Local Wildlife Site

Wildlife

This narrow strip of rough grassland lies betwen Twickenham Road and the railway, just east of Twickenham Bridge. It was formerly part of the Old Deer Park, but is now cut off from the Old Deer Park Recreation Ground by the main road. The southern part of the meadow, beside the River Thames, floods regularly. The sward is rather rank and not particularly diverse, but is likely to support some interesting invertebrates. A few willows (Salix sp.) add variety to the habitat. The drier, northern part of the meadow has a slightly better range of wild flowers, including spotted medick (Medicago arabica). A number of trees, including oak (Quercus robur), beech (Fagus sylvatica) and poplar (Populus sp.) have been planted. The old brick walls of the railway viaduct support some interesting plants including, pellitory-of-the-wall (Paretaria judaica), ivy-leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) and four species of ferns: wall-rue (Asplenium ruta-muraria), maidenhair spleenwort (A. trichomanes), male-fern (Dryopteris felix-mas) and hart's-tongue (Phyllitis scolopendrium). The first two of these are scarce in London, usually growing only on old walls such as this.