West Wickham Commons Management Plan 2021-2031
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WEST WICKHAM COMMONS MANAGEMENT PLAN: 2021– 2031 1 Management Plan 2021 - 2031 WEST WICKHAM COMMONS MANAGEMENT PLAN: 2021– 2031 2 West Wickham Common and Spring Park are wider, wooded downland landscape that the pressures they are under require two unique public open spaces owned and extends well into the surrounding countryside innovative approaches to management which managed by the City of London Corporation. and is characteristic of this type of habitat. allow for people and nature to coexist. The City of London are working carefully to manage The two sites combined form the West Spring Park is similarly wooded but unlike these two important sites, involving the local Wickham Commons registered charity West Wickham Common is not associated community at all levels to try and minimise the (number 232988) and receive the major part of with the historical wood pasture system of deterioration of habitats and reduce the their funding from the City of London management; it is instead an area of ancient impacts of increased fragmentation. Corporation. woodland and neutral grassland. This too is a remnant of a much larger forested landscape The City of London Corporation is committed West Wickham Common itself is a relic which is now rare in the area. to managing the West Wickham Commons in remnant of ‘wood pasture’ with ancient perpetuity to ensure that they remain as truly pollarded oak trees harking back to a time Both sites, which are separated by less than a special places. when the woodlands were traditionally mile, are situated in an increasingly urbanised managed for harvesting timber. It sits within a landscape on the fringes of South London and WEST WICKHAM COMMONS MANAGEMENT PLAN: 2021– 2031 3 Contents Introduction 4 Vision 35 10 year work 66 programme Achievements 2010-20 5 Site description 7 Objectives & 40 Background 71 methodology information Location, ownership & 7 Objective 1: Biological 41 status Glossary 71 Site map 11 Objective 2: People 54 City of London Open 72 Spaces Cultural features 13 Objective 3: Estate assets 62 Contact information 73 & legal issues Access & visitors 15 Financial situation 18 Biological features 19 Rare species & wildlife 30 Cover image: Silver washed fritillary Inside image: Spring Park, (Mike Shoesmith) WEST WICKHAM COMMONS MANAGEMENT PLAN: 2021– 2031 4 of the Wickham Court Estate, with ties to the are just two of six Open Spaces managed Introduction Boleyn family, has a long history of growing locally by the City of London. The other four and extracting timber and wood products sites (Farthing Downs, Riddlesdown, Kenley from ‘coppice’ woodland dating back to Common and Coulsdon Common) sit within the 16th century. a separate charity based on their close West Wickham Common and Spring Park proximity to each other and are covered by were acquired under the Corporation of The soils and topography of West Wickham separate site management plans. London (Open Spaces) Act 1878. This Act Common and Spring Park have conspired enables the City of London to acquire and to create an environment where it was This new management plan aims to protect land up to 25 miles out from the difficult to do anything other than grow summarise why, when and how the West boundary of the Square Mile. Enacted over trees and graze animals in the past. This has Wickham Commons will be managed over 130 years ago, the City of London has a ensured both sites’ survival to this day as the next 10 years. It builds upon the duty to protect and conserve West rare examples of historic landscapes. achievements of previous plans and is part Wickham Common and Spring Park for of a series of documents that provide the public recreation and wildlife conservation West Wickham Common and Spring Park vision and overall guidance to managing ‘in perpetuity’. It is further safeguarded by are, however, much more than nature both sites. The plan is also a practical national legislation. reserves or time capsules from a bye gone working document to guide the many era; they are living landscapes and places hundreds of tasks that will take place over Both sites have been influenced by the for people to find beauty, quiet and space the next decade. legacy of centuries of interactions between in an increasingly busy and hectic modern people and the environment. There is society that is becoming disconnected from West Wickham Common and Spring Park evidence that West Wickham Common was nature. are managed by a dedicated site Ranger occupied from as far back as the Late and supported by a wider team of Rangers, Bronze Age up to the Medieval Period. The challenge for the City, as land administration staff, volunteers and Centuries of grazing and harvesting of managers, is to balance traditional habitat contractors to protect and maintain the timber have worked hand-in-hand to shape management with 21st century expertise important features of the sites for people what was a much more open landscape and expectations, and to ensure that West and wildlife. that gave way to the magnificent oak Wickham Common and Spring Park