I'm deeply in love.....

...with my currently very threatened local patch, Wormwood Scrubs.

 Dawn

 The mist rising

 The glorious sunrise

It depresses me to think that my patch of over 20 years may shortly have its very soul destroyed if the Mayor's Office, Transport for London and HS2 have their way. They would like to see the northern edge of my favourite birding spot in the whole world demolished to make way for a flyover and high-rise apartments. They would like to see the rest of The Scrubs become a 'metropolitan area' replete with walkways to get people from the proposed new train terminus to the north of the site to East Acton station in the west and Wood Lane to the east.

Urban oases under threat of development is not a unique problem. Many other people have had to fight to try to save their patches from the hands of developers looking to coin in on the latest property boom. The Friends of The Scrubs are currently recruiting supporters to help fight off the threat to The Scrubs. We are are not against the redevelopment of the downtrodden area to the north of The Scrubs, but we are against any direct encroachment onto the site itself.

Please sign our petition to try and save our Scrubs www.saveourscrubs.org.uk/

But whilst we fret, natural life goes on. This morning we discovered our 9th ever Short-eared Owl in the grassland. It was our 96th species for the year. Only four more for the holy grail 100 in a year!