Ruskin Park: lesser known S.London park

[editor]

Me and Eme had a picnic there on Monday and it was lovely. The place is stuffed full of wild life too (and I don't mean scurrying crackheads and stab frenzy yoots either).

Check out the photo feature here: http://www.urban75.org/brixton/featu...skin-park.html

Anyone else use the park?

[boohoo]

It's a nice little park - it use to have an albino squirrel!!

[editor]

Originally Posted by boohoo

It's a nice little park - it use to have an albino squirrel!!

I saw some strange sorta red sorta grey squirrels. Are they some kind of mutant breed?

[Maggot]

I used to live right by that park. Have had some great times there.

Have they fixed the bandstand yet?

The weird squirrels are actually squirrel/rat hybrids called Rattels.

[Shippou-Chan]

went to school by it.... twas nice... long time ago now

[Slow Hands]

It could just be a cross-breed of red and grey squirrels, or a red squirrel that's hair was turning grey through stress or a grey squirrel that had suffered some kind of unlikely Pepe Le Peu-esque accident with red paint or lipstick?

[editor]

Originally Posted by Maggot

Have they fixed the bandstand yet?

*ahem!



http://www.urban75.org/brixton/featu...skin-park.html

[Maggot]

Ooops! I posted before reading your report.

Hopefully I can redeem myself by pointing out that the Corkscrew Willow is the tree on the right of your photo of the pond. And those trees were associated with witchcraft in medieval times.

[guinnessdrinker]

It's definitely not a bad park to ramble along on a sunny day.

[ChrisSouth]

It's lovely. I live right by it. Us locals like to keep it lesser known, so we don't talk about it.

[memespring]

Originally Posted by editor

*ahem!



http://www.urban75.org/brixton/featu...skin-park.html

someone needs to organise something fun there

[shakespearegirl]

I think it calls for a summer picnic..

Its a really nice hidden gem of a park and the squirrels are so tame they will eat out of your hand.

No crack squirrels in Ruskin Park, thats gentrification

[nipsla]

Originally Posted by memespring

someone needs to organise something fun there

*gets clarinet out*

[dogmatique]

Used to live there around the same time as Maggot. The albino squirrels are of local legend; they've been there for over 30 years by all accounts, and are known to those involved in natural science in the capital...

My science is crap - patently by the following sentence, but it was explained to me that there is a regressive gene in the local squirrel community in Ruskin Park, which throws up albino offspring with much more regularity than in other squirrel populations, resulting in occasional birth of albino offspring in the whole community, rather than just a single family - and a continual presence of albino squirrels over a number of years due to inbreeding.

There's plenty of argument to say that if these squirrels didn't live in a public park, there is little chance that the albino strain would have survived. - Other greys regularly attack the mutants in Ruskin Park - the poor chaps always looked more beat up than the rest, but due to human intervention in the food chain - regular feeding - they've survived.

You can extrapolate any kind of information from that about squirrel migration, territory and longevity of communities, which has made the fluffy rats of Ruskin Park squirrels of such note.

And without tabloid crack allegations!

[han]

Ruskin Park is luvverly isn't it! A hidden gem.

Wow - albino squirrels....I must keep a look out next time.

[Choc]

inspiring!

i will head there myself very soon.


i have to admit i think i was never inside whilst passing the park numerous amounts of time :0

great report too!

[London_Calling]

oh I see, off to the right going up the hill after Kings. Had no idea.

Other entrances other than on Denmark Hill, anyone ?


Nice, thorough article, btw.

[ChrisSouth]

Re the pictures. The 'chimney' is all that remains of a sundial that was in the garden of a house on Denmark Hill. It commemorates Mendelssohn's visit to the area when he wrote, as has been pointed out, 'Spring Song'.

And if you read Vera Brittain's 'Testament of Youth', Ruskin Park is frequently mentioned.

The revitalised bandstand is now used quite often. The Salvation Army have been doing outdoor concerts.

In terms of entrances, no, just the one, and it's very, very tiny and won't accommodate that many people. So don't all rush.

[corporate whore]

My local park, it's lovely. The squirrels are unnaturally friendly, they'll come right up to you to take food or just have a sniff of your shoes..

[Structaural]

Used to be my local park, spent many teenage hours there with my dog. Is the library still there on Herne Hill Road?

Great park - really well looked after, haven't been there for years - nice to see the bandstand all jazzed up... I've still got a bunch of photos of squirrels jumping from tree to tree that I took in about 1985.

[editor]

Originally Posted by ChrisSouth

Re the pictures. The 'chimney' is all that remains of a sundial that was in the garden of a house on Denmark Hill. It commemorates Mendelssohn's visit to the area when he wrote, as has been pointed out, 'Spring Song'.

And if you read Vera Brittain's 'Testament of Youth', Ruskin Park is frequently mentioned.

The revitalised bandstand is now used quite often. The Salvation Army have been doing outdoor concerts.

In terms of entrances, no, just the one, and it's very, very tiny and won't accommodate that many people. So don't all rush.

Cheers for the update - I'll add it to my piece.


Re: this squirrel stuff. I thought it was all a wind up at first, but if someone would like to pen a definitive paragraph about the strange case of the albino squirrels, I'll add it to the piece.

[Structaural]

There's about 6 entrances no?

[editor]

Originally Posted by Structaural

There's about 6 entrances no?

There's at least four I know of, but maybe he meant entrances to the bandstand?

[Structaural]

Originally Posted by editor

There's at least four I know of, but maybe he meant entrances to the bandstand?

I think he was attempting to dissuade anyone from invading his local lovely park

[LilJen]

Ssssshhhhh and darnnit ed, that parks one of my secret places. And somewhere I run around quite often of an early evening.

Will actually be there tomorrow for one of my taper runs