Mabaker

I notice that Southwark Council is inviting anyone with the odd few quid to "fund local climate work" focusing on such projects as "key nature recovery projects and green upgrades to schools". It's a little vague to me. Does anyone have any knowledge on the specifics? Does anyone here have examples of these projects that are coming down the road?

There's a colony of bats at Dawsons Heights. You have to be there at the right time, then only visible for about five minutes until they flutter into the darkness.

I bought myself a litter picker from Amazon and do go round and pick up . No one else does. I guess they just don't have the time what with job obligations and kids etc. Question. ...should we pay more council tax in return for a better service? This debate could go on forever.

I think it has to be acknowledged that in some streets, rubbish is inadvertently tipped into the street after bin collection. That's what happens where I live. I can't blame the foxes unless they only visit on a Tuesday. No-one sweeps any of the fallen litter up. Neither do we get anyone sweeping the streets. I never like to blame front line workers as ususlly the problem lies furthet up the food chain. Trouble is this uncollected rubbish is a magnet for passers by to add to the mess by littering. Never mind potholes. My next vote goes to the Councillor who campaigns on a keep Southwark tidy ticket.

Our refuse collectors leave rubbish all the way down the hill after they have emptied the bins. Everywhere you go you see rubbish everywhere. On some days walking through the high street in Peckham can be truly depressing with plastic bags and paper blowing around everywhere, Peckham and other streets deserve better than this Council complacency. I'm sure it wasn't so bad back in the day. Councils everywhere, faced with cuts in revenue, must have decided a long time ago that litter picking and rubbish collection were not so important. I think a clean, tidy environment makes everyone feel better about their home environment. Btw, I'm ok with a few weeds. They are just wild flowers in an inconvenient place.

My advice is fence it off. No one is likely to complain. I think the law is that you can claim it after so many years. Maybe a lawyer on this platform can advise.

I saw workmen taking off all the branches on the tree next to it today while I was on the bus. It looked quite brutal. I hope they didn't cut it down completely.

Where abouts are they? I haven't seen any

So glad to give support in any small way. It happens more often than you think. I live near a footpath anf once came home from holiday to find that someone had poured paint through the bottom of the fence which had run all down through my soil and on to my plants. It was a job trying to dig out all the contaminated soil and to this day I still find bits of paint in the soil. No idea who it was or why they would do such a thing.

You might be interested in watching this video on you tube. It's from a wildlife gardener called Joel Ashton who regularly posts about his work in that area. Being interested in that kind of thing I follow him a lot. Anyway, a few days ago he posted about his plants being deliberately poisoned allegedly by his neighbour. He is going through the process of taking legal action and videoing this journey. There is another follow up which he posted a couple of days ago . It might be helpful to you. I think I should point out that the alleged culprit is not identified on the video so not breaking any privacy laws in sharing this.

Good question. I think the benefit of some wild flowers is that they appear earlier in the spring and provide nectar for insects coming out of hibernation. Also, natives have evolved with the insects, some of which can only survive with certain native plants. For example, some species of caterpillars need a specific native plant for their food. Having said that, I've seen lots of pollinators having a field day on some non native flowers. My bees love my verbena bonariensis for example.

Sue. It's a long journey trying to change the long established mindset that many of us grew up with, namely cultivated flowers are good and wild flowers anywhere other than in the wild are bad. My job as a child was to go round pulling up all the dandelions that dared to invade my Dad's pride and joy of a garden. I still battle with my Mum, trying in vain to convince her of the benefits of so called weeds in her garden. Her neighbours, all of a certain age, are the same. Anyone who doesn't attack any weed with gusto is the subject of Mum's disapproving neighbours. We can only keep trying to convince others of the benefits of these much maligned flowers.

I'm happy to report that some foxgloves are now looking great in my garden. The bees are loving them. Also managed to grow some corn poppies from seed. I've left some decaying logs in the corner so maybe there are some stag beetles there.