🍄 It's #FungusFriday at Hampton Heath... Sessile Earthstar is the find of the week, and waxcaps finally showing in numbers. Join the litter-picking + habitat volunteers, Saturday, 10am. Sign up for our weekly newsletter at hamptonheath.org @plantlifeuk.bsky.social @habsandheritage.bsky.social

Wasn't expecting to get the first Clouded Yellow record at Hampton Heath... in November. Red Admiral, grasshoppers, 24 spot ladybird and more all enjoying the sunshine between showers... fungi gradually coming to the fore, but still (almost) no waxcaps.

First Hygrocybe of the season at Hampton Heath 🤩. A very slimy Blackening Waxcap (#Hygrocybe conica) and one of the Pinkgills (#Entoloma sp.).

At last! Hampton Heath has - at last - had enough rain for its first #CHEGD ( #waxcap ) grassland fungi of the autumn. Silky Pinkgill (Entoloma sericeum) - unless any actual #mycologists know better! @plantlifeuk.bsky.social @britmycolsoc.org.uk

Great to meet @davegoulson.bsky.social and hear him speak at a really well attended event at the wonderful Hanworth Air Parks Biodiversity Project yesterday. The work of HABP and @cambeauty.bsky.social is clearly hugely valued in the community, and I look forward to reading Silent Earth.

If anyone is interested in a small waxcap grassland site in Hampton, SW London (CHEGD species count so far 16, so potentially of regional importance), please get in touch with @hamptonheath.bsky.social who would love some proper mycological advice and verification of identifications this autumn.

Any lepidopterists in the house? Can you confirm this as a Silver Studded Blue (Plebejus argus)? This week, Hampton Heath, Hampton Hill, SW London.

Happy birthday, sir David Attenborough! 💚🎂 One of Richmond Borough's most revered environmental and cultural icons. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

@hamptonheath.bsky.social will be speaking at the Climate Chat on 30th April at St James's Church, Hampton Hill. We'll be talking about how local positive action breeds more positive action, and brings the community together.

This week, Hampton Heath Friends tried looking at our local nature area under UV light... and magic happened. Read this week's newsletter here: eepurl.com/jcSMF2

Brilliant news!!!

Hampton Heath Friends were out in force again today... and so were the Brimstone butterflies.

Here are some of our upcoming events - please share them and spread the word! Book via our website: barnescommon.org.uk/events/ #volunteering #photography #birding

March 1st: Spring 🌱🌞 Hampton Heath Friends were coppicing willow, opening up the pond margins to daylight and cut/rake/remove managing the acid grassland... and as always collecting litter. @habsandheritage.bsky.social @ldnloop-capring.bsky.social @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social

Thanks to @cambeauty.bsky.social of Hanworth Park Biodiversity Project, and @benton2.bsky.social for a *Fantastic* bat talk + walk. Expertly led, we listened in on the detectors as at least 4 Soprano Pipistrelles, swooped around us for up to an hour after sunset, this mild, clear February evening 🦇

Hampton Heath Friends aim to survey our bats this spring and summer, so next week, we'll be taking on board the best possible bat guidance and info. 🦇 With Hanworth Air Park Biodiversity Project and @batconservation.bsky.social 🦇 Why not join us there? 🦇 2pm, Saturday 22nd Feb. 🦇 See you there? 🦇

Down in SW London, this week's Hampton Heath Friends newsletter focuses on raptors and how their presence indicates a healthy ecosystem. Read it here: mailchi.mp/913264db09a0... New subscribers welcome!

The larvae of many Lycaenids (coppers, hairstreaks, blues) have a close association with ants, a phenomenon known as 'myrmecophily'. The relationship may be parasitic (e.g. Large Blue eating ant grubs) or symbiotic (in exchange for a level of protection, ants get sugary secretions). 1/3

Pesticides Harm More Than Pests A large-scale analysis of 1,705 studies shows that pesticides negatively impact non-target plants, animals, and microbes - raising concerns about biodiversity loss. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #SciComm #Biodiversity #Pesticides 🧪

Love nature? Help protect it! 🦉 Record the wildlife you see in London—every sighting helps us understand and support local species. Whether it’s birds in your garden or insects in a park, your input is vital for nature’s recovery. Get involved with our wildlife surveys today! 👇 ow.ly/Mqi050UWQOj

Want to keep our parks and public spaces pristine? Why not join the Do Something Green team for their next event - a litter pick in Ham! Meet likeminded people and help protect the environment in our Borough 💚 Click here for tickets and info: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/litter-pic...

