Development
of Lakeside Country Park by
Simon Ingrams - April 2006
All
of the articles on this website are to encourage more
to enjoy wildlife. The more there are, the more powerful
the voice for conservation. They show nature at its
best, and it is hoped, encourage a few people to plant
a few wild flowers, perhaps build a …pond, join
an organization or two, and marvel at the wonders
of the natural world. Although these articles are
positive and heartening, this was unintentional, it
is just that each enthusiast pitched for the subject
they love. But, as we know, our land is under pressure;
ecology, the environment, water supplies are all topics
coming more and more to the fore.
This
piece by Simon Ingram relates a sad story of his beloved
local patch, being apparently slowly strangled, so
that conservationalists have nothing left to defend,
when the decision is finally made as to whether the
site should be developed.
The
arguments for conservation are too vast to go into
here, but whilst we lecture Brazil, yet we continue
to cut down our own native forests. The proposed number
of new houses here in the south, means now’s
the time to invest in concrete mixers.
Every week, we receive a brief
email on Hoslist, from Simon Ingrams with his records
for the week. Lakeside is not the Farne Islands or
Bempton Cliffs, with 200,000 screaming birds displaying
spectacularly in the open. Rather, Lakeside, hosts
secretive ‘little brown jobs’, Slow-worms
and other unglamorous hosts. They have no political
voice, and because most people do not know of them,
they have no influence.
I recall that in the spring
of 2005, Simon wrote exasperated, saying that the
council had cut back all the shrubs, just when birds
were about to nest. The council had ‘tidied
up’. This year 2006, the destruction of the
habitat has again occurred in spring. Vast areas of
hedgerows have been ripped out.
Naturalists always wince when
they hear those 2 words ‘tidied up’ as
in the ‘the wasteland was tidied up’.
Nature is not tidy, but if there must be clearances
and cutting back, can this not be done at more opportune
times than spring? ‘Wasteland’, usually
means land with no agriculture or human appeal, maybe
unattractive landscape, but this can mean not poisoned
with chemicals, and these are usually the richest
sites for nature to thrive.
More single people requiring
their own home and immigration means houses do need
to be built. Simon comprehends this, his gripe is
the way that it is being implemented, before planning
permission is granted.
The one, perhaps single detail
that all conservationalists agree upon, is that the
population of our small island, and the world in general,
cannot continue to grow at the current pace. If anyone
has a solution to this, enough’s enough, please
do not keep the secret to yourself any longer. You
probably also know the answer to string-theory and
dark matter.
Together with before-and after-pictures,
here is just one story, a small story, but illustrates
what is occurring throughout our land - -
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The proposed building of 430 homes adjacent to
Lakeside Country Park, Eastleigh.
Having
lived in Eastleigh all my life I remember as a boy
walking 200 yards from my town centre home and seeing
Common Lizard, Slow Worm and Field Vole in abundance.
As the years rolled by, these areas have, as Eastleigh
grew, disappeared under concrete. I also remember
many birds from that era that were commonplace. Some
of these are distinctly rare now such as Tree Sparrow,
Turtle Dove, Wood Warbler, Willow Tit, Grasshopper
Warbler and Nightingale. These were birds and creatures
that as a boy I thought would be around for ever,
little did I realize that less than 30 years later,
these birds would decrease so dramatically that they
would be rare Hampshire Birds by 2006. We should not
take for granted that in 30years time House Sparrow,
Starling, Skylark and Song Thrush will still be around!
?Lakeside
Country Park looking South-west from its’ Northern
boundary.
20 yards behind me is the Proposed Development site.
The Reedy area in front is where a Bittern wintered
in 2003 and Water Rails and Jack Snipe reside most
winters.
In August 2000 I moved to Monks Way on the southern
outskirts of Eastleigh and decided to compile a bird
list for the Lakeside Country Park area which was
now on my doorstep.
The recording area is centered on Lakeside Country
Park but also includes its immediate surrounds. (The
area covered is bordered by Monks Way to the North,
Southampton Road to the East, Stoneham Lane to the
West and the M27 to the South) Any birds recorded
in or flying over the area are recorded. For a small
area (approx 1km x 1km) there is a wide variety of
habitat with three lakes, a small marsh, set-a-side
grassland, woodland border, a brook, allotments and
playing fields. In fact I like to call the whole area
the ‘Country Park’, as these adjacent
green areas, especially to the North of Lakeside,
act as a ‘buffer zone’ from the town of
Eastleigh.
