Burgess Park Woodland

Impact Reporting

We regularly look to quantify the impact of park users, new building developments around the park and even the impact of our maintenance sessions.

We recently crowdfunded a report from London Wildlife Trust on the overshadowing of Southampton Way Woodlands & St George’s Way Copses.

Maintenance

We hold volunteering events in which anyone can get involved with maintaining our woodland. Be that copicing, dead hedging, planting or removing old weed control fabric preventing our woodland floor from thriving. We hope our volunteer efforts will serve as a good starting point for Southwark council to introduce a full woodland maintenance plan for Burgess Park.

Events

We hold events to engage people with our local woodlands. Getting them to enjoy the joys of nature whilst hopefully teaching them new skills, something about our woodland ecosystem and how they can appreciate and enjoy it.

Our next events are focused around Spring – they can be found via the eventbrite link below.

About us

Burgess Park has beautiful woodlands which are vital for local wildlife. They are a precious resource in the heart of inner London Southwark.  We want to protect and enhance the woodlands.

A group of dedicated volunteers from Friends of Burgess Park set up a woodlands group in 2021 to help improve the woodland in Burgess Park.

Friends of Burgess Park has been awarded seed-corn funding from Natural England for a woodlands focused project. Our project will include a woodland festival, hands-on work in the woodlands and a new trail around the woodlands with online information. We officially launched this project with a mini woodland festival in autumn 2022, undertaking further woodland workshops between December to March and will launch a signed walk around our woodlands in April 2023.

Friends of Burgess Park is working on more woodland projects in 2024  to show the value of these special places for people and wildlife. This includes renewing and improving our signed walk alongside self-assessment surveys of all of our woodland areas.

Our Aims

Healthy Woodlands – Raise the profile and appreciation of Burgess Park woodlands as a valuable habitat which benefits wildlife and local people/park users.
 
Protect
·       the woodlands from development and degradation through intensive use
Promote
·       the value of the woodlands for health and wellbeing 
Enhance
·       the special value of each area of woodland using both park maintenance and volunteers

About Burgess Park

Burgess Park is a relatively new park and one that slowly emerged from post war dereliction and the desire to create green lungs around central London, part of the Abercrombie Plan. More recently redeveloped in 2010 with masterplanning by LDA Design

Find out more on our website page Bridge to Nowhere | Burgess Park reflecting back in time 

 

All the woodlands are young, with limited species diversity and growing on poor soils, as well as under huge pressure from ever increasing populations and heavy park usage. Our aim is to see them continue to grow and develop healthily, providing a rich canopy for climate mitigation, habitat and forage for wildlife and as a place for people to feel closer to, and to connect with nature.

Friends of Burgess Park receive a commendation at the London Tree & Woodland Awards at Kew Gardens

London Tree & Woodland Awards

Highly Commended Our woodlands campaign to protect Southampton Way woodlands against development pressure was highly commended with a London Urban Forest Award at the London Tree and Woodland Awards 2022. Thanks to all local groups and park users who have supported us. 

The Awards (#TreeOscars) are organised by the Forestry Commission and supported by the Mayor of London. They aim to raise the profile of London’s trees and woodlands and their need for active management. The awards showcase the work taking place all over the city to protect and increase London’s urban forest (urban forestry guidance).

Get Involved

Would you like to get involved
or have any questions?

Give us an email! We are always delighted to welcome new people to our group of volunteers! Whether you would like to help with long term organisation or just an hour or two volunteering in our woods, do get in touch!