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I realise not all readers keep Ruislip at the forefront of their thoughts.
That brings everyone up to date as of the end of 2020.
Deadline: 25th anniversary of Ruislip Woods National Nature Reserve; May 2022.
30 acres of woodland that has been scarcely managed for 80 years.
We have successive 5-Year Management Plans, to which Natural England give Consent,
so they know that we have improved the habitat and biodiversity within the existing 725 acres.We need a Natural England survey, to see where we are starting from.
They are happy to arrange a site visit, except,
for further Covid restrictions delaying, for months, the actual, physical visit.
July 2021 Natural England survey received.
The Natural England survey agrees with our observations,
and recommendations:
remove the invasive species, (Cherry Laurel and Holly),
reintroduce coppicing, to let some sunlight reach the woodland floor,
re-establish the bridlepaths, (deadhedges of removed material to define the boundary),
and limit the spread of the variegated Yellow Archangel and lesser periwinkle.Colne Valley Groundwork helped with some of the removal,
with a functional works team funded by the
Natural Connections project grant from the Green Recovery Fund.
LB Hillingdon Green Spaces team and the Ruislip Woods Mid-week volunteers
have worked in the 30 acre purchase nearly every Autumn/Winter week.Email received from our contact at Natural England last week.
Checked I could share the contents.Permission received:
Natural England are lining up the Declaration team,
to ensure the 30 Acre purchase can be incorporated into
Ruislip Woods National Nature Reserve on our 25th anniversary in May! -
We need a Natural England survey, to see where we are staring from.
Wouldn't that rather show where Natural England are staring from? :)
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In other news, I met two people who live or have lived in Ruislip yesterday. What are the odds?
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And finish with;
the cut surfaces of the Hawthorn slowly lose their whiteness.
Similar to cut apple dis-colorouring, the exposed faces become increaingly orange.Foodstuff enzymatic browning.
Catechol oxidase.That the cut Hawthorn surface goes orange, rather than say the brown of a cut apple,
shows the lack of 'life' in the central woody tissues of the trunk.
Next time I'll see of I can get a picture of the cut edge of the bark layer,
which should show greater dis-colouration.
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A very apposite answer to the thread title:
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Went to this and the public car park was full when we arrived at around 2pm. There’s a car park up the road that you turn off for the lido which is free, allows you to walk into the woods and green space out there. You turn left into it after the traffic lights towards the top of the hill..
If you cross the road after you park up you can walk back to the lido car park/lido entrance/mini railway station through the woods, which is nice..
See attached
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Upthread I mentioned that a Ruislip Residents' Association project to celebrate our centenary, (2019), had been adopted as Coop Local Cause,
and,
popped in a link where any Coop member could nominate the RRA porject as their cihisen cause.Recently heard that our years' collaboration with the Coop has raised £2091.
We intend to now work with the LB Hillingdon Council to have suitable heritage species fruit trees planted in a Green Space with public access, creating a Community Orchard.
This will reflect the land use in Ruisip before it became a built up (outer north west) London suburb.Thanks to anyone that nominated our cause.
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RWMAG, (Ruislip Woods Management Advisory Group) is collaborating with Brunel University London to reduce flood risk for the residential neighbours of the woods.
Dr. Andrew Fox has arranged this afternoon's presentation.
The event will be recorded, and a link circulated for those that cannot attend 'live'.'As part of its programme of engagement with local communities to implement nature-based solutions to manage flood risk, the Brunel University Centre for Flood Risk and Resilience (CFR2) is pleased to announce the following talk, which is open to staff and students from the University as well as member of the public with an interest in the subject:
Title of talk: Designing and managing forests and woodlands to reduce flood risk
Speaker: Dr Tom Nisbet, Forest Research
Time and Date of talk: 16:30-18:00hrs on 15 February 2023
Venue: Room 313, Howell Building, Brunel University Campus (now also available online for those that cannot attend in-person – see link below)
Talk outline: Climate change and increasing costs of flood defence are driving a more sustainable approach to flood risk management involving greater working with natural processes to slow down and store more water within upstream catchments. Woodland creation can make an important contribution to reducing downstream flood risk, although forest operations can have the opposite effect if not appropriately managed. Tom will talk about how woodlands and their management can affect flood flows and flood water storage. He will consider the different mechanisms and factors involved, the magnitude of the woodland effect, the role of opportunity mapping and the valuation of the flood regulation service. Tom will conclude by describing the recently published Forestry Commission Practice Guide providing industry guidance on how to design and manage forests to help protect downstream communities from the damaging effects of future flooding.
Speaker Bio: Tom is Head of Physical Environment Research within Forest Research, the Research Agency of the Forestry Commission. He is a forest hydrologist with more than 40 years of experience studying the interactions between forests and water. Tom acts as a national and international advisor on forest-water issues and continues to play a key role in shaping forest policy and practice to ensure forest industry compliance with UK environmental legislation. His primary interests are assessing the contribution of forestry to sustainable flood management, mitigating diffuse pollution, managing water resources and stabilising slopes. He led the Slowing the Flow demonstration study at Pickering in North Yorkshire and has contributed to several Natural Flood Management (NFM) initiatives, including the Environment Agency’s Working with Natural Processes programme and NERC’s strategic programme on evaluating the effectiveness of NFM. More recently, his attention has turned to valuing forest water services. Together with his colleagues at Forest Research, he is at the forefront of developing a Woodland Water Code, with the aim of promoting greater private investment in woodland creation to help tackle pressing water issues.'
