Transport Strategy and the Commons

Friends' Transport Strategy Tea Party will be held on and The Commons 8 July 2000 MOUNT EDGCUMBE An open letter from Patrick Shovelton HOTEL • ••ft ay I thank you for your Scrupulous care is being taken no good in view of the number of Marticle on Transportation to preserve the Commons' people who daily walk across Tickets £5 Strategy and the Commons in the borders and the kerbs are being these edges. from Sylvia Luckhurst Autumn edition of Common built up to compensate for the Equally the contractors building 01892 526121 Ground. raising of the road level. As a the new flats on the old Post Bring your own rug or chair result, parking on the Common - Perhaps, with the work being Office site at the corner of Vale or "resting" - will be difficult. done on the Commons' verges on Road must make good the little th the A26 - and on the Fir Tree I understand also that in return triangular bit they have been 150 Anniversary Road car park - it is timely to for using part of Fir Tree road allowed to set up as their review our relationship with the car park as a depot during the temporary camp. of St Paul's, Highways Department. works, the contractors are going Other benefits the Commons have Rusthall to re-surface the whole car park. It has to be said that our great received from recent Highways And the old granite blocks used 15th June victory in the spring and summer policies are, first, the new refuge as parking prevention on the A26 of 1998 which succeeded in in London Road near the Balmoral Flower Festival can now be transferred to stopping the creation of a five- House and, secondly, the double th Hungershall Park to protect the 16 June lane carriageway at the Church yellow lines by the racecourse verges there. Parish History Exhibition Road/London Road junction and crossing in Major York's Road. the accompanying loss of Of course the contractors, as in 18th June But there is still a long way go. common land beside the A26 and all work, have scarred the edges May I take the points one by one. Family Eucharist 10am the A264 - as well as the loss of of the Common and, in some the fine red oak tree at the south- cases, got their vehicles stuck on All events will take place east corner of the crossing — seems the Common with dire results in No Parking on to have had some effect on the this wet winter. But Commons Roads at the Church. present works on the A26. we are assured We and the Freehold Tenants have Further details from that at the end of long argued for no parking on the Geoffrey Copus the day they roads leading across the 01892 523991 will make good. Commons, and this includes no Furthermore, bus parking. they must be contracted to re-turf the Speed Limits edges of the Again, we have campaigned for Common by reduction of speeds across the the A26. Commons, particularly Seeding applicable to Rusthall Common, We still have the following would be where the A264 is unrestricted as it crosses the Common. items for sale Cycling Across the Notelets 0.25p each Common Maps of Tunbridge Whilst we are not against cycles Wells Common £1.50 each on parts of the Commons, we do feel that some restriction is called Maps of Rusthall for, if other users' interests are to be respected. Common £1.50 each It would be good to know what it Mu£s ^ £3.50 each being done about these matters. Jigsaw Puzzles £4.50 each Patrick Shovelton from George Lawson 01892 524019 These bees, protected by their furry coats, are hardy creatures which invariably appear on The First and The Last the first available sunny days of February, ne of the interesting aspects of recording Even as late as this, the last of the social and they do not seem to be concerned if Othe insect fauna of the Commons is to wasps are to be found here, accompanied by conditions are windy and the actual observe which species are the last to be active a handful of select species of the hoverflies temperature quite low. The hibernating at the end of the year and the first to emerge which impersonate them. Also to be butterflies, however, are more choosy in spring. The generally mild winters of the seen in December are the two larger about the time of their emergence and last few years have meant that 'autumn' has species of dronefly, one at least of will sometimes wait for several weeks often extended well into December, whilst which will eventually hibernate. Droneflies until the weather is both sunny and mild. In 'spring' has begun in February, leaving are in fact members of the hoverfly family, recent years, the earliest emergence from January as the sole 'dead' month dividing the but being bee mimics they are given a distinct hibernation took place on 13 February 1995, end of the old insect season from the start of common name. while the latest was on 4 April 1996. There the new. Tunbridge Wells Common, in are four hibernating species which are particular, has several sheltered south-facing At the end of the year, Brighton Lake too may regularly seen on the Commons, and the areas which maintain a warmer microclimate produce some late butterfly or hoverfly general pattern is for them to all appear for the then elsewhere, and it is here that the last and sightings, but this site is of particular interest first time on the same day, which is obviously first butterflies and other creatures are likely for its late-flying dragonflies. The medium- carefully chosen to provide the optimum to be seen. The best of these are the hollow sized Common Darter, with its bright red conditions. The back of Brighton Lake is a below Mount Edgcumbe Rocks and the area males and duller brown females, breeds in the good place to see them. Although in theory at the back of Brighton Lake. lake in considerable numbers. It emerges they could return to their sheltered hibernation remarkably late in the summer compared to sites in hollow trees and dense undergrowth, The latest butterflies to be seen tend not to be other species, but compensates by carrying a premature resumption of activity might entail the long-lived hibernating species, since these on to the very edge of winter. In this sheltered a potentially fatal waste of energy. generally hide themselves away quite early in spot, there are plenty of surviving the autumn. It is those which maintain bluebottles and other flies to provide an The most unmistakable of the butterflies themselves by migration from the Continent, ongoing food supply. The latest date so in question, even at a distance and in or which leave their eggs, caterpillars or far was 20 November 1995, when about flight, is the lemon yellow Brimstone. On chrysalises to survive the winter, that remain a dozen were hunting over the sunlit the Commons this species rarely settles, active until they finally succumb to lake. There was even a pair engaged in whereas the other three can often be seen increasingly cold and cloudy conditions. One courtship activity and a female laying eggs. sunning themselves on bare ground or of the most familiar migrant species in the drinking nectar from early flowers such as Tunbridge Wells area is the easily recognised Spring on the Commons generally begins in dandelions or sallow catkins. If they can be scarlet and black Red Admiral. February with the appearance of the first observed in this way, identification presents Although in theory it is capable of of the solitary bees. Clark's Mining Bee no problems. The purple-brown Peacock has hibernating, there is no evidence that is usually the first species to be out, its unique eye-spots which it uses to confuse it does so on the Commons. In the late often making its appearance at the back and intimidate potential predators. The Small autumn of 1996, a group of about of Brighton Lake. The female is easily Tortoiseshell is mainly orange with black three of them took up residence at recognised by its attractive colour markings, and has small blue spots set into its Mount Edgcumbe Rocks, feeding on sunny scheme, scarlet in front and black behind, dark wing margins. The Comma is orange- days at the abundant ivy bloom which helps although the male is less conspicuous. The brown with black markings and may look make this spot so attractive to late flying females nest in burrows in vertical surfaces superficially similar to the Small insects. They were last seen there on 15 such as banks, root plates and the sides of Tortoiseshell, but its most obvious November. Examples of the Speckled Wood drainage ditches. The early emergence of the distinguishing feature is the irregular outline often linger on late into the autumn at Mount solitary bees is rivalled by that of the queen of its wings. This unusual wing shape, unique Edgcumbe Rocks, as does the Small Copper. bumblebees which come out of hibernation as among British butterflies, is a form of early as possible in order to seek out suitable camouflage, giving it a resemblance of a dead As other flowers die off, the ivy blossom at holes in which to found new colonies. The leaf, especially when settled with its wings Mount Edgcumbe Rocks becomes first bumblebee species to be seen are the folded. increasingly important, and even when it is very large Buff-tailed Bumblebee and the well past its best insects still congregate here.

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