With flat-based garden bird tables and feeders now strongly NOT recommended, due to diseases like trichomonosis, here's some interesting advice on how and when (and when not) to feed your garden birds... from those who REALLY know, at the @btobirds.bsky.social

PLEASE NEVER leave dog/cat fur lying on the ground in parks and gardens. New research shows insecticides in nests lined with fur reduce wild bird brood sizes due to flea/tick treatments. It took almost 2hrs to clear fur from Hampton Heath, today. 1/2

This week's Hampton Heath Friends newsletter: - Important information for pet owners, about the devastating impact pet fur can have on nesting birds - Results from the Big Garden Birdwatch - All the details of actions on site, this Saturday morning. Read it here: mailchi.mp/c8df8cf41b75...

PLEASE DON'T leave pet fur lying on the ground in parks, or put it out for bird nesting material. Songbirds being killed by pesticides found in pet fur flea treatments www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This is something we have long feared - and why we clear up the dog fur, which is regularly left lying at Hampton Heath. If it kills songbirds, what does it do to invertebrates or soil ecology? Songbirds being killed by pesticides found in pet fur flea treatments www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This week's Hampton Heath Friends newsletter focuses on garden birds: How to feed them without risking their health, and joining the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. You'll also find out what we're doing this Saturday morning (25th Jan) and how to join us. mailchi.mp/77a59b03e3b1...

THIS... is what Hampton Heath Friends, and so many other groups are all about. You don't need to be referred by a counsellor; you don't need to be an environmental geek. You just need to get outside and take control: Do something positive, feel great about it! www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

If the UK govt follows through on plans to expand Luton and Gatwick airports, it will wipe out the climate benefit of its world-leading Clean Power Plan 2030 Adding Heathrow expansion would wipe out the pre-2050 climate benefits in just 5 years of operation neweconomics.org/2025/01/airp...

5 years after herbicide use ended, Hoylake foreshore is thriving: 240+ plant species ✅ 42k tonnes of sand captured annually, saving £45k ✅ Home to 2% of UK’s embryonic dunes ✅ Peat soils forming ✅ 30ha of rare habitat = biodiversity, protection, carbon capture 🌱❤️

If you would like to see more #trees in #RichmondBorough then here's your chance to say so: haveyoursay.citizenspace.com/richmondecs/... But hurry - deadline is 23rd Jan

Tomorrow (Saturday 11th Jan) we’ll be on site as usual, for some bramble clearance, grassland management, and to review options for our densest little patch of woodland. Meet outside David Lloyd, Hampton at 10am! Last week's progress... Before. After.

If you've always wanted to join our Conservation Volunteering sessions but couldn't do weekdays, now is your time to shine: our first Sunday session is on 26 January, carrying out scrub control on the acid grassland at Mill Hill. Bring a cup for your tea/coffee: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sunday-con...

Endangered leeches are being bred for re-release, in another positive story: Active species reintroduction will have a big role in the recovery of local biodiversity and natural systems. Even in suburban SW London, at Hampton Heath we have the related horse leech. uk.inaturalist.org/observations...

Fascinating study on the migration of Noctule bats (a British species).

Fabulous article introducing the wonderful world of slime moulds. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... At Hampton Heath we have only one type recorded... the gloriously named "Dog Sick Slime Mold", Didymium spongiosum. Many more species await discovery... www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Did you know: Every single species record from Hampton Heath is publicly available on Inaturalist, here: www.inaturalist.org/observations... You can filter the records to search for what you're looking for using the button, top-right - or change the view to list by species ID.

Great news for nature in Hampton, SW London: Oldfield Meadow (next to St Mary's School) was transferred to nature conservation at committee last night. Plans for a new nature-based local park can begin! Who wants to be involved right from the start? @rtfoe.bsky.social @habsandheritage.bsky.social

In response to Meta's decision to remove moderation from Facebook and Threads, we are closing our accounts. Making Meta products as toxic as "X" (which we have also left) is not compatible with a community-based org like HHF: We have community, environment, equality, ecology + facts at our core 💚

@habsandheritage.bsky.social Yes!!! Brilliant to see you here! Anyone into nature conservation, volunteering, and heritage in SW London Boroughs of Richmond, Kingston, Wandsworth, Hounslow, should please follow this wonderful organisation.

We are Hampton Heath Friends. Located in SW London, we clean litter, manage and restore habitats at Hampton Heath - a public green space surrounding David Lloyd, Hampton. We'd love to hear from you on all matters environmental in Hampton, Fulwell, Hampton Hill and Hanworth. Https://Hamptonheath.org