Five new orchards have been planted in Tower Hamlets this autumn. Four of these were planted in parks by the Council and the fifth by Tower Hamlets Homes. Two of the orchards, funded by a Community Tree Planting grant from the Mayor of London, are in Mile End Park’s Ecology Park. Twelve fruit trees have been planted beside the canal, with a further 24 on the mound to the north of the Ecology Lake (photo left). The other two park orchards were funded through Section 106 money from the development of the Ocean Estate. One of these is also in…
Author: admin
Dave Bedford and Molly Gadenz of the Lower Regents Coalition write: In conjunction with the Environment Agency and Thames 21, we installed 40 metres of floating planters at Old Ford Lock on the Regent’s Canal in October. On the first day, we met up at Bow Wharf to assemble the planters. Our volunteers put the rafts together, added the vegetated coir mats, and attached fencing along one side to protect the growing plants from geese. The following day, once the planters were assembled, we moved them via the canal and with assistance from a barge,…
Two of Tower Hamlets’ open spaces appear in magazine Time Out’s list of places to make you feel calm in London. The best of these, in third place overall, was the Phytology medicinal garden in Bethnal Green Nature Reserve. The Royal Foundation of St Katharine, in Limehouse, was fifth in the list, with their Open Reflective Days particularly recommended. Time Out’s writers were impressed with the way the Phytology project has transformed the nature reserve into a valuable community space that acts as an antidote to some of London’s stresses. The nature reserve, on Middleton Road E2, has woodland, ponds…
Edward Milner, who undertakes spider and beetle surveys in Tower Hamlets parks, writes: My beetle expert Norman Heal has looked at a small batch from last winter and found two species that were new to Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. Othius subuliformis is a rather beautiful little rove beetle, about 5 millimetres long. It is dark orange and brown and, like all rove beetles, is carnivorous. It’s not uncommon, with widely scattered records over much of Britain, as this distribution map shows. The Clover Seed Weevil (Protapion apricans) is also rather elegant. It is tiny, just 3-3.5 millimetres long, black with…
Two major tree giveaways were launched last week by Shirley Rodrigues, London’s Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy. Nearly 50,000 free trees will be delivered in time for London’s biggest ever tree planting weekend on 1 and 2 December, giving Londoners the chance to plant trees in their gardens or in their local communities. Free trees for community groups The Mayor is working with The Conservation Volunteers to give away 25,000 trees to across the city. Groups can get packs of 50 free trees to brighten up local green spaces and playgrounds. Your trees will be a mixture of UK native…
Local botanist John Swindells writes: In late July, while in Victoria Park I noticed an unusual submerged plant growing in East Lake. A quick look revealed tiny bladders within its feathery leaves, and I realised it was a bladderwort, a plant I’d not seen in London before. As my grandson was with me, I didn’t have time to examine it closely or collect a specimen. There are several British species, which are difficult to tell apart, but all of them are very rare in and around London. A return visit in August revealed large quantities of Bladderwort around the south…
The Friends of Arnold Circus write: Since the start of its Restoration Project in 2010, the Friends of Arnold Circus, together with other local volunteers and the generous support of funders like the Tower Hill Trust, have been maintaining Arnold Circus (Boundary Gardens) so that it is more of a garden and less of a “municipal green space”. Thanks to all that hard work it is today a well-maintained oasis of calm, just steps from the nightclubs of Shoreditch, which attracts users all year round. It is popular as a meeting place for the local community, a lunchtime venue for…
The Institution of Lighting Professionals (ILP) has launched the latest practical guidance on considering the impact upon bats when designing lighting schemes. They have partnered the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) and ecological consultants to write this document on avoiding or reducing the harmful effects which artificial lighting may have on bats and their habitats. This guidance can be downloaded from the ILP website. The Guidance Note (GN) supersedes the previous 2009 guidance and goes into depth about lighting levels and colour temperature impacts on different bat species. It is intended to raise awareness of the impacts of artificial lighting on…
In March 2018 Tower Hamlets Council installed rafts with wetland vegetation to enhance wildlife habitats, visual appearance and water quality. The project was funded by generous donations from the Williams Charitable Trust and the Tower Hill Trust. A total of 55 rafts, each 4×2 metres in area, were installed. Most of the rafts were placed along the southern edge of the canal at Spirit Quay, between Vaughan Way and the steps opposite the junction of the two branches of the canal, a distance of about 200 metres. Further rafts were installed around the Tobacco Dock area to extend and supplement…
Jasmine Drewry of Poplar HARCA writes: Poplar HARCA and local residents have been revitalising interest and boosting biodiversity in the Flowerpot Garden on the Teviot Estate. The garden was landscaped in 2012 by the BBC’s Flowerpot Gang television programme, a garden makeover show presented by Anneka Rice, well-known gardener Joe Swift and ex-cricketer Phil Tufnell. Since then the garden has been well-loved and cared for by a handful of residents, but could do with a few extra gardeners to help look after it. During February and March this year, Poplar HARCA’s Accents Team worked closely with the residents who manage…