Join us for an evening walk led by our Chair, Mike Hildesley, exploring the acid grassland on Mill Hill, a rare and threatened habitat which is the focus of our upcoming grassland restoration campaign in April.
Lowland Acid Grassland supports up to 25 plant species per square metre. On Barnes Common, this subtle and captivating carpet of plants overlies thin, low-nutrient, free-draining soils that have evolved on the underlying gravels and sands from the terraces of the River Thames. The light, dry soil here provides a perfect habitat for mining bees, wasps and other burrowing insects. Butterflies also benefit from the open, sunny space.
Historically, across the Common much of this habitat has been lost through urban development and succession to scrub and woodland. Acid grassland is a fragile ecosystem and too much human disturbance can destroy it altogether, as can increases in nitrates from pollution and nutrients from dog fouling.
This walk will last approximately two hours and will start and finish by Barnes Green pond.
This walk takes place outdoors and as such please dress appropriately for the weather and wear sturdy footwear. If the weather is warm, you may wish to bring a bottle of water.
Everyone is welcome on this walk. All children must be accompanied by an adult.
Please meet at Barnes Green Pond, outside the OSO.
We will be raising funds for the restoration of our rare acid grassland via the Big Green Give. For one week only, 22-29 April, any donations made to Barnes Common on BigGive.org will be doubled - please mark your calendars! Our fundraising page is here and will be taking donations from noon on 22 April until noon on 29 April.
Please note, dogs will not be admitted at this event except guide dogs. All our events are dog free unless specifically mentioned in the event listing.
Not a member of Barnes Common yet? Join us, support our activities and get our newsletter with our latest news and events! Find more information and join at http://barnescommon.org.uk/membership
Concession tickets: All proceeds from ticket sales will support our conservation work and future learning events and we would encourage you, if you can, to pay full price. We do not want cost to be a barrier to our activities, as such we have a limited number of discount concession tickets available, please email [email protected] for details.
Refund policy:
Unfortunately we are unable to issue refunds on cancellations made within 2 weeks of the event. In some circumstances, we may be able to offer a rebooking for a similar event.
Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
Header image by Andrew Wilson.