The Unexpected Beauty of Croydon

I'm a big fan of ponds. Even a tiny pond can support a huge amount of life. This is the best time of year to see life in ponds, at the start of the breeding season. The great thing about ponds is that while at first glance you may not see anything, stay still and watch for a few minutes and you may spot the golden eyes of frogs peering at you from just above the surface, or newts popping up for air.  This post is about some of the living creatures that live in or visit ponds. I won't cover waterfowl like ducks, geese and swans here, I'm focusing on the less visible creatures. At the end, I've listed some of the ponds locally which are good for wildlife. Common frogs Frog, Littleheath Woods, Feb 2021 Most people are familiar with frogs and their spawn, which they lay in large clumps. Frogs spend the winter hibernating in damp places, such as under piles of leaves, mud or logs. In early spring, they emerge and head for ponds, where they mate and lay spawn.  Gradually the ...

I've been slipping, sliding and squelching my way through Croydon's green spaces recently. Every time I come home, I bring souvenirs with me, in the form of mud. My trouser legs look like Jackson Pollock has had a go at them with some brown paint.  This time of year, there's water everywhere and many of our parks are flooded. I've seen people concerned about this, particularly as parks are especially important at the moment. However, their tendency to flood is a key reason why some of these sites remain public land.  Ashburton Park, Jan 2021 Croydon's green spaces used to have more ponds and lakes than they currently do.  The current "flooding" in Ashburton Park pretty much exactly matches the location of the lake on this map from 1898 ( available on the National Library of Scotland website here ).  Wandle Park was the site of Croydon's first sewage treatment works, however this was short-lived, being replaced by an abbatoir. Despite this insalubrious ...

If I was to compile a list of the most beautiful places in Croydon, Coombe Wood would undoubtedly be close to the top. It's an obvious choice to those who know it, but not everyone knows it's there - I lived nearby for a number of years before I first visited. Water flows gently down the rockery through a series of small pools, into the tranquil fish pond, where large carp and smaller fish swim among lily pads.  Formal flower beds display colourful flowers throughout the year, including a winter garden with heather.  In the woods, there are bright flowers on the rhododendrons and azaleas in spring and summer.  Bleeding-heart plant If you're a plant novice, I'd recommend installing an app such as Pl@ntnet on your phone which can help identify species using photos, as there are quite a lot of unusual and intriguing species to see. The bleeding-heart plant above is located near the end of the flowerbed to the left of the long lawn and is one of my favourites found there. Y...