Foreword

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Introducing Biodiversity

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Enjoying Bromley's Biodiversity

Darwin & Biodiversity

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Environment Education

Foreword by Randal Keynes
Great, great grandson of Charles Darwin

It could be said that biodiversity began in Bromley. It was in and around Downe that Charles Darwin developed his ideas about the richness and variety of natural life. At Down House, he wrote the books, which gave mankind our present understanding of how species of all kinds depend on one another.

A local farm worker remembered an encounter in his childhood, "I had been bird's nesting in some woods not far from Down House when suddenly I found myself confronted by a very tall man with a grey beard, wearing a black cloak and a flat, wide-brimmed hat rather like the ones clergymen wore. I was terrified at first, but he spoke very kindly to me and showed me a place where a wren had built her nest. There were three eggs in it and I wanted to take one of them, but he told me I mustn't. In spite of this he went on to tell me how to blow eggs so as to preserve them, which I thought was very funny. When I returned home to Cudham my father told me who the old man was and said he probably knew more about birds' eggs than any person living."

Darwin often walked in the countryside around Downe, Keston, Cudham and High Elms, gaining many insights from his careful observation of nature. He loved the neighbourhood for the richness of the countryside, its woods, fields, paths, commons and ponds. Although there have been many changes in Bromley since Darwin's time and there are new pressures, the habitats and species are still remarkably rich and diverse.

The study of nature, for Darwin, was always a shared venture in which it was essential to pool knowledge and work together. I urge you to join the partnership established by Bromley Council, Kent Wildlife Trust, London Wildlife Trust, English Nature and the Orpington Field Club.

The Bromley Biodiversity Action Plan is concerned with the future but we can also recognise Darwin's love of the places and wildlife we are conserving. The task is challenging but utterly worthwhile. In working to conserve the range of habitats and species in the Borough we are giving special recognition to biodiversity as a vital principle of the world we live in.