Green Flag status

In the process of dashing between London and Wales I completely forgot to post that the Russia Dock Woodland has been awarded Green Flag status. We are really terribly pleased!

Here's the news update that I put on the Friends of RDW website, penned by Chairman Steve Cornish:

We are pleased to announce that Russia Dock Woodland was successful in its bid to be awarded Green Flag Status this week. The woodlands was officially awarded this coveted honour on the 23rd of this month at the awards ceremony in Bournemouth.

This is all due to the combined hard work and commitment of Southwark Councils Parks Dept, the Friends of Russia Dock Woodland group, Stave Hill Ecological Park (managed by the Trust for Urban Ecology), Quadron services, and of course the general public.

The Friends of Russia Dock Woodland is in its sixth year. Many woodlands users will remember back in the early days when the ponds were bone dry with no natural water supply. Now instead of bed spreads, bike frames and Tesco supermarket trolleys in the ponds, we have, fish, turtles, frogs, toads, newts, which attract the kingfishers, herons, and bats. This is all due to the refurbishment of the wind turbine back in 2003 which now pumps fresh underground water from the Aquifer 200 feet below Rotherhithe.

There are well over 100 bird and bat boxes in the woodlands that have been made and erected by the pupils of bacons school.

Plus as reported in the Southwark news over the last three years all the five footbridges throughout the woodlands have now been named after the five junior schools on the peninsula - Redriff, Peter Hillls, Alfred Salter, Albion Street, and St Johns. All these school's have made their own sculptures with the help and guidance of Kevin Boys the local surrey docks farm blacksmith.

We now have hundreds of new visitors to the woodlands every week which we feel is simply because it is a place of tranquillity where the wildlife comes first and people can relax with their families.