LCC Nature Walks: RICHMOND PARK & Wimbledon Common (SW LONDON)

Hello comrades! LCC's nature-walking series continues with another Tube-accessible gem for Londoners in search of wild, green spaces. For this weekend's outing, we're down in near-south-west to take on Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common, two of the capital's biggest green spaces. This will be a mostly flat hike with a fair amount of dirt trails, so good hiking shoes are recommended but not potentially a deal-breaker. Richmond Park is accessible from Richmond station on the Mildmay, District, and National Rail lines.

The first thing that stands out about Richmond Park is the deer. Created in the 17th century by Charles I as a deer park for royal hunting parties, Richmond's is the largest of the Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation.

Some deer parks were established in the Anglo-Saxon era and are mentioned in Anglo-Saxon Charters; these were often called hays (from Old English heġe (“hedge, fence”) and ġehæġ (“an enclosed piece of land”). After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, William the Conqueror seized existing game reserves. At their peak at the turn of the 14th century, deer parks may have covered 2% of the land area of England.

Historically, local commoners had the right to gather wood, pannage and other amenities from the forest free of charge; these rights were restricted in 1872, although a full right of public access to the park was confirmed by Act of Parliament in the same year.

Richmond Park is also the birthplace of radio astronomy. During WWII, the park hosted a research site of the Army Operational Research Group (AORG), where Stanley Hey researched anti-aircraft radar. During these investigations, Hey semi-accidentally discovered that the Sun is a source of radio waves, and he began to experiment with radio reflections from meteor trails and other noise from cosmic sources. In 1946 Hey's group discovered Cygnus A, later shown to be the first radio galaxy. The Richmond Park installation thus became the first radio observatory in Britain.

Our route will take us around Richmond Park south and then east into Wimbledon Common, where we'll loop back to our starting point from the north. Keep an eye out for deer along the way! We'll end with a pub session somewhere in Richmond town.

• Distance/Time: About 13km, making for a roughly 4-4.5 hour walk, depending on our speed
• Terrain: Mostly flat; mix of paved paths, dirt tracks, and grass.
• Supplies: Bring 3L water, snacks, and a packed lunch if desired
• Weather: Check forecasts; we're likely to have sun, but bring a windbreaker and/or rain layer ideally.