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  hilly 1:44 pm on May 16, 2012
  Tags: politics ( 9 )   

  How Shooters Hill Voted 

  Ken Livingstone won the most votes in the Shooters Hill ward in the recent mayoral election according to the breakdown by ward of the capital’s votes which has just been published by London Elects. He got 46% of the Shooters Hill vote, against Boris Johnson’s 37%,  compared to the 38% to 41% split in 2008. By my calculation this is a swing from Boris to Ken of 6%. The number of Greenwich wards with a majority for Ken also increased, as shown in the ward map below, though Ken still underperformed the Labour Party who also had most votes in Blackheath Westcombe and Middlepark & Sutcliffe in the other two ballots on 3rd May.

  

  2012 London Mayor Election Results

  The full breakdown of votes for Mayor in Shooters Hill ward is shown in the pie chart below. The Green Party’s Jenny Jones was in third place, followed by  the Liberal’s Brian Paddick in 4th place with just 3% of the vote. The Liberals were down from nearly 9% in 2008. Siobhan Benita was just two votes behind Brian, followed by Lawrence James Webb of the  Fresh Choice for London party. The BNP slumped to last place with 2%, down from just over 5% last time. Jenny Jones got the most second preference votes in Shooters Hill, though these wouldn’t have been counted in the final count; in the system used only second preference votes for Ken and Boris were counted.

  

  Votes for Mayor in Shooters Hill Ward

  1    Siobhan Benita
  2    Carlos Cortiglia – British National Party
  3    Boris Johnson – The Conservative Party Candidate
  4    Jenny Jones – Green Party
  5    Ken Livingstone – The Labour Party Candidate
  6    Brian Paddick – London Liberal Democrats
  7    Lawrence James Webb – Fresh Choice for London

  The breakdown of votes in the  London Member ballot is shown in the next pie chart. Labour beat the Conservatives by 47% to 22% in this vote, with the Greens in third on 9%. Interestingly UKIP were in 4th on 6%.

  

  Votes for London-wide London Assembly member in Shooters Hill Ward

  1    British National Party
  2    Christian Peoples Alliance – Supporting Traditional Marriage
  3    Conservative Party
  4    English Democrats – “Putting England First!”
  5    Green Party
  6    Labour Party
  7    London Liberal Democrats
  8    National Front Putting Londoners First
  9    The House Party- Homes for Londoners
  10    Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
  11    UK Independence Party
  12    Rathy Alagaratnam
  13    Ijaz Hayat

  Len Duvall won an impressive 51% of the Constituency London Assembly Member vote, up from 37% in 2008, compared to Alex Wilson’s 22% for the Conservatives. Again the Greens were in third and Lib Dems in fourth. Close behind the Lib Dems’  John Russell was Paul James Oakley of Fresh Choice for London. The National Front went from nearly 9% and fourth place  in 2008 down to just 2% and last place this time, maybe partly because the BNP also entered a candidate this time who took 4% of the vote.

  

  Votes for Constituency London Assembly Member in Shooters Hill Ward

  1    Tess Culnane – National Front Putting Londoners First
  2    Len Duvall – Labour Party Candidate
  3    Paul James Oakley – Fresh Choice for London
  4    Barbara  Raymond – Greenwich and Lewisham People Before Profit
  5    John Russell – London Liberal Democrats
  6    Roger Sedgley – Green Party
  7    Alex Wilson – The Conservative Party Candidate
  8    Roberta Woods – British National Party

  Turnout figures aren’t given in the London Elects spreadsheet, but it will be lower than in 2008. This time 3102 people voted in the Shooters Hill ward, excluding postal votes which aren’t given by ward; in 2008 it was 3968 which was a 47% turn out. So Shooters Hill turnout in 2012 was probably about the London average of 38%, which means that a large majority, 62%, of the ward didn’t vote.

  Of course this is all academic because Boris won the most votes across London and his second term as Mayor, but as I’ve admitted before I enjoy playing with a spreadsheet of numbers (sad or what?) and find this fascinating,  and I think it might give a little bit of insight into the area.

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• 

  hilly 10:11 pm on May 15, 2012
  Tags: art ( 3 ), events ( 59 )   

  Open Studios 

  

  Second Floor Studios & Arts Flyer

  Both the Blackheath Art Society and Second Floor Studios & Arts have open studios this weekend. Eleven Blackheath Art Society  artists’ studios, situated in Blackheath and surrounding areas are open from 12.00 noon to 6.00pm on both Saturday and Sunday, 19th and 20th May. The snippet of their flyer, below, gives the addresses of the studios (click to enlarge). Second Floor Studio & Arts is London’s largest creative hub of arts and crafts practitioners, with over 160 studio members and 45 Thames Barrier Print Studio members. Their open studios event has its opening night on Thursday evening, and is open from 11.00am to 6.00pm on both weekend days. There is also a chance to see print demonstrations in the Thames Barrier Print Studio and visit their recently opened  social enterprise Arts Canteen. SFSA is located in the Mellish Industrial Estate, Harrington Way, (off Warspite Road),  SE18 5NR.

