Newsletter Edition 2 Winter Explore Your 2020 Colne Valley Local Resident – Sarah Jane Regional Park FREE Lord Randall (right) with Colne Valley Park Directors Paul Graham, Carol Gibson Introducing and Tony Booker our new President Lord John Randall LORD RANDALL OF UXBRIDGE has become President of the Colne Valley Regional Park. Uxbridge born and bred, he represented the constituency as MP between 1997-2015. His family is Welcome to 2020 perhaps best known for running the former Randalls department store in Vine Street, and he has previously served as a director of the CVRP in the Colne Valley Community Interest Company. “The Colne Valley is facing unprecedented threats, and I will do everything I can to protect this This year, we hope to introduce you to more of precious but fragile landscape for future generations to enjoy.” this wonderful, vibrant Regional park. n our last edition we showcased some Unfortunately of the beautiful and fascinating places the Colne Valley Ithere are for you to explore right on your is a threatened, doorstep and over the next five editions we fragile landscape will tell you about many more. and we face a Your Colne Valley has so much to offer with huge challenge in countryside walks in local woodlands, country trying to protect parks, nature reserves, tranquil lakes, canals it. The highly and rivers, outdoor museums, farms, bike controversial HS2 trails, water sport and recreational venues, all preparatory works Robin at Stockers Lake. waiting for you to discover and enjoy. is causing more With so many pressures of modern life destruction by the day and Heathrow’s expansion piling in on all of us and so little time available proposals – including a new runway would wipe for ourselves and each other, our need for out the bottom third of the park, some 900 acres Explore our hidden gems outdoor exercise and relaxation has never of green space. Please see the back page for more Little Britain Lake, Cowley – an attractive been more important. information on threats to the park. area, with the River Colne and Frays running At the Colne Valley we like to think Sponsored by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) alongside the lake. Ideal for walking, fishing we have the perfect solution for people’s and other supporters, we are currently running and enjoying lots of nature. The site gained its outdoor needs to improve health and the, Landscape Partnership Project. Nineteen name because of shape of the Lake. Visit to wellbeing. We recently upgraded our website separate projects are currently under way, see the winter wildfowl migrants that spend and you’ll find it packed with information protecting and enhancing the countryside, the winter here. on the region; listing places to go, things to bio-diversity and wildlife in the Regional For more detail on this site, other wildlife do, local events and a wealth of detail about Park, and helping connect people to their local havens and nature reserves, please see our the park, it’s history, current activities and green spaces. website. www.colnevalleypark.org.uk and important projects which are enhancing Please see our website for more detail. go to our Places to go page. local wildlife and the local countryside – www.colnevalleypark.org.uk. www.colnevalleypark.org.uk Early autumn also offered something for the Events flowing through the Valley grown-ups – photographic and art workshops were held where participants toured the Colne The Colne Valley is always keen to encourage Valley – from Rickmansworth to Harmondsworth – community participation. Events are held throughout capturing the landscape and beauty of the Regional the year, and at Colne Valley Park Visitor Centre at Park. Denham Country Park, we have been running numerous Over the next two years we will continue to activities to engage children, families and groups of run lots of events and activities sponsored by the people with nature and their local countryside. Heritage Lottery fund and other supporters, and Events have ranged from Halloween trails (getting you will be able to find the details on our website, families out and about in the crisp, fresh autumnal air), Facebook and Instagram pages, and Twitter. crafts and activities to fire creativity and imagination, Please take the time to follow us and keep such as making spooky cobwebs with leaves, twigs and an eye on the website to keep fully up to date grasses, planting spring bulbs, and painting pottery jack- with all the Colne Valley has to offer – o-lanterns. www.colnevalleypark.org.uk. facebook.com colnevalleypark | twitter.com @colne_valley | instagram.com colnevalleyregionalpark 1 Winter 2020 Edition 2, Colne Valley Newsletter INTRODUCING STAINES MOOR Colne Valley Regional Park New bird screen and interpretation board The River Colne Short eared owl © Lee Dingain “Upon visiting the site you will soon appreciate its abundant worth, be that the floral species present Making