Camberwell OLD Cem and Tree Clearance: an update

[fl0wer]

Further tree and shrub clearance this week at Camberwell Old Cemetery causes all of us a shock.

Noisy machinery hacking down the under storey of the wild woodland section, has been keeping local council staff busy.

Can understand the logic of efforts against Japanese Knotweed + certain kinds of Rhodedendron, & opening up "forest glades" will eventually be good for butterflies, several years ahead.

However these Council Works are undertaken at the very most inappropriate time of year, when we had masses of time in the winter, while the Cem was being re-landscaped, to get on with hefty tidy-up jobs.

Right now, every wild creature is in the midst of raising its young and every wildflower is trying to set its seeds.

The shrinking pot of taxpayer's money is being used to harm to the very biodiversity on which depends our landscape's health. Greenery at turf and shrub height in a big urban environment needs wise, gentle and protective management. It is not a plentiful habitat.

Few council gardeners have a training in natural history, botany, entymology, zoology, or other specialisms and if their orders are to do irreparable damage it's not their responsibility, it's the council's. Therefore the best thing is to make the council AWARE. Hardly anyone is an all-round expert on biodiversity; we are all learning all our lives, through a time of extreme threat thanks to destructive farming, chemicals, etc. I repeat my request that there is a proper biodiversity survey, by a trained ecologist, as a matter of urgency.

I see a thread's arisen about tree surgery in our district generally. It is great that everyone cares so much!

Add to the general discussion our awareness that tiny changes in the seasons permit certain fungi & insects to boom.

Trees will reflect this, when for decades they were reasonably healthy, and well chosen species by the original town planners, now we can observe them steadily losing strength a little more each year, if the diseases keep getting their ideal conditions for multiplying. Eventually the tree is totally unsound & at this point it becomes an insurance liability.

I think nobody wants the environment further polluted by lavish spraying programmes, & would rather Tree Surgery companies and their estimators dodged the enticements of Big Pharma and were straight with local authorities. There is a professional body for the tree surgeons, with ethical guidelines, if you want to look them up.

More resilient species are being sought by Southwark Council, for example moth-resistant Chestnuts are being tried.

Rather than screaming about every logical change, it is the illogical timing and apportioning of council money & workforce that benefits from scrutiny. Look closely and you can see that we NEVER NEED money spent on smashing down the biodiversity; there is always a better option.

For example:

In the cemetery a close turf strimming practice is constantly underway, on the basis that its topsoil is full of holes and 'people might trip up if they cannot see them'. Far from spending time filling in these pockets, the gardeners are using all their hours petrol-guzzling and creating a desert, a short back & sides, which is terrible for invertebrates and all the wildflowers. No wonder there are so few butterflies and other pollinating insects. In suitable corners some unevenness should be left as it increases the range of habitats and offers better foraging, especially for birds.

Furthermore the chaps know their jobs are threatened, so are not likely to argue, but there is always other work that can be done at this most beautiful time of year. There are sapling sycamores to get out of stonework, paths and fences to repair, mowed areas to be raked, plastic and other litter to collect up, formal flowerborders and hedges and proper compost systems to get flourishing again. None of these traditional tasks would hurt the biodiversity and they would all give the job back its pride.

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Flower,

Camberwell Old Cemetery is an active Cemetery and it is kept neat and tidy as eg people walk across the grass to visit the graves of their loved ones. There are many sections of this cemetery and the other cemeteries are wild and not maintained in the same way, particularly at Nunhead as part of this is a nature reserve.I enclose an image of part of the new/reused burial area towards Wood Vale.

Renata

[fl0wer]

Dear friends and neighbours, courtesy copy of letter I just sent to Renata by PM

The worry is less about the loss of the rough land which was over along the Wood Vale side, and no doubt will improve gradually once the rawness wears off its newly installed trees and earthworks,

and more about the timing of undergrowth cutting

and the severity of turf shaving, the destructiveness of strimmers. Until you have seen at close quarters what these machines do to amphibians, harmless snakes and voles, you cannot grasp what the 'right kind of regime' means. Almost anything is better than the timing and harshness of present methods.

But I am glad you have been to look. I understand the 'tidy' ethos and am not at odds with it, in the context of a cemetery it is to be expected.

The council has spent possibly millions on the commercial turf and hundreds of nursery-garden seedling ivies, and other industrial supplies, with which the landscaping firm 'reinstated' topsoil cover. Saturated in nitrates, it is now demanding more frequent mowing and if left will turn into waist-high sileage-style rye grass, totally not conducive to restoring the wildlife. A fairly basic study of the 'wild lawn' and 'meadow' literature on the internet could have prevented this mistake. Then we would have short, slow-growing grasses which have the effect of providing space for wildflowers, and only need mowing gently once, towards autumn. Saving man hours and petrol.

In addition it was unnecessary to go far to find rooted bits of baby ivy plants, they were growing in the wild woodland itself, and the gardeners could have been taking delight in propagating them during the wintertime.

[henryb]

I think is appalling that this is being done at all. There are far better and more sustainable solution to burial then the destruction of these wild areas. At the time there was assurances that an environmental impact report had been done. I would have thought that would mean at least it was going to be done way to minimise the environmental impact to wildlife and biodiversity. Sounds like that was not true.

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,899412,page=1

[fl0wer]

Can we perhaps avoid going over the topic in the same way of that other thread (for which many thanks - recommend the link).

Let's focus instead on protecting the biodiversity, and thinking up solutions which are inclusive.

There will always be a need for sacred burial sites.

The best will both get used for actual internments, AND provide peaceful woodland walks and gardens where ashes can be sprinkled. They will also provide calm and sheltered spaces in which wildlife can dwell unmolested and gradually form pockets from which to spread out repopulating the presently depleted manmade world.

Everywhere, up and down the country, city or not, cemeteries and all sorts of other green spaces, people need to see that Council choices of method will actually promote healthy environments and rich habitats for generations to come.

The beauty of thinking this way is that it costs less if well planned. Nobody need get involved with human-centric matters of religion or politics, it is so urgent to stop the wrecking of Nature for the sake of the world our grandchildren will inherit, that all can agree on this yardstick for the future.