  

  Blackheath Art Society Flyer

  The BAS artists’ studios were open last weekend too, and I visited three of the artists closest to home. All three were very welcoming, with offers of drinks and nibbles, a chance to view and purchase artwork  and all were prepared to share their artistic techniques generously. The first studio visited was in the Royal Herbert Pavilions; Nicola White makes her art from flotsam and jetsam found along the banks of the Thames. The art she has created from found items such as  lengths of driftwood, fragments of glass worn smooth by the tide and a surprisingly large number of broken clay pipe pieces was unexpectedly effective, demonstrating a quirky sense of humour. I especially liked the way in which the curve of a piece of driftwood mimicked a bird’s breast, and the essence of a fish captured in broken glass.

  Further down Shooters Hill Road was the studio of  Pat Colman, who had works in acrylics, water colours and pastels on display. Her dramatic and moody acrylics of local scenes such as the Thames Barrier and Dome, the Royal Observatory and the Yacht Club were particularly striking.  Pat also teaches art at the University of the Third Age in Greenwich. Finally to Roque lane to see the paintings of Shirley Felts and photography of Martin Ellis. Shirley is an accomplished water colourist and prolific book illustrator, with a long held interest in the South American rain forests which many of her paintings depict. My favourites however were smaller giclee prints of still lifes, capturing the shine on an apple or the rich red of cherries.

  If you’re interested in art and local artists next weekend could be busy.

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• 

  hilly 4:38 pm on May 13, 2012
  Tags: conservation ( 17 ), olympics ( 13 ), woolwich common   

  May Be Out 

  

  Hawthorn blossom on Woolwich Common

  Action Week, as David Hockney named it,  is here – the brief period of the year when hawthorn trees are covered with copious creamy-white blossom. Hockney describes the sudden appearance of the blossom as being “as if a thick white cream had been poured over everything” and saw it as a time to seize the opportunity to capture  the temporary transformation in art. His hawthorn pictures, whether made using water colour or iPad, were some of the highlights of his recent Royal Academy exhibition.

  The display of hawthorn blossom on Woolwich Common is as awesome as the sheets of bluebells that carpet nearby woods, and I think should be similarly cherished and celebrated. Academy Road and its parallel path, where I wandered yesterday, would be a good place to start, but many of the other main paths on the common are also bordered by blossom, which may be a vestige of the use of  hawthorn as a hedging plant starting from the time of the  Anglo-Saxons for whom it was the Haegthorn, hedge-thorn.

  The hawthorn is magical in more than its ephemeral adornment of the Common; it seems to exceed other trees in its supernatural, superstitious  and sacred associations. One of its many names is the May Tree; it now blossoms during the month of May, but this would have been closer to the start of May before the Julian to Gregorian calendar change lopped 11 days out of the calendar on 2nd September 1752. The blossom was used for decoration and garlands in May Day celebrations, symbolising new life and fertility.

  

  Royal Artillery Barracks Woolwich Common

  Woolwich Common has an interesting history, outlined well in the Woolwich Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal, which is illustrated with some superb old maps. One of these, the Hasted Map from 1748, shows Woolwich and Charlton Commons extending unbroken from Shooters Hill to Charlton Place and Hornfair Park. However the military was using the common for testing artillery by 1720, which increased through the 18th century culminating in the construction of the barracks in 1775 and enclosure of the barrack fields behind a ha-ha in the late 1790s. This encroachment on common land was opposed by local residents seeing their rights  reduced. Military ownership of the common completed in 1803, as the Conservation Area Character Appraisal says:

  In 1803, prompted by the needs of the emerging Napoleonic Wars, the Barracks was doubled in width creating an immense 330m frontage – on a scale seen elsewhere only in St Petersburg. The military consolidated control over the entire Common, by means of four special Acts of Parliament to enable their purchase of almost the entire Common for artillery and training purposes. Woolwich Common as it appears today is the result of the subsequent two centuries of military encroachment and development and various opposition movements and compromise agreements trying to reconcile the public’s desire for recreational access with military needs.

  The English Heritage Draft Survey of London on Woolwich mentions that the Board of Ordnance compensated  Woolwich parishioners for the loss of their rights to extract gravel from the common, but there was no explicit compensation for loss of herbage and turbary rights, which means it could be argued that we are still allowed to graze our animals on the common and cut turf for fuel. I’m not sure about our estovers (collection of wood or gorse for fuel or building), or the right to build a garish spotted olympic venue.

