Greenspace Information for Greater London

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Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL) is the environmental record centre for Greater London. It collates information about wildlife, parks, nature reserves, gardens and other open spaces, and makes it available to partner organisations and environmental consultants through its website. Public access to the website is restricted to information not considered sensitive. [1] [2] GiGL works with over 50 partner organisations in London. [3]

Contents

History

GiGL began as the London Biological Recording Project in 1996, and then became the capital's environmental record centre in 2006. In 2013 it became a Community Interest Company. [1]

Website

GiGL's website was developed by the National Biodiversity Network. It incorporated the Scottish Natural Heritage's WIMBY (What's in my back yard) tool, which allows users to search for species by location.

Up to 2010, details of Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC's) in London were available on the Mayor of London's Wildweb website. This was taken down in December 2010, and the database was transferred to GiGL, which launched its iGiGL site in spring 2012. [4] Unlike Wildweb, sites which are not publicly accessible were excluded. iGiGL has now been replaced by Discover-London, the online data portal of the capital’s environmental records centre where the public can explore London’s parks, nature reserves, gardens and other open spaces. [5]

Related Research Articles

Ingrebourne Valley

Ingrebourne Valley is a local nature reserve (LNR) in Hornchurch in the London Borough of Havering. It is owned and managed by Havering Council, and has a visitor centre managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. Most of it is in Hornchurch Country Park west of the River Ingrebourne, but there are also areas north and south of the park which are part of the LNR. It has a wide range of habitats, including woodland, grassland, the river and marshes. It is an important site for a range of species of plants, animals and birds, including great crested newts, slow worms, the harvest mouse and the water vole.

London Wildlife Trust English nature conservation charity

London Wildlife Trust (LWT), founded in 1981, is a local nature conservation charity for Greater London. It is one of 46 members of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, each of which is a local nature conservation charity for its area. The Trust aims to protect London's wildlife and wild spaces, and it manages over 40 nature reserves in Greater London. One of its campaigns is to turn London's gardens into mini-nature reserves, and it provides education services for schools. Local groups work on reserves and organise walks.

Rowley Green Common

Rowley Green Common is a six hectare Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Importance Metropolitan for Nature Conservation in Arkley, north London. It is owned by the London Borough of Barnet and according to the Natural England details page it is jointly managed by the Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust and the London Wildlife Trust, but as of August 2015 it is not on the list of reserves of either Trust. It is also registered common land.

Arrandene Open Space and Featherstone Hill

Arrandene Open Space and Featherstone Hill is a 25 hectare Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet.

Coppetts Wood and Scrublands Nature reserve in the London Borough of Barnet

Coppett's Wood and Scrublands is a 14.5 hectare Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I, between Muswell Hill and Friern Barnet in the London Borough of Barnet. It is part of the Coppett's Wood and Glebelands Local Nature Reserve.

Oak Hill Wood

Oak Hill Wood is a 10-hectare Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation Grade I, in East Barnet, London. It is owned by the London Borough of Barnet, and part of it is a 5.5-hectare nature reserve managed by the London Wildlife Trust.

Edgware Way Grassland

Edgware Way Grassland or Edgware Way Rough is a 6.7 hectare Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation in Edgware in the London Borough of Barnet. It is traversed by Edgwarebury Brook and contains traces of a planned railway viaduct and embankment. This was part of a planned extension of the Northern line from Edgware to Bushey, which was cancelled when the introduction of the Green Belt after the Second World War led to the cancellation of the developments which the railway was to serve. Part of the site is the Environment Agency's Edgwarebury Park Flood Storage Area.

Totteridge Common

Totteridge Common is a 3.7 hectare Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in Totteridge in the London Borough of Barnet. The nature reserve is the southern verge of the road Totteridge Common, between Totteridge Park and Oak Lodge. It is registered common land owned by the Totteridge Manor Association and comprised the lands of the former Manor of Totteridge which were transferred to the association in 1954.