a difference on (importance for nesting and foraging birds), its historical the Moor significance, or its social Our Landscape Partnership project has come worth to the local community. together with Thames Water Ltd, the London Staines Moor is the largest area of alluvial Wildlife Trust and Spelthorne Borough Council Staines Moor is a historic and scenic landscape, meadow in Surrey, and predominately achieves to carry out important wildlife improvements covering over 500 hectares of open countryside. its SSSI status due to the mosaic of floral in the NE corner where Thames Water Ltd The moor is situated next to the Staines and species found there. Owing to subtle variations owns the land. King George VI reservoirs and consists of in topography, sheer size, and the river Colne, Adam Bolton, our habitats Manager, tells flood meadows and a pretty stretch of the plant communities vary greatly from dry us: ‘It’s really important to work together River Colne. It is internationally important for grassland to marshland-dominant species. on this section of the Moor, to ensure the wintering wildfowl and a site of special scientific Hugely important to both resident and maintenance and enhancement of this special interest (SSSI), due to the nationally important migrant bird species, more than 200 species site has the maximum effect, for both the habitats and species it supports. The Moor has have been seen on the moor, a great credit wildlife and community. been common land since 1065 and has a very to the site and the numerous dedicated The project will ensure the rare birds, dramatic and unique feel to the landscape. birdwatchers who record such sightings. wildflowers, fauna and insects that thrive here Lapwing, Redshank and Skylark are ground- are protected, and the special biodiversity will What makes the Moor so special? nesting species, utilising the site from March continue to flourish in this corner of the Moor.’ We asked Steve Price, Countryside and to July. It’s essential that visitors observe the Together with the project partners we have; Commons Officer for Spelthorne Borough conditions set out on signs on the moor during – Installed a new bird screen and Council to tell us more… this time, sticking to the paths and keeping dogs interpretation board. under close control. Summer may bring a rare – Removed rubbish and abandoned vehicles. Steve Price and Adam Bolton testing the new bird screen. sighting of a hobby and in Winter, water pipits, – Installed new fencing and introduced snipes and the occasional short-eared owl can grazing cows. be spotted – Protected the biodiversity and historic The moor has remained relatively character through habitat works. undisturbed for centuries, allowing the oldest Our River Rangers have also completed health ant hills (the yellow meadow ant) known in and protection surveys of the River Colne at the UK to remain for nearly 200 years. The the Moor. landscape brings a rare sense of openness and rural surroundings in an otherwise urban To visit, download, the Staines Moor walk from setting, it’s value and importance continues the Things To Do page at colnevalleypark.org.uk. to grow”. The project is funded by Thames Water Ltd, HLF and the Heathrow Community Trust. Water vole A lifeline for water voles Heritage Lottery fund and The Colne Valley © Paul Thrush Regional Park Additional Mitigation Fund. It is sad to think that the once prevalent water “Water voles are very important for all vole could disappear from our water courses wetland wildlife, as they are at the bottom of the altogether in the future, if current rates of food chain and therefore support many other decline in numbers continue. The water vole species in turn. Water voles are one of nature’s is an important part of our wildlife heritage engineers and a vital part of river ecosystems and it is now the UK’s most rapidly declining and biodiversity. Their burrowing, feeding and mammal. movements help to sculpt our riverbanks and can By the end of the 1990s we had lost more than create conditions for other animals and plants 90% of our nation’s water voles*. to thrive. They are under serious threat due to Gavin Bennett who works on the water vole habitat loss, water abstraction and predation by project on behalf of HMWT, tells us why this the non-native American mink. We have important project has been supported by the been working to try and reduce their decline and together with the partners and landowners we hope to enhance river corridors, expand surveying for water voles, and establish new mink monitoring schemes. The good news is water vole surveys during 2019 over 34km of water ways have found evidence of the voles in previous unrecorded areas.” Please visit our website www. colnevalleypark.org.uk if you would like to read more about this and our other Volunteers removing a non-native invasive species (Himalayan Gavin Bennett © Josh Kubale projects, which help local wildlife.