About the project

Stave Hill is the successor to the William Curtis Ecological Park set up by Max Nicholson and the Ecological Parks Trust - later the Trust for Urban Ecology (TRUE) - at Tower Bridge in 1977. It is a direct continuation of the UK's, and arguably the world's first urban ecology park.

Stave Hill was established on derelict former dockland in 1986 and comprises a varied collection of micro-habitats created from scratch on landfill and rubble. Over 30 years it has become a vital green space and a centre for ongoing ecological research and action in an increasingly dense urban area.

SoundCamp is an ecological and acoustic project which has been based at Stave Hill since 2014. Our residency comprises research, workshops and documentation coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Park in 2016. Further resources are added to this site as the project continues.

Resources

Seasonal walk leaflets, available from the SHED, Stave Hill Ecological Park, Timber Pond Road SE16 6AX (behind Bacon's College).

Seasonal walks for mobile.

We are assembling a selection of materials from the archives of Stave Hill Ecological Park and the Trust for Urban Ecology as they become available. These can be found at archive.org as a dedicated collection of images, field and oral history recordings and documents identified or made with workshop participants and volunteers over the year. See also here the images and descriptions of wild plants assembled in the Flora Londinensis (1777) by William Curtis.

Ecologist Professor David Goode contributed to a walk reviewing almost 40 years of urban ecology in Southwark, starting at the site of the former William Curtis Ecology Park by Tower Bridge and walking along the river to Stave Hill. The walk included contributions from Southwark ecology officer, Jon Best, naturalist and activist, Steve Cornish, Rotherhithe Picture Library curator, Annabel Stockman, and Rebeka Clark, who manages Stave Hill Ecological Park. Professor Goode reflected on the event in a piece for The Nature of Cities on 15 January 2017: Celebrating the First Ecology Parks in London .

Events

Winter/Spring 2016-17: Archives of urban ecology: Visit to the London Metropolitan Archive
Winter 2016-17: Trees in Winter: workshop and walk with Rebeka Clark
Autumn 2016: Walk: 30 Years of Urban Ecology in Docklands - from William Curtis to Stave Hill with David Goode, Jon Best, Rebeka Clark, Steve Cornish, Annabel Stockmann   Eventbrite
Summer 2016: Plants Day with Ky Lewis and Rebeka Clark   Eventbrite
Summer 2016: Insect Day with Mike Fray   Eventbrite
Spring 2016: Soundcamp / Reveil: birdsong and sounds of Stave Hill, Lavender Pond and the Russia Dock Woodland as part of the soundcamp listening event   Poster
Spring 2016: Oral history workshop with Sarah Lowry, OHS and soundCamp     Twitter
Spring 2016: Residency sign with original Skylark logo

More information:

contact@soundtent.org     www.soundtent.org     @soundtent

Supporters

SoundCamp are grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund, Southwark Neighbourhood Fund, SHED, TCV, United St Saviour's Community Engagement programme, and North Southwark Environment Trust for supporting this residency.