A FREE Community Forum for parish councils, community groups in the Surrey Hills and all Surrey Hills Society members.

About this event
The Surrey Hills AONB Board and the Surrey Association of Local Councils will be hosting an online Community Forum for parish councils and community groups on Thursday 29 July.

This will be an opportunity to hear about the Surrey Hills Boundary Extension, Making Space for Nature – Greening Communities and the work of the Surrey Hills Family.

Programme:
Welcome and introduction
Liz Cutter, Vice President of SALC and Surrey Hills AONB Board

Update on the Surrey Hills
Rob Fairbanks, Surrey Hills AONB Director

Surrey Hills Boundary Extension
Heather Kerswell,Surrey Hills AONB Chair
Clive Smith, Surrey Hills Planning Adviser

Making Space for Nature – Greening Communities
Liz Cutter, Vice President of SALC and Surrey Hills AONB Board
Caroline Price, Surrey Hills AONB

Q&A
Anne Bott,Deputy CEO SALC

To book a place, visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/surrey-hills-community-forum-2021-tickets-160542118799

Here are a few photographs taken during our visit to the Langley Vale Centenary Wood, Ashtead, guided by volunteers from the Woodland Trust today.

Thanks to Sall and Gordon for the photos and Gilly for organising the visit.

What a fantastic walk we had ambling along with bird enthusiast, Chris Burchell.  We started watching buzzards hovering gracefully over the car park and learnt so much from Chris about some of our common woodland species.  We paid a visit to the lakes, originally installed by the monks of Chertsey Abbey to provide fish for food, and now the home of 9 Canadian goslings as well as a number of mallard and a coot.

However the best was yet to come.  Chris led us towards the area called “the Plains” where we were incrediby lucky to hear a nightingale singing strongly.  A fantastic experience – there are only 50 pairs in Surrey and the nightingales only re-appeared at Bookham 3 days ago afgter an estimated 7 year absence. Yet this was not the end.  After a heavy shower Chris spotted a lesser whitethroat which is also extremely rare and which the whole group were able to watch through binoculars.

All in all a wonderful morning and many many thanks to Chris for giving up his time and sharing his great expertise.

Gordon Jackson

Surrey Hills Society members spent a fascinating afternoon at Brookwood Cemetery on Saturday 1st May as part of the Surrey Day celebrations.

Although not in the Surrey Hills, Brookwood Cemetery is a hidden gem hidden in the countryside just outside Woking. It is the largest necropolis in western Europe and has many listed mausoleums and statues. It is also a Grade 1 Listed arboretum and is a wonderful place to walk through.

The Brookwood Cemetery Society was formed in April 1992. It works to promote the wider interest in the cemetery which the Society believes should be a site of national importance.  Moreover, the site has the potential to become a World Heritage Site. The Society seeks to ensure the long term future of Brookwood Cemetery.  It assists with maintenance, clearance and restoration work and it helps relatives locate graves within the site.  It also works to ensure the cemetery remains a valuable haven for flora and fauna.

Left to right Volunteer Co ordinator for Brookwood Cemetery Society volunteers , Kim Lowe, outgoing High Sheriff, Shahid Azeem, Mel from BBC Radio Surrey and our Chairman Gordon Jackson.

We were also joined by the outgoing High Sheriff, Shahid Azeem, a British-Pakistani entrepreneur, who left school without a single curricular qualification and went on to run a football club. He was appointed High Sheriff for Surrey for 2020 – a direct servant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It is an esteemed position that dates back more than 1000 years and there are only 45 High Sheriffs, out of a national population of more than 70 million. Shahid Azeem is the first male of Pakistani origin ever to hold the Royally-appointed title of High Sheriff.

Shahid Azeem arrived in Britain in 1969 as a 9 years old son of a migrant from the city of MatoreThesilKahuta in Pakistan. He was expelled from school at the age of 12, faced bullying and racism but joined a computer system company to make an independent living. He started selling fish and chips at a local ship. His father worked at British Rail as a porter and family lived in a 2 bedroom house shared with others in Guildford.  A determined Shahid Azeem went on from doing menial jobs to building a multi-million pound IT business.

Shahid Azeem loved football in his youth and started playing for local teams. He went on to become chairman of National League outfit Aldershot Town.He has also recently been appointed as an independent Director of Woking Necropolis and Mausoleum Limited.

Shahid spoke to our members about his time as High Sheriff during this challenging year . He spoke of the real community spirit he witnessed during Lockdown and hoped it would continue post the pandemic.

