RICHMOND BIODIVERSITY GROUP The Biodiversity (explanation of the word) Group started as sub group of Richmond's LA21 Group formed after the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and commonly referred to as the Earth Summit. As a result of the Richmond LA21 Group merging with Richmond Environment Network in November 2007, the biodiversity group now sits within REN and Chaired by the Council's Ecology Officer. The Biodiversity Groups' Members represent a range of local interests concerned with wildlife and biodiversity, including the following:

BTCV Richmond Environment Agency LBRuT Parks and Open Spaces Department London Natural History Society WWT London Wetland Centre, Barnes London Wildlife Trust Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Parks (Richmond and Bushy) Historic Royal Palaces (Hampton Court Palace & Kew Palace) Thames Landscape Strategy (and its London's Arcadia project) Many of the local environmental groups found in our Groups Database Our aims To identify and protect important and significant wildlife habitats and species in the borough To enable all sectors of the local community in Richmond to have safe and easy access to nature To encourage all sectors of the local community to cherish and care for their local environment To collect information about nature conservation and ensure that it is made more widely available To encourage those responsible for larger areas of land to manage it to enhance biodiversity

What does this mean in practice?

Here are some examples of projects that the group has worked on:

• In 2005, we published the Richmond upon Thames Biodiversity Action Plan (note this is a 2.58 MB PDF) containing individual plans for five habitats and six species (se below).
• We have produced a leaflet giving details of the wide range of wildlife sites to visit in Richmond and explaining how people can get more involved with the wildlife on their doorsteps.
• We have produced a leaflet giving details of the importance of dead wood as a habitat.
• We have produced a leaflet giving details of the importance of Mistletoe as a species.
• We have organised borough-wide 'garden surveys' to find out what wildlife lives in Richmond gardens and to encourage local residents to take an interest in what lives in their gardens. With recent declines in habitats, even the most common species are retreating to gardens as wildlife refuges.

Habitats	Species
Acid Grassland HAP.pdf Ancient Parkland & Veteran Trees HAP.pdf Broad-leaved Woodland HAP.pdf Reedbeds HAP.pdf Tidal Thames HAP.pdf Two new plans are in development for: Private Gardens & Hedges	Bats SAP.pdf Mistletoe SAP.pdf Song thrush SAP.pdf Stag Beetle SAP.pdf Tower Mustard SAP.pdf Water Vole SAP.pdf

Publications from the Group

Richmond upon Thames Biodiversity Action Plan (note this is a 2.58 MB PDF)

Dead wood leaflet

Mistletoe leaflet

Newsletters from the groups (the group is working on a new newsletter for Spring 2009 and these being the most recent newletters at March 2009):

Information on bees (an extremely important part of food production), can be found on this link http://www.twickenham-bees.org.uk/