.
Contact us
If you need any more information please contact us:
Borough Ecologist
Marie Claire Edwards
Guildhall 2
High Street
Kingston upon Thames
KT1 1EU
Telephone: 020 8547 5372
Email: marie-claire.edwards@rbk.kingston.gov.uk