Thought for the Week: Eco Diversity

Eco diversity is much in the news at the moment, so it is lucky that WPoF is ahead of the curve and has been helping with eco diversity on Horsell Common for the last few years. Eco diversity refers to the number of eco systems in a certain area, so by removing saplings from areas on Horsell Common we are increasing the number of eco systems on Horsell Common whilst still leaving the abundance of trees in place.

A group of us met on Horsell Common early in October of this year to help the heather on the common survive, as this encourages birds like the Skylark and the Dartford Warbler (both endangered species) to survive, which helps the diversity of our planet and helps to look after God's creations of this world.

We have done this for a number of years and although the weather wasn't kind to us, we did manage to pull up quite a few saplings that were growing amongst the heather whilst leaving the full grown trees intact. This creates a diverse habitat so that different species are able to live on Horsell Common. We then left a pile of saplings for the head ranger to pick up.

Although quite tiring, pulling up/cutting down saplings is quite satisfying work, as when you arrive you can see an area of heather full of saplings but at the end of the session, the area is clear of saplings and you can just see the heather which the endangered birds and butterflies need to survive which is very satisfying and makes the hard work worthwhile.

Are there things that you can do to help look after God's creation?

John West, member of the Christian faith

Date: Monday 25th October 2021