are ‘pollards’, heathland and woodland that prepared for the mounting social and Our thanks go out to all those who have now support a variety of rare and declining environmental pressures as we progress helped to influence and produce this species. through the 2020’s and beyond. document and members of the public who participated in the consultation of this Similarly, Spring Park, which was once part These two sites, sitting as they do entirely plan’s main actions. of a larger expanse of manorial woodland within the West Wickham Commons charity, WEST WICKHAM COMMONS MANAGEMENT PLAN: 2021– 2031 5 West Wickham Common Contributing to national monitoring schemes Achievements Annual butterfly transects have recorded 25 2010-2020 Looking after the ancient oak pollards species of butterflies throughout the woods Annual condition assessments of West and across the heath including occasional Wickham Common’s 15 ancient oak sightings of green hairstreak (Callophrys pollards have been carried out to extend rubi), purple hairstreak (Neozephyrus the lives of these culturally and biologically quercus), white admiral (Limenitis camilla) valuable ancients through targeted habitat and silver-washed fritillary (Argynnis paphia) management. contributing to the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. Improving the secondary woodland for wildlife Green Flag & Green Heritage Award Holly clearance, canopy thinning and Achieved this benchmark standard of world Left: White planting of hazel within the secondary -class and accessible green spaces each admiral, year since 2012. Since 2015, the site has also (Ian Leach) woodland areas has been carried out by Rangers and volunteers. The new hazel attained the Green Heritage Award in plants, along with the natural regeneration recognition of good conservation standards of species such as cherry, rowan and birch of historic features in the landscape. is starting to increase diversity through the woodland and the creation of sunny, open Heathland extension and translocation glades has encouraged wildflowers and Work has focused on preserving the existing butterflies. area of heath throughout the Earthworks and increasing the area of new and Showcasing the Earthworks’ unique history potential heathland throughout the site. The A new interpretation panel was installed spreading of heather seed and the exploring the historic origins and mystery of successfully translocation of young plants the undated mounds, banks and ditches on has already extended existing areas and the Common. facilitated the colonisation of new ones to preserve this fragile habitat. Left: Veteran oak, West Wickham Common WEST WICKHAM COMMONS MANAGEMENT PLAN: 2021– 2031 6 Spring Park Green Flag Award Achievements Achieved this benchmark standard of world- class and accessible green spaces each Brown hairstreak butterfly eggs 2010-2020 year since 2012. Work in the previous management plan was delivered to conserve a diverse age range Diversity of habitats recognised Left: of blackthorn scrub for wildlife including the Traditional brown hairstreak butterfly (Thecla betulae). An existing Site of Metropolitan Importance working A total of 67 brown hairstreak eggs were for Nature Conservation designation was horses for extended to include the Spring Park hauling counted during a survey in 2019 making timber Spring Park the largest known breeding meadows and pond. Annual hay cutting of the meadows has improved the diversity of Below: colony to Kent Butterfly Conservation. wildflowers including the first records of a Brown hairstreak pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) Regionally Important Geological Site butterfly and the nationally-rare greater yellow rattle & (RIGGS) (Rhinanthus angustifolius). WWaSPs The significance of the underlying geology Volunteers at Spring Park is recognised under this Reinstating traditional coppice woodland proposed designation which may be confirmed by the Greater London Authority A full 16-year chestnut coppice rotation has in the New London Plan 2020. A geotrail was been completed in woods adjacent to developed with the London Geodiversity Woodland Way. The first decade of a 10- Partnership. year hazel coppice rotation has also been met and the second decade is progressing well. Heavy horses were used to extract timber adjacent to the Spring Park Office as part of the sustainable management of this unique woodland. Planting a new hedgerow The West Wickham and Spring Park Volunteers (WWaSPs) and staff planted a 150m stretch of hedgerow to provide a corridor for wildlife and restore the boundary between the two historic meadows. WEST WICKHAM COMMONS MANAGEMENT PLAN: 2021– 2031 7 1878 ensured the public have open access 1 to all areas subject to the byelaws. Site Description Site status West Wickham Common is now not a registered common. It became exempt in West Wickham Common December 1966 under Section 11 of the Commons Registration Act 1965. There are Location therefore no rights registered over the site. West Wickham Common is located in the London Borough of Bromley covering an In conjunction with the River Ravensbourne, area of 10 hectares (25 acre).