Report from Ecology Officer Kate McVay

Kate, our amazing Ecology Officer for the Scrubs, wrote at the end of September:

A big thank you to those that joined us last week for Shire horses and our final bat/butterfly surveys of 2025! Our next session is meadow management this Friday 3 Oct from 10:00 to 15:00 meeting at the model aircraft flying zone (w3w///flat.vision.follow).

The Shire horses (Henry and William - see photos) managed to cut most of the meadow by the embankment, which will be collected later this week to encourage wildflower diversity and prevent grass from dominating. By opting for a traditional mowing kit towed by the Shire horses and driven by Antony from Operation Centaur, we're able to approach meadow management sensitively, at scale and with a low carbon hoofprint. Massive thanks to the LBHF Ecology Team for securing the funding to make this happen, to WSCT for support and to all of the volunteers that helped engage site users.

Recent sightings

Autumn migration is in full swing with a number of our seasonal visitors spotted recently including Stonechat and Whinchat. We've also had recent sightings of juvenile Peregrine Falcon, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel.

Our bat survey last week revealed a high possibility of Common Pipistrelles roosting in Braybrook Street woods and/or the Old Oak Estate - this was determined by the time they were detected, which aligned with typical emergence period for the species. We were joined by a number of the 21st Hammersmith Scouts, with some of the Scouts seeing their first ever bats!

Off the back of our final butterfly survey last week, here's a brief recap of our 2025 stats:

1415 total butterflies recorded

Peak count of 275 butterflies on 8 July

Top 5 recorded species:

Small/Essex Skipper (254 records)

Gatekeeper (250 records)

Large White (193 records)

Small White (139 records)

Meadow Brown (101 records)

Kate McVay, Ecology Officer