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Anyone wanting to view the recording of this presentation can pm me for an access code.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64708869
Ruislip, good for geysers
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Email received from HS2/SCS this morning:
'Good morning,You may be aware of an incident reported by members of the public on Saturday morning, who found foam appearing from the ground in an area of the Ruislip Rugby Club playing fields. SCS teams attended site to investigate and to make the area secure, and the foam was cleared on Saturday.
The foam appeared out of a borehole that was created earlier in the project to investigate the ground conditions in the area. The boreholes are usually sealed afterwards and we are looking into whether this one was correctly treated. We are also checking other boreholes along the route of the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to ensure they are all sealed as required, including two additional ones on the playing fields.
The foam is created by a “conditioning fluid” that is used to treat the ground in front of the TBM to help make the excavated material more manageable. The fluid is biodegradable and not harmful to plant or animal life and was approved for use by the Environment Agency. There is no danger to the groundwater aquifer.
There may be a small amount of foam that continues to appear over the next 12-18 hours, as it is forced out as the grout we have used sets and hardens in the borehole. The borehole itself has now been fully sealed from below as the TBM passed and the concrete tunnel ring was put in place underneath the bottom of the borehole.
Although the substance is not harmful, we and Hillingdon would like to ensure that it is not walked through by users of the playing field and so we have securely fenced of the area and will undertake security checks in the short term. We will put up posters to inform the community about what has happened and what will happen next. There will also be a FAQ sheet prepared and shared via the HS2 website and our distribution lists. We will of course send yourselves a copy to share with your neighbours as you wish.
Thank you and have a nice day.'
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This morning saw 9 mixed species of fruit trees planted on Ruislip Common by the LB Hillingdon's (in-house) Ground Maintenance team. A 10th will be planted by the Mayor on the 28th of March.
This is part of the Covid-delayed plan from the Ruislip Residents' Association to plant Community Orchards to celebrate its Centenary in 2019.
Todays' trees, two each of Quince, Common Hazel, Beurre Hardy pears, Reine Claude greengage and Elstar apples were funded from the money raised through the Coop Local Causes scheme.
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We have a further invite from Dr. Andrew Fox of Brunel University London, (BUL).
Hydrological Models are the basis of all Environment Agency, (EA), funded flood alleviation schemes.
The Hydrological Model is used to predict the efficacy of proposals,
which should they score highly enough allows Central Government funding to be allocated.
Hydrological Models also allow the effects of flood alleviation installations to be measured and quantified.This talk is not of as much immediate interest to a group with an interest in urban woodlands, as Dr. Tom Nisbet's in February,
but,
hydrological modelling can verify the effects of multi-faceted Natural Flood Management, (NFM),
which to the casual onlooker can be regarded as 'a bunch of sticks in a ditch'.As part of the Environment Agency’s Flood and Coastal Engineering CPD programme, Brunel University London’s programme of engagement with local communities to implement nature-based solutions to manage flood risk, and the Brunel University Centre for Flood Risk and Resilience (CFR2) – We are pleased to announce the following talk, which is open to staff and students from the University as well as member of the public with an interest in the subject:
Title of the talk: Creating and setting up 1D, 2D, and 3D numerical models for flood forecasting.
Speaker: Dr Oscar Herrera-Granados, Visiting Lecturer and Research Fellow
Time and Date of talk: 16:00-17:30hrs, on Wednesday 22 March
Venue: HWLL313, and online via MS TEAMS
Talk outline: This talk will outline how computer models for estimating flood flows in 1D and 2D are set up, as well as how the modeler has to understand the process behind the available computer models. It will touch upon the topic of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and explain how modern software tools are able to incorporate CFD into the modelling process. The talk will illustrate the theory with practical examples from case study projects. Delegates attending this event will gain an understanding of the range of techniques used to develop computer models of flood flows and understand how the technology used to develop computer models is evolving and growing in sophistication, enabling ever more dimensions to be included in the modelling process.
Speaker Bio: Oscar Herrera Granados is a Senior Lecturer, Scientist, and Consultant in the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology in Poland. He is a hydroengineering specialist and is involved in projects that concern water resources management, river training, hydraulic structures, flood risk management, and hydraulic modelling. He pursued a doctoral degree in natural sciences held by the Wrocław University of Science and Technology and also has degrees from the University of Stuttgart and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Oscar is currently working as a Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow (Visiting) at Brunel University London, where he is carrying out scientific research in the field of hydraulic engineering. Oscar possesses more than 15 years of experience dealing with numerical modelling for scientific purposes as well as for projects for the industry.
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About
Ruislip: What is it good for ......?
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The RRA, (Ruislip Residents'Association) cause is now up and running.
We are seeking to raise funds to plant Community Orchards,
using heritage varieties of fruit trees.
The link to our cause is: https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/64251
Any member of the Coop can opt to support the RRA's cause.
Any purchase of Coop branded goods accrues value which you allocate to the cause of your choice.