London's continuing wildlife?

[loripo]

The current issue of ‘London Archaeologist’ has a couple of articles about the London area from the Mesolithic period. One about the Wandle valley and the other the Battersea Eyots (where I live is shown as marsh in the Middle Ages ) . Until the 1890’s there were still fields, market gardens and uncultivated land on the commons.
There is very little left now of the open ground and watercourses that were still here even in my grandmothers lifetime, but I wonder what trees, plants and wildlife might still be here in the commons and gardens from then. I know there are traces of a lot of Neolithic settlements on the ancient river terraces(the higher ground like Hampstead and Wimbledon) but I don’t think it was thickly forested, so no bears or wolves! Of course the bombing probably drove out a lot of birds but it did allow the Rosebay Willowherb to grow, so possibly some seed remained in the soil.
When I look out of the window I am reminded of the old music hall song ‘ wiv a ladder and some glasses you could see the ‘ackney Marshes, if it wasn’t for the ‘ouses in between’, and I’d love to see how it was then.

[Bobbobthebob]

What about London rocket? Apparently it only came to notice after it sprouted up all over the capital after the Great Fire of 1666. It persists to this day as a rarity in central London and unfortunately quite often gets weed-whacked by ignorant councils.

[loripo]

Thanks - that's interesting. I'll see if I canfind out more about that, so that I could recognise it.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by loripo

Thanks - that's interesting. I'll see if I canfind out more about that, so that I could recognise it.

If you want to see London Rocket, check the old walls near Tower Hill Station.

[loripo]

Good! I will - I've been looking it up. It's a medicinal herb, so I wonder if it was grown in the gardens of the Religious houses. It looks very familiar, but I suppose there are other mustards which look alike.

[AshLee]

This tool is very useful for discovering the plants that are native to your area:
The Postcode Plants Database - Natural History Museum

I'd love to know how they gather this data. Searching through it does makes me long for bygone days, for some reason.

[loripo]

Thanks for that - didn't know info like that existed. It says historical records are included, things that may not be local now, so that means I can see how many actually have managed to stay put.

[Paul mabbott]

You should join the London Natural History Society - plenty of published information and knowledgeable people:
Wildlife in London, England: LNHS Home page

Especially about plants: a new atlas of London plants is set for future publication:
LNHS - London's Plants
London's changing flora
and so on .....

[AshLee]

Yes, I think I'd recommend this society. I've just joined, and there is some exciting stuff going on.

[loripo]

Thanks for those links - really interesting. I'm not far from the LNHM so will pay a visit to the new Darwin centre.