Old Malden Nature Hub - St John the Baptist Old Malden

We are the Old Malden Nature Hub at St John’s, Old Malden. St John’s is located within the Old Malden Conservation Area, high above the Hogsmill River. The length of the Hogsmill River, and areas of land beside it, are designated Sites of Nature Conservation Importance.

Through the Old Malden Nature Hub, we want to share our ancient site and buildings with the local community to enable everyone to enjoy and support nature on our doorstep. We aim to achieve this by working alongside local organisations and individuals to ‘increase awareness of biodiversity’ and ‘take positive actions that benefit biodiversity in Kingston’ (Kingston’s Biodiversity Action Plan). Together we can explore and conserve the abundance of wildlife at and around St John’s and along the Hogsmill River.

In May, St John's hosted a bat walk organised by Friends of Manor Park. Fr Michael and his team provided hot drinks and cakes before Elliot Newton, Kingston's Biodiversity Officer, gave a talk on bats in the churchyard.

Kingston Council has approved the installation of England's first official hedgehog-crossing signs.Four signs can now be seen in the Old Malden area. They have been designed to encourage pedestrians and drivers to look out for hedgehogs crossing the road. The decision to install the signs was made after the Old Malden area was found to have a thriving population of hedgehogs.