Many visitors to Greenwich Park will have enjoyed close encounters with the wildlife, from feeding the squirrels and birds, to admiring the deer herds or ancient trees. A centuries old open space, the Park is a very rich location for biodiversity. Some of the habitats which are particularly important for S E London include woodland, ancient grazed grassland in the Deer Park, acid grassland and the veteran trees.
For overviews of all aspects of park wildlife, see the Royal Parks website
The Friends strongly supported the creation of the Secret Garden Wildlife Centre, developed from a former bulb store in the Flower Garden and opened in October 2002. ‘ Drop In ’ days on the last Wednesday of the month are run by the Friends on behalf of the Royal Parks, as are other wildlife related days such as the annual RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch .
The group has also helped to fund “baseline surveys” of the Park’s wildlife, which detail the amazing variety of species found there. This type of survey is invaluable because as well as giving essential information on the current wildlife status, the array of species found can be used as an indicator of the “health” of our habitats, and future management plans can be made with these in mind. The 2012 Olympic events to be held in the Park will have a dramatic but hopefully temporary impact on Park wildlife. For students and keen naturalists we are pleased to provide PDF files of all the surveys undertaken so far.
The Royal Parks Community Ecologist, Dr Nigel Reeves, is always keen to receive any further wildlife records, and there are recording sheets available in the Park Office.
This summarises the inpressive records of Friend Patricia Brown and the GP Bird Recording Group. All resident and visiting bird species are shown as well as those only seen flying over. Every month, Patricia runs an early morning bird walk in the Park, to which everyone is welcome. See the current events page or Park notice boards for details.
Download BirdsGreenwichPark.pdf (24KB)
Notwithstanding sabotage by deer youngsters intent on digging up the pitfall traps, a year-long survey found 92 species within the park, including four Nationally Notables. One of these, the attractive green spider Nigma puella, was discovered during the spider foray organized by the Friends, and was a new record for London.
Download SpidersGreenwichPark.pdf (38KB)
Park staff and members of the Friends Wildlife Group were provided with bat detectors and assisted in dusk surveys, which resulted in good sightings of the common pipistrelle, which is little bigger than a moth.
Download BatsGreenwichPark.pdf (45KB)
Sixteen species of butterfly and no less than 352 species of moths were recorded, a most impressive total for Inner London. The moths included 8 Red Data Book and 10 Nationally Scarce species. The deer park, being mature and relatively undisturbed, was particularly species-rich, but good results were also obtained from the moth trap high on the roof of the Royal Observatory.
Download ButterfliesGreenwichPark.pdf (5379KB)
Friend Anne Andrews leads an annual Fungus Foray in the Park. Up to 2006, 107 different species had been recorded. Anne’s 2007 Foray was on 26 October, and we hope to provide an updated list very soon, Some species are theoretically edible, but in view of the large number of dogs using the Park, probably not very appetizing. Anyone intrepid enough to wish to try some will need a Royal Parks licence before picking any fungi at all. Details of future Forays will be advertised.