Annual destruction of wild flowers in Wanstead Park

Once again, the emerging wildfowers by the east end of Perch Pond have been strimmed to ground level. In mid-May, just as some were flowering and some were ready to come into flower. Just as the damselflies that use them as perches were hatching a few feet away. Just as people visiting Wanstead Park because they think it is a nice place could have walked past and thought how pretty it looked.

No home for wildlife; no colour for peopleThis is the annual strim – or one of them. It is because of the Reservoirs Act: “No herbal vegetation that would do serious harm to the dam that retains the waters of the Perch Pond may be allowed to come into flower. Any such delicate vegetation must be cut down just as it is flowering or - alternatively or as well – it is seeding”.

Is that what the Act states? Or is that the interpretation of the Conservators of Epping Forest in their wisdom and within their remit to “preserve the natural aspect” of the Forest? Wanstead Park is not – of course – a “natural” part of the Forest. It is a man-made and managed environment and the management of the Park relating to the wildflowers at the east end of the