BAA Heathrow’s environment team are hosting two more ‘Discover Heathrow’ educational walks and talks at local conservation sites later this month. The Heathrow area is home to a surprising variety of plant and animal life including Muntjac deer, bats and grass snakes. It is also one of the most diverse sites in London for spiders and beetles.

Two previous walks took place in the spring, and these new events will allow attendees to compare the changes over the seasons. In particular, there is a great chance to see various species of butterfly on the sites in June, including the uncommon small heath butterfly.

BAA owns ten conservation sites that are managed to preserve local biodiversity around the airport. Six of the ten conservation sites are fully or partially open for community use.

The BAA Heathrow environment  team looks after the sites and ecologist James Webster said: “We hope that the local community will get involved in projects on these sites, and help us to shape the future of how the sites are used. These walk and talk events will be a great way to get an introduction to the biodiversity of the area.”

The two sites that he will be touring with groups are:

Oaks Road – this public access site near the Southern Perimeter Road in Spelthorne is mainly scrub and grassland. It provides an important habitat for butterflies and birds including locally rare linnets, and there are even reports of peregrine falcons having been sighted. Planned work here includes increasing wildflower diversity, and creating a ‘loggery’ to encourage stag beetles. Walks and talks here will take place at 11am on Wednesday June 18.

Two Bridges Farm  - The riverside path on the Two Bridges Farm site near Terminal 4 is a site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, with a pond that boasts a large breeding population of common toads and dragonflies, as well as rare kingfishers. Much of this open-access site is rough grassland that BAA ecologists are managing to increase the number of wildflower species as well as reptiles such as grass snakes. Walks and talks here will take place at 11am on Thursday June 19.

Each walk and talk should last around an hour and those wishing to attend should contact heathrowenvironment@baa.com or call 07738 488348 for joining instructions.

James would also love to hear from members of the public wanting to get involved in surveys of species or managing these environments in a practical way at heathrowenvironment@baa.com

For more information, please contact Stuart Butchers in the BAA Heathrow press office on 020 8745 7224.