The fall of the Cormorant Tree

The Cormorant Tree was a tall dead tree at the southern end of Rook Island, on the Ornamental Waters in Wanstead Park. It was given the name because of the fondness cormorants had for perching in its high top-most branches.

Some years ago, the fact that the tree was there at all gave rise to a controversial move by the City of London Corporation in their management of the park when, in order to allay the fear that the tree might fall across the lake and perhaps cause injury to persons walking the lake-side path, the path near the tree's possible fall-line was blocked and a new alternative route cut through adjacent River Wood. The cutting of this route involved felling mature trees, which were used to block the original path. One of these trees was a healthy hornbeam - one of the finest in the park!

Apparently, this move was deemed necessary rather than deliberately fell the Cormorant Tree because doing so would have been a difficult and possibly dangerous undertaking. In practise, the original path was never fully blocked - even given the size of the felled trees that were used to attempt to do so - and people clambered over them or round them.

The Cormorant Tree has now fallen and, as anticipated, fell across the stretch of water dividing the island from the area near River Wood. It doesn't appear to have quite reached the bank where the original path was closed, but came close. Now the logs that blocked the path have been removed and the path is open again. The big obstruction at the moment is to the lake, where waterfowl are having to clamber over the Cormorant Tree!

 

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In February 2010 I wrote about access issues in Wanstead Park, and mentioned the Cormorant Tree and the blocked path. (see here). As the article was about access in general, the state of a newly-laid path by the Ornamental Waters was also mentioned. On my walk around the lake which prompted the article on the fall of the tree, I walked that  path again; it leads from the southern end of the Ornamental Waters, past the west edge of the Bund, and leads to a viewpoint for the Grotto, just across the arm of the lake. The Grotto has just undergone work to stabilise the stonework and encroaching vegetation removed. The path that leads to this viewpoint is a heavily used one, but as I negotiated it on 22nd July, it was - as often is - a soup of slippery mud. Apart from the muck on my footwear, I was finding that - even with the cleats of my boots - I was loosing my footing. I wondered what form of compensation the City of London Corporation might find itself paying out if - as I feel could easily happen - broken bones or other injury resulted because of this DANGEROUS surface?

 

 

Paul Ferris 27th July 2011