Induction to Froglife

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Foots Cray Meadow - Bexley
Three years of the London Living Water Programme
Ruskin Park, Lambeth
Queens Wood - Haringey
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The London Living Water Project is refreshingly
simple

• To identify habitats in need of restoration for
  the benefit of amphibians and reptiles - both
  terrestrial aquatic.
• To identify areas for habitat creation for the
  benefit of amphibians and reptiles both
  terrestrial aquatic.
• To provide training/support/advice to
  volunteers/local groups/councils to maintain
  habitats and to replicate work elsewhere.
• To encourage wide ranging community engagement

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• The programme started in 2008 with a 98,600
  grant from City
• Bridge Trust to work in six boroughs.
• This in turn generated a total income over the
  three year period
• of 375,879. The programme employed two Project
  Officers
• and in total worked in nine boroughs.

Forty Hall, Enfield
Lewisham
Kidbook Green, Greenwich
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The Stats Over the three year period Froglife
has Created 23 ponds Restored 18 ponds 1,500
people engaged in activities 1,260 people trained
in new skills 23 pond doctor visitors 5
demonstration sites 33 events hosted by
Froglife 102 site visits 16 amphibian surveys 19
management and pond planting days 31 terrestrial
habitats improved
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Sites worked on

• Lambeth Palace Road Nature Garden Ruskin Park
  Roots and Shoots Community Garden Myatts
  Fields Norwood Park.
• Bexley Foots Cray Meadow
• Haringey The Paddock Muswell Hill School
  Railways Fields Scout Park Queens Wood Bury
  Lodge Alexandra Palace Springfield Park St
  Gildas school Broadwater Farm School Rhodes
  Avenue School North Haringey School Downshill
  Park
• Enfield Bury Lodge Park Trent Park Conway
  Recreation Ground Lee Valley Regional Park
  Cherry Tree Wood Durance Park
• Ealing Trumpers Way
• Hounslow Bedfont Lakes
• Lewisham Sydenham Gardens , Frensbury Gardens
• Greenwich Eaglesfield Park Greenwich Royal
  Parks Kidbrook Green.
• Tower Hamletts Mile End Park

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Case Study Railway FieldsHaringey

• The pond in this small reserve of only 1 hectare
  had its butyl liner punctured by tree roots and
  was in need of restoration.
• 1500 school children visit the reserve every year
  with pond dipping being a central focus.
• Froglife working in partnership with Haringey
  Council BTCV was awarded a 40,000 HLF grant.
• Froglife relined the pond and increased the size
  of the dipping platform to allow double the
  amount of children to pond dip at any one time.
• A ramp for wheelchair access has also been
  constructed.
• The project has a large educational and
  Volunteering element and Froglife organised over
• ten activity workshops, two training courses
  set up a Friends of group organised a pond
  planting day installed interpretation board and
  photo exhibition.

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Open day - shadow puppets
Removing the old liner
Restored pond
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Case Study Ruskin Park

• A 14ha prk and Site of Borough Grade 11
  Importance for Nature Conservation. Opened to the
  public in 1907.
• An ornamental pond is spring fed and has limited
  value for wildlife
• Froglife carried out habitat management work to
  improve the marginal vegetation using coir rolls,
  staked faggot bundles and coir pallets.
• Froglife also created a new wildlife pond,
  located close to the existing pond and railway
  corridor in some rough species poor grassland.
• The pond was planted up with help from council
  staff and a good number of volunteers.
• Both ponds are establishing nicely with
  invertebrate interest and in time it should offer
  a good habitat for amphibians.

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Workers installing faggots
Volunteer planting day
Pond filling up
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Case Study Roots Shoots

• Roots and Shoots is a community project providing
  vocational
• training for young people from the inner city.
• The main pond had a split liner
• Froglife reprofiled and enlarged the pond area
  and installed a new bentonite lined pond.
• Newts and frogs are returning
• David Perkins, Educational Officer and wildlife
  garden deeper provided a spring update
• The frogs that returned to the restored pond
  were very wary in the normal
• week of spawning and scarpered to the deeper
  water as soon as disturbed.
• The newts are laying like mad on the straw
  bales and now on the water
• crowfoot I put in February that is now growing
  well. I have done work around
• the edges and around the platform and using it
  with children in the last few
• weeks

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Step by step Palace Road, Lambeth
Large pond top dressed with 300mm compacted
screened subsoil
Large pond old liner being removed from 10m
diameter pond
Large pond lined with GCL looks like carpet
impregnated with cat litter!
Large pond - part filled
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At Froglife we believe that wildlife is
for everbody it is all about conservation in
the community
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High praise indeed

• David MacDonald, The Friends of Downhills Park,
  Tottenham, Haringey
• Thanks...you did a great job for us. Until the
  Living Water project no hope
• of the park managing approving it. What a turn
  around!
• Del Spencer, The Scouts Association member of
  Conway Recreational Ground Friends Group
• Thanks very much for allowing me to attend the
  course...I really enjoyed the day and the
  instruction was excellent. I have borrowed some
  waders and, with confidence, will now go into
  Conway Road pond and clear some debris.
• Michael Rowan Director of Mile End Park, Tower
  Hamletts
• I write to thank you for all the help and
  support that I have received from Froglife
• over the past two years or more. In particular I
  would like to thank Rebecca
• Turpin for her advice and support which has
  proved invaluable. She has been
• crucial in securing funding for the park that
  will take the biodiversity agenda
• forward in ways that we would not have imagined
  without her enthusiasm and
• support.l

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• Andrea Perry, Friends of Norwood Park
• We are a park in an area of high density
  housing with high
• levels of child poverty and the impact of the
  work about to
• take place should not be underestimated. So thank
  you for
• Froglife.
• The pond is a great addition to the park. You
  can really
• see its future potential. Particularly when
  looking down form
• the top of the hill youcan imagine what it will
  look like once
• it has blended in with the surrounding landscape.
  It already
• has water in it and hopefully will have
• some wildlife visitors soon

And more praise
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Our London work is ongoing

• Great Crested Newt Revisited project SITA
  funded
• now in 2nd year of surveying and habitat
  restoration
• Dragon Finder HLF funded development phase
  encompassing
• all of Froglifes previous work in London
  London wide allotment
• surveys 2000-2002 Pond Doctor London Living
  Water bringing
• it all together into one holistic project
  delivering across all London
• boroughs.

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Kathy Wormald, Froglife CEO www.froglife.org kathy
.wormald_at_froglife.org