Creating a haven for frogs, newts and dragonflies at the Flower Garden Lake

We’re restoring the Flower Garden Lake in Greenwich Park to support wonderful wildlife.

We’ll improve sustainability, improve the water quality, and enhance the habitat with aquatic planting and landscaping.

What we'll be doing

We’re going to drain and clean the lake and connect a borehole supply to provide a sustainable water source so that there is no longer a reliance on a mains supply.

We’ll create new bog areas and introduce new marginal planting edges around the lake to be planted with marginal and aquatic plants, including yellow flag iris (iris pseudacorus), brooklime (veronica beccabunga) and arrowhead (sagittaria sagittifolia). We will also be dividing some of the waterlilies currently growing in the Queen’s Orchard pond and bring those to the Flower Garden Lake.

These works will support a rich diversity of wildlife, providing a better home for frogs, toads, newts, dragonflies and damselflies as well as a host of other species.

When will work take place?

Works were scheduled to begin in November 2022 however due to the freezing cold weather and ice they have been postponed to January 2023. We will work with Environment Agency-certified experts to remove and permanently rehouse the fish in the lake to allow the conservation works to take place. We will also rehome a number of non-native, red-eared terrapins that have been introduced as unwanted pets because these cause harm to native species. In the short term, ducks, moorhens and other birds will fly away but they will return when the lake is refilled.

Vegetation clearance will also be carried out around the Lake to help deliver the work and as part of ongoing management.

There will be temporary closures of part of the Flower Garden, including Blackheath Gate, Bower Avenue Gate and lake access during January to April 2023 while these works are delivered. The whole Flower Garden will be closed for a couple of days in January while the fish and terrapins are removed.

The restored Flower Garden Lake will be a fantastic location for both wildlife and our visitors by spring.