Nature & Biodiversity in Bishop’s Park
Like many of London’s green spaces, Bishop’s Park is more than just a place to walk, relax, or play, it’s a thriving urban oasis, alive with wildlife. From ducks and geese nesting by the water, to bees, butterflies, foxes, stag beetles, and at least three known bat species, the park is teeming with biodiversity.
As the Friends of Bishop’s Park, one of our central aims is to protect and enhance this rich natural life. In recent months, we’ve been putting biodiversity front and centre—working closely with the Council, local volunteers, and conservation experts to improve habitats for the wildlife that calls this park home.
What we’ve done so far
- Bird and Bat Boxes: Together with the Council we have installed a number of bird boxes (and a few bat boxes) around the park. These provide safe nesting spaces and have proven especially successful with birds.
- Stumperies for Insects & Fungi: Several stumperies – arrangements of half-buried logs – are already in place across the park, which create shaded, moist habitats ideal for insects, fungi, and mosses.
- Wildflower Meadow in the Moat Garden: Last summer, a trial wildflower meadow opposite the Palace Gardener came into bloom for the first time, and we’re delighted to see it returning this year.
- Borough-Level Conservation Recognition: In late 2024, an ecological survey awarded our park area (including Fulham Palace and All Saints Churchyard) a Grade 1 Site of Borough Importance – a high conservation rating recognising rare or locally scarce species
- Invasive Species Removal: Following recommendations from the survey, we’ve been removing invasive green alkanet from the Moat Garden. Thanks to our local volunteers and a corporate volunteer day with Irwin Mitchell, we’ve cleared large areas, and native plants are already beginning to return.
- Big Butterfly Count: We are taking part in the national survey this summer—join us by recording butterflies in the park between 18th July and 10th August👉 Big Butterfly Count 2025
What’s coming next
- Reduced Mowing = More Pollinators: We’ll soon be reducing mowing in select grass areas near the pond, letting the area grow a bit wilder and giving pollinators a much-needed boost. Look out for signs explaining these zones.
- Planting for the Pond: Though the pond has excellent marginal vegetation, there is no submerged plant life due to a concrete base. We’re exploring nature-friendly planting solutions for some of the pond edges.
- More Stumperies & Hedge Planting: We’re potentially adding another stumpery using logs from nearby parks and planting additional hedge whips to boost cover and food sources for birds.
- More Bird Boxes + New Wildflower Meadow: In Autumn, we’ll clean and maintain all existing bird boxes and install a few new ones, made for us by Fulham Palace volunteers. We’re also planning a second, larger wildflower meadow in the Moat Garden, which we should hopefully see bloom in Spring 2026.
Bishop’s Park Interactive Nature Map
This map contains all the nature initiatives that have been done around the park. Open it in a new window to show or hide the layers.
Recording Nature Sightings
iNaturalist
iNaturalist is a social network for naturalists. You can use it to record your observations of plants and animals, and learn about nature in your area. You can view the iNaturalist observations in Bishops Park and Fulham Palace here. Please also add your own sightings for Bishop’s Park through the app.
iNaturalist app: iOS • Android
iRecord
You are also encouraged to record observations of plants and animals on iRecord.
Together, we can help nature thrive in Fulham. We are always looking for enthusiastic and interested people to get involved and become members of the Friends group. Please email chair.bishparkfriends@gmail.com or fill in this form if you’d like to join us.
Be part of something bigger.
Join Friends of Bishop’s Park today, and be a friend to nature.
