Barnes Common

19/08/2026

Do you often find yourself looking for something to do as a family when your children finish school for the day? Join our term time growing club for primary school children and their families every Monday after school, starting on 7th September! Children can take part in lots of different gardening activities and create their garden diaries. Younger siblings are welcome to join in. The sessions cost £5 each or £25 for the half term (6 sessions), plus booking fee. Please book via our website (click the Events link in our bio)

17/08/2026

With the continuing lack of rain and relentless heatwaves, much of our Conservation team’s time is currently being spent watering young hedges and newly planted trees across the Common. It may, therefore, feel like a strange time to be talking about ponds. However, we are looking ahead to wetter times and are hoping to create a new wildlife pond next to the existing pond in the corner of the Black Poplar Meadow. It’s good to know we’re not alone in wanting to see more ponds: 94% of respondents to our pond survey said they would like to see new ponds created and/or existing ponds restored. Read more about the new pond and what animals may decide to call it their home on our website under Latest News.

12/08/2026

If you’re new to growing, you may be interested in our Introduction to Growing Course starting in September. Over 6 sessions, we will cover a wide range of topics including climate-friendly growing’, plants for free’ (taking cuttings, lifting and dividing, seed saving etc), composting and soil health, natural pest control, companion planting, pruning techniques, container growing and herbs and healing plants. We have seven places left on this course and it does fill up quickly, so book ahead (click the Events link in our bio)

10/08/2026

You may notice some areas of bare ground appearing across Barnes Common. These carefully planned soil scrapes are part of our work to restore the Common’s nationally important Lowland Acid Grassland. Although the scrapes can look quite drastic at first, removing the nutrient-rich topsoil exposes the nutrient-poor sandy soils needed by the habitat’s characteristic fine grasses and wildflowers. The scrapes help to increase our population of specialist wildflowers such as Bird’s-Foot, which only remains in small numbers at three locations on Mill Hill. This member of the pea family has delicate pink flowers, producing valuable nectar and pollen for solitary bees. A recent survey of solitary bees, wasps and other invertebrates across all our lowland acid grassland sites revealed several local and nationally significant species. Read more about our LAG work: https://barnescommon.org.uk/acid-grassland-scrapes-help-rare-bees/

05/08/2026

Our fantastic supporter and Jackie’s daughter, Kate Sitaraman has been training hard for her Kew 10K at the Richmond Running Festival for Barnes Common this September. Please show your support and help her to reach her goal of £600. Donate to her fundraiser here:

Hi everyone, On September 12th I'm running the Richmond 10k at Kew Gardens to fundraise … Kate Sitaraman needs your support for Running for a better world

04/08/2026

At the end of July, our conservation volunteers alongside the young people in our Eco-Explorers summer camp helped London HogWatch deploy cameras as part of the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme on Barnes Common. Thank you to everyone who took part, we’re looking forward to see what animals were captured by the cameras.
If you’d like to help but don’t want to tackle the brambles, you can sign up on MammalWeb to be a hedgehog spotter and look at the footage that’s been recorded so far.

The National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme is run by People’s Trust for Endangered Species | PTES and British Hedgehog Preservation Society (Charity), in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, ZSL, MammalWeb and Durham University, and co-funded by Natural England

30/07/2026

We had a great time last week with the young people taking part in our Eco-Explorers Summer Camp. Over the course of the week, we went bug hunting, river dipping, got to know plants and trees, and set up wildlife cameras. We did plant surveys from Plantlife, measured trees for the Woodland Trust database, and contributed to Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count. Everyone was really engaged throughout the week, and besides the ecological activities, we also just enjoyed spending time outdoors building dens, making land art, and playing in the park at lunch! We spent all day, every day outside. We also did 2 litter picks on the Common, helping to make the space more enjoyable for other visitors.


Butterfly Conservation PlantLife UK

29/07/2026

The whole of London is now officially in drought, the Environment Agency says. With the warm and dry conditions continuing, there is also a very high risk of wildfires, according to the Met Office and Natural England.

The drought declarations follow an exceptionally hot and dry period, which has hit rivers, crops and nature.

27/07/2026

Join our next growers workshop on the 15th of August where we explore the wonderful world of herbs! Herbs are fantastic plants to grow in your garden. You can grow them in any space, and they have multiple culinary and medicinal uses. In this workshop, we’ll have a look at how to grow some of the most common garden herbs – and some more unusual ones! We’ll discuss their culinary uses, medicinal qualities and folklore. You’ll also have a chance to sample some herbal teas brewed with plants growing at the project. Book here: https://barnescommon.org.uk/eventbrite-event/workshop-the-wonderful-world-of-herbs-2/

27/07/2026

Thank you to everyone who came to the last in our series of summer walks, talks and workshops on Saturday with Rasheeqa Rasheeqa Ahmad Jayne Azzopardi. It was a lovely exploration of the plants around us and how they can support our physical and emotional health. We finished the walk with a lavender tea tasting - a lovely, calming and grounding experience. If you’re interested in learning more about herbs, our next growers’ workshop will be on the wonderful world of herbs. Booking via link in bio.