Society’s Bird Survey finds family of buzzards.
A nesting birds survey conducted by the Society has found a family of buzzards at Kenwood.
Professor Jeff Waage, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who is leading the research, said: “It is exceedingly rare to see these sorts of birds in an urban area, and now all of a sudden they’re here, hanging
around. It’s something that we never expected to see when we decided to begin the survey. Our buzzards show us how easily wildlife can return if we just make space for it.”
How Hampstead Heath was Saved – a story of people power by Helen Lawrence
published by Camden History Society with the support of the Heath & Hampstead Society. The book can be bought from Camden History Society’s website.
“This book shows what can be achieved – Helen Lawrence has a fascinating story to tell.”
Griff Rhys Jones
Heath Vision
The principal objective of the Society is to protect Hampstead Heath.
And today we need to be as pro-active as 100 years ago in communicating our ideas about management of the Heath.
That is why the Heath Committee has produced the booklet Heath Vision.
The Work of the Heath Committee
The greatest danger facing Hampstead Heath comes not from the fact that it is loved too little – but from the fact that it is loved too much. The pressures faced by the Heath today are unprecedented.
Did you know? – Pitt’s garden gate
The grand gate to the garden of the house to which Prime Minister William Pitt retreated during his mental breakdown, stands alone, half-strangled by a gigantic beech, hidden deep in the woods of the Heath.
Did you know? – Saxon ditch
You can still walk along the Saxon ditch mentioned in King Ethelred the Unready’s grant of Hampstead to the monastery of St. Peter’s Westminster in AD 986
Did you know? – The Bagshot Sands
The Bagshot Sands at the summit of the Heath were laid down by a vast river about 40 million years ago.
Did you know? – Whitestone pond flagstaff
The flagstaff by Whitestone Pond stands at 440ft above sea level, Inner London’s highest point and the site of a beacon established to provide warning of the approach of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Did you know? – Wildlife on the Heath
The Heath is home to 15 species of dragonfly and at least seven species of bats: Noctule, Serotine, Natterer’s, Duabenton’s, Brown Long-eared, Soprano and Common Pipistrelle. It is also home to breeding grass snakes.
Did you know? – Heath visitors
Around nine million visits to the Heath are made each year.
