Biodiversity projects

Running alongside the Hogsmill River, Tolworth Court Farm is Kingston’s largest green space and has the potential to be a pioneering nature reserve.

At almost 50 hectares, this wonderful space is home to a whole host of wildlife and well established native hedgerows, but there’s lots more we can do to ensure the site reaches its ecological potential. 

Our vision for Tolworth Court Farm 

In 2021 the farm saw an exciting range of activities take place that aimed to help improve the wildflower biodiversity, specifically in the Moated Manor area of the site, which is a small area on the north eastern side of the Kingston Road. This included scything workshops, which used a traditional hay meadow management technique to trim the grasslands. A traditional fence was installed on site by the Lower Mole Group to enable us to bring cattle to the reserve and a brand new nature hide which allows visitors to quietly admire the lush green space and wildlife. 

Three Sussex cattle also moo-ved in for 3 weeks in November to carry out important conservation grazing which helps the site to flourish. A huge thank you to the 40 fantastic Community Cow Monitors who helped look after them during their stay - and of course to all of our wonderful volunteers who have supported our conservation efforts. There will be more opportunities to get involved, stay tuned! 

Find out more about our visiting cattle 

Rewilding Tolworth Court Farm

We are delighted to announce that the council has been awarded £40,000 from the Greater London Authority (GLA) as part of the Greener Resilience Fund. Working in partnership with the Community Brain and Citizen Zoo, we are creating a space that will support a rich biodiversity, help create an ecosystem which helps to tackle climate change whilst attracting even more people to enjoy this open space and care about this wildlife on their doorstep. 

We have three aims for the next year: 

• to carry out a full ecological survey of the site. 
• to identify what conservation activities we can carry out at Tolworth Court Farm
• to work with communities to understand how they use the Farm and what ideas they might have for the site in the future. 

We will be working with nationally recognised invertebrate experts and botanists to build a picture of what Tolworth Court Farm is like today, and what exciting possibilities lay ahead as we work together to create an outstanding nature reserve. We’ll also be asking for your help, working alongside species experts and local interest groups to help survey the site and learn more about the incredible species that can be found, from birds to butterflies and much more! 

Working with leading conservation experts, we will be looking at what conservation measures we could put in place at Tolworth Court Farm, including looking at exciting opportunities like wetland creation. This will culminate in a brand new management plan for the area, to ensure the site continues to flourish for years to come.