  So now is the time to cast a clout, and for a stroll on the common to admire the May blossom. Here are some more pictures to whet your appetite:

  

  Hawthorn blossom on Woolwich Common and Olympic venue

  

  Hawthorn blossom on Woolwich Common with Olympic venue in background

  

  Hawthorn blossom on Woolwich Common

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• 

  hilly 5:04 pm on May 11, 2012
  Tags: lost and found   

  Missing Cat – have you seen Tottie? 

  Tottie is a much missed family pet who has gone missing. If you have a garage or shed please check if a cat has got shut in, and let Nick know if you have any information.

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• 

  hilly 4:57 pm on May 6, 2012
  Tags: conservation ( 17 ), events ( 59 ), shrewsbury park ( 11 )   

  Going Batty in Shrewsbury Park 

  

  The Friends of Shrewsbury Park have gone a bit batty recently. They have constructed and installed some bat boxes in the park and, weather permitting, they will be holding a bat walk in the park next Friday, 11th May. The e-mail from the Friends  announcing the event said:

  Come and experience an FSP Bat Walk on Friday 11 May, find out where the new bat boxes have been sited and get to know these shy guys in Shrewsbury Park.

  We are meeting at 7.45 in the car park off Plum Lane for an introduction from Bat-wise FSP members who will lead this adventure through the Park at sunset using our eyes, ears and bat detectors!

  · Wear sturdy shoes and appropriate clothing, a torch is useful.

  · Children must be accompanied by an adult.

  · Dogs must be kept on a leash if you need to bring yours.

  · The walk will last about 1 ½ hours. If you have mobility issues or enquiries please contact Kris or Kathy on fspdog@hotmail.com . The trail is a mixture of paved path, gravel and grass.

  The event is free but your spare change towards buying our own bat detector will be much appreciated.

  If it rains neither the bats nor us will be coming out! (but we will reschedule a walk in September)

  There are 18 species of bat in the UK and the latest Bat Conservation Trust survey shows that since the year 2000 numbers have been stable or increasing. However that must be offset against steep declines in numbers at the end of the last century – a 70% decline between 1978 and 1992. Bat numbers are one of the UK’s biodiversity indicators – they are seen as a good indicator of the quality of the wildlife habitats in the UK  because they are sensitive to a range of environmental pressures. Scientists are currently concerned about the spread of the fatal bat disease known as white-nose syndrome from the USA into the UK population – early indications are that it has not affected British bats yet.

  The most likely bats to be spotted on Friday are the Pipistrelle and the Noctule. The Pipistrelle is the most common, and the smallest  British bat, weighing around 5g (less than a £1 coin), with a body around 3 or 4cm long and wing span between 18 and 25cm. Pipistrelles can eat up to 3000 insects in a single night! In contrast the Noctule is one of  Britain’s largest bats with a wingspan of up to 45cm.

  The bat boxes were constructed using the Kent bat box design, and attached,  with help from the Royal Borough of Greenwich Council, to a number of trees last Wednesday. The bat walk on Friday will pass right by all the boxes. It is a bit soon for them to be inhabited, sometimes it can take a year or two, though this is the time of year when female bats are looking for suitable nursery sites with the young usually being born around the end of June or early July.

  

  Bat box in Shrewsbury Park

  There is some evidence of bat roosts already in trees in  the park. Many British bats roost in holes in trees, and there is frequently a tell-tale brown stain of bat urine on the tree below the roost hole. They do frequently move between different roost sites however, so a brown stain doesn’t necessarily mean the hole is inhabited.

  

  Possible Bat roost hole in Shrewsbury Park tree

  

  Possible Bat roost hole in Shrewsbury Park tree

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  The Friends have borrowed a number of bat detectors from the local parks’ forum and the Bat Conservation Trust for the bat walk. These mainly detect  the bats’ use of echolocation to find their insect prey at night. As the London Bat Group‘s web site explains:

  Bats can see very well, probably better than we do at dusk, but even their eyesight needs some light and they would be unable to find their insect prey in the dark. Bats have solved this problem and can find their way about at night and locate their food by using a sophisticated high frequency echolocation system. Our hearing ranges from approximately 20Hz (cycles per second) to 15,000 to 20,000Hz (15-20Khz) depending on our age, but bat calls are generally well above this. By emitting a series of often quite loud ultrasounds that generally sweep from a high to low frequency or vary around a frequency, bats can distinguish objects and their prey and therefore avoid the object or catch the insect. The frequencies used, and the type of sweep or characteristics of the call can help us to distinguish the species of the bat when we use a bat detector that turns the ultrasound into sound we can hear.

  

  Let’s hope the weather is better for bats and people on Friday, but meanwhile here is an example of what a pipistrelle sounds like using a heterodyne bat detector like the ones which will be used for the bat walk.

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