Morden Park, one of the London
Borough of Merton's flagship parks has become part of the Capital Woodlands
Project. The Capital Woodlands Project is a London Biodiversity Partnership
project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and managed by Trees for
Cities. The project aims to raise the public's appreciation of these
woodlands by increasing access to the sites and creating new wildlife
habitats.
The park has been a public area since 1945 but was first enclosed as part of
a private estate in 1770 when the Morden Park House was built for the
distiller and merchant John Ewart. His estate formed most of the boundaries
of the current park but * at that time a lot of the land was still used for
agriculture. You might notice that there are still some lines of mature
trees throughout » the park - these could have been field boundaries.
During the 2002 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Year, local school children were
involved in planting native whips over the old cycling track. This area is
now called the Jubilee Woodland.
Another small woodland area was planted in 2005 to commemorate the death of
Admiral Lord Nelson, the borough's famous past resident. This area is known
as the Trafalgar Woodland.
Parts of the existing wooded areas in the park are over 250 years old. Some
of these new wooded areas should last for the same amount of time, if not
more, and so will be appreciated by future generations. As well as making
the park even more beautiful than it is, they create new habitats for birds,
other plants and fungi.
Many insects will inhabit the woodlands. Beetles, butterflies and moths will
be the easiest to spot. If you are lucky, you may see a stag beetle during
the warmer summer months along with nany other invertebrates.
Birds are the easiest woodland inhabitants to spot and the most common
present here are wood pigeon, woodpecker chiffchaff, blackbird, great tit,
starling, magpie and carrion crow. There are some breeding pairs of tawny
owl and sparrowhawk in the park. The new wooded areas will provide shelter
and food for many of these birds.
Did you know?
As well as being important for woodlands and wildlife, the park is of
historical interest. In the centre of the park is the small hill known as
The Mound. Its exact history is still unknown but it could be a pagan bunal
mound dating back over 1500 years. There is also evidence of a Roman road,
Stane Street, running through the park, which dates back to 76 AD Trees for
Cities is an independent charity set up in 1993 to work with local
communities on tree planting projects.