Princes Park, Temple Fortune

Princes Park is a small public park and Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation in Temple Fortune in the London Borough of Barnet.

Barnet Countryside Centre

Barnet Countryside Centre is a 3.3 hectare Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation in High Barnet in the London Borough of Barnet. It is run by the Friends of Barnet Countryside Centre as a nature reserve and to provide environmental education for schools.

Cranebank

Cranebank is a Local Nature Reserve on the east bank of the River Crane in Hatton in the London Borough of Hounslow. It is owned and managed by Hounslow Council. It is also part of The Crane Corridor Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.

Cranham Brickfields

Cranham Brickfields is an 8.5 hectare Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I, in Cranham in the London Borough of Havering. It has an area of woodland with a pond, wildflower meadows, and a grassed area with a children's playground. The site was formerly used for excavating clay to make bricks, and during the Second World War vegetables were cultivated as part of the Dig for Victory campaign. Wildlife includes bullfinches, great crested newts, stag beetles and green hairstreak butterflies. There is also dyer's greenweed, which is rare in London.

St. Johns Wood Church Grounds

St John's Wood Church Grounds is a disused graveyard which is now a public park in St. John's Wood in London. It is a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade 1, and the only Local Nature Reserve in the City of Westminster. Since 2004 it has received the Green Flag Award for excellent green spaces. It is owned and managed by Westminster Council.

Cranham Marsh

Cranham Marsh is a 15.3 hectare Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation in Cranham in the London Borough of Havering. It is owned by Havering Council and managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.

Mayesbrook Park

Mayesbrook Park is a 43 hectare public park in Dagenham in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is owned and managed by the borough council. The southern end, which is mainly a large lake, is a Local Nature Reserve. The area covered by the park was once part of the historic Manor of Jenkins, seat of the Fanshawe family. For reasons which remain obscure, the park is sometimes nicknamed "Matchstick Island".

Sutcliffe Park


Sutcliffe Park is a 16.7 hectare public park in Eltham in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London. It is located west of Eltham town centre, east of Lee Green, north of Horn Park and south of Kidbrooke. A large part of the park is a local nature reserve and a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II. The site attracts wildlife such as dragonflies, damselflies, herons, little egrets, kingfishers, reed warblers and snipe. Sutcliffe Park is roughly square in shape and approximately 400m across, the River Quaggy meanders through the park, from the southeast corner to the northwest corner. The park contains an athletics track, outdoor gym, children's play park, a car park and bicycle locking facilities mostly on the south side, several small lakes on the northwest side, and a larger lake on the northeast side, all close by to the River Quaggy. It received a Green Flag award for 2012–13.

Ravensbury Park

Ravensbury Park is a public park in Mitcham in the London Borough of Merton. An area of 7 hectares is designated a Local Nature Reserve. The River Wandle runs along the southern boundary of the park, which is also part of the Upper Wandle River Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.

Hogsmill River Park or Hogsmill Valley is a linear park along the banks of the Hogsmill River in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in London. It stretches from the junction of Surbiton Hill Park and Elmbridge Avenue in Berrylands in the north to the junction between the river and a footpath to Manor Close in Old Malden in the south.

Huckerbys Meadows

Crane Meadows or Huckerby's Meadows is a 13 hectare nature reserve adjacent to Heathrow Airport in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is managed by the London Wildlife Trust, and is part of the Crane Corridor Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.

References

  1. 1 2 "About GiGL". Greenspace Information for Greater London. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  2. "Delivering Information on London's Wildlife Through the NBN". National Biodiversity Network. 2011. Archived from the original on 9 August 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. MacDonald, Julie. Green Infrastructure Local Delivery Group teleconference: Green Infrastructure and Transport, 20 June 2013
  4. Johnson, Boris (25 January 2012). "London Wildweb site". The London Assembly. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  5. "Map - Greenspace Information for Greater London".