Thanks to our Vice President Chris for organising a very enjoyable visit with tea and cakes afterwards.

It was great to be out and about again with all our members again.  This month our free walk on the first Sunday of the month was to Staffhurst Wood to enjoy the incredible bluebell display.  This site managed by Surrey County Council is home to one of the best displays of bluebells in Surrey. We walked for over an hour and everywhere we looked was just a carpet of blue. Incredible that this woodland wonderland was clear felled in the 1930s and then used as a munitions dump and Canadian camp during WW2.

The small fields amongst the woodlands were clearings made some 700 years ago, called ‘assarts’  The area has been managed to try and restore some of the original character of the area which is now home to over 200 plant species and 288 species of moths. Due to several ponds on the area the woods are also a haven for amphibians.

                         Chris Howard

Larger Moths Decline over the last 50 Years

Our Chairman, Gordon Jackson, was very interested to read the latest information regarding our British moths and we thought we’d share this with you.

Butterfly Conversation have launched a new report entitled State of Britain’s Larger Moths.  It shows a worrying 33% decline in the population of larger moths over the last 50 years.  You can read the report here.

You may be interested in the attached petition which urges the government to enshrine their nature recovery targets in law and so be held accountable for them. Find out more here.

           Surrey Hills Society

Off Road motorised vehicles are having a major impact on the Surrey Hills. The popularity of these activities through the woods and commons of this designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), with new tracks being illegally carved out on private land, has increased during lockdown and creates tension with landowners and leisure users.

The use of off-road, quad bike and 4×4 vehicles is strictly prohibited throughout the AONB, unless on a designated Byway Open to All Traffic (BOAT). Damage by illegal off-road vehicles negatively impacts the myriad of species that call the Surrey Hills AONB home.

Recent developments have seen Surrey Police tackle rural crime in the Surrey Hills by seizing un-licensed 4×4 vehicles, handing out warnings and securing prosecutions.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey David Munro said: “Enhancing the response to crime in our rural communities remains one of my key priorities. We are lucky in Surrey to have access to wonderful countryside and I am pleased to see such proactive work by the local team in response to the concerns raised by the residents that live locally.

In the last two years, I’ve supported Surrey Police to establish a dedicated network of rural crime officers across Surrey’s boroughs and I am proud that these individuals are making a real difference in areas where residents may feel the most isolated – preventing crime as well as apprehending those responsible. In the year ahead, I will be supporting Surrey Police to extend this further, with the addition of 10 police officers and 67 operational support staff that will strengthen the overall service of the Force, and additional funding for the rural crime team that is so important.”

Reports of damage caused by off-road vehicles were made earlier this month in Mole Valley, following the discovery of muddy tyre tracks and circular markings throughout The Gallops on Mickleham Downs. This tranquil area managed by the National Trust is regularly frequented by local dog walkers, and forms part of the popular Box Hill Hike trail. Large rutted, muddy tracks were left behind, with grass churned up and damaged, marring the beautiful ranging views across the Downs. The recent wet weather further exacerbated the problem, with sodden ground more readily damaged. Not only does this kind of destruction look unpleasant, it creates highly dangerous conditions for other people using the local routes, including walkers and cyclists.

Councillor Hazel Watson, Chairman of the Surrey Hills Byways Working Group comments,

“It is awful to see this careless destruction of the local area. The grass and woodland of Mickleham Downs is an important haven for wildlife and plant species. Damage caused by off-road vehicles is a major threat to the Surrey Hills AONB and I urge the local community to alert Surrey Police to any antisocial behaviour taking place in our countryside spaces.”

Acting Borough Commander, T/Detective Inspector Wagjiani said: “Off-roading is a nuisance and can cause considerable damage to the beauty of our countryside and woodland areas. Reporting a rural crime such as this is key. While the reporting of one incident might not lead us to the perpetrator, the collective evidence will support us in gaining the intelligence that will help us to identify a suspect. We can then take action.”

Heather Kerswell, Chair of the Surrey Hills AONB Board, says,

“There is mounting concern about the damage being caused to the protected Surrey Hills landscape by an irresponsible minority of off-road drivers. Current lockdown measures have made the Surrey Hills a popular playground for many. I commend Surrey Police for their efforts in this area and call on all our rural communities to work together to combat this serious issue”.

Reports of antisocial crime can be made to Surrey Police via their online reporting tool; https://www.surrey.police.uk/ro/report/asb/asb/report-antisocial-behaviour/

For further information on the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) visit www.surreyhills.org.