Monks
Way Public Open Space (Part of the Proposed Development
Area)
Above
photos taken 13.06.03
Below photos taken 18.03.06
During
2001, I decided to compile a bird report listing all
the species that were recorded during the course of
the year and to create a little more interest in this
little known area for birds. This interest however
was mainly achieved through the Web by reporting sightings
on Hoslist, a mailing group run by the Hampshire Ornithological
Society. Birds such as Goosander, Avocet, Wryneck,
Rose-coloured Starling and Bittern have seen bird
watchers from all over the County visiting the Country
Park for the first time. Many have commented on the
interesting range of habitats of the site and the
wide variety of birds that have been recorded there.
With this interest, I have continued producing an
annual report.
6 years ago the bird list stood at about 70 species
and was kept on the notice board next to the Park
Rangers Office. Now the list can still be seen on
the notice board but has grown to an impressive 162
species.
In
December 2002 Eastleigh Council announced their plans
to build 430 homes on the allotments and open space
to the north of the Country Park, the ‘Buffer
Zone’.
There was uproar in the town, from plot holders, dog
walkers and others that resulted in a public enquiry.
Now in March 2006, the final decision by John Prescott
has not been made and the plot holders on the South
Street and Monks Way allotments have not been given
notice to quit. These areas are crucial to the development
plans and while the outcome is undecided hundreds
of thousands of pounds worth of pre-emptive works
have been carried out around the site.
New
allotment sites have been created to relocate plot
holders. One of these is within the boundary of the
Country Park proper. A gradual scrub clearance has
been taking place accelerating to a massive clearance
in March 2006. The reasoning seems to be to prevent
birds nesting in these areas so that should the Allotment
holders be given notice to quit pending Mr Prescott's
final decision, they can carry on with the building
work without having to worry about them.
Areas
where Linnets, Whitethroats and Song Thrushes breed.
An area where I have watched up to 10 Reed Buntings
and 3 Stonechats this winter are now barren, bird-less
areas. The way I have seen these areas desecrated
in the past few years gives me little hope that the
Country Park and surrounds will be worth birding in
a years’ time!
Other
creatures such as Slow Worm and Field Vole that I
remember fondly from my childhood, still survive in
good numbers at the site. Sadly the Common Lizard
is on the brink of extinction in the town but still
has a toehold in some of the allotment areas.
Slow Worms have been involved in a major reptile translocation
project with 584 animals being moved between 17th
August and 20th October 2005. These animals have been
moved from the Proposed Development site a few hundred
yards south into the Country Park where there were
no Slow Worms previously; you can draw your own conclusions
from that!
I
have witnessed massive expensive errors by the Council
which costs must run into thousands of pounds as well
as a continuous degradation of the wildlife on the
site.
All this, before permission has been granted, and
despite all of the protests. Eastleigh Council continues,
filling up every green space with concrete, taking
away our wildlife, grid locking the Town and overflowing
our sewerage system in acts they portray as beneficial
to the community!
As
a true Eastleighite I realise that this is one of
the Town’s most precious ‘green’
areas. I feel nature will continue to lose out in
its battle against development, unless sufficient
numbers of us try to protect our natural world.
Land
owned by Hilliers (Left Hand Photos) -South Street
Allotments (Right Hand Photos) (Part of the Proposed
Development Area)
Above
photos taken on 13.06.03.
Below photos taken on 18.03.06.
The
New Lakeside Allotments and set-a-side field adjacent
to Wide Lane
02.07.04-The
new allotments with the area of set-a-side surrounding.
A Wryneck was here in September 2001.
29.10.04-The
new allotments with a severe drainage problem resulting
in months of remedial work with tones of sand, gravel
and top-soil dumped on set-a-side area -03.08.05
18.03.06-
The area of set-a-side which once held breeding Skylark
and Stonechat.
The SINC area adjacent to Lakeside Country Park –
02.07.04
50
metres to the east. 100’s 0f metres of hedgerow
were bulldozed in preparation for another new allotment
site should the South Street plot holders be given
notice to quit – 14.02.04
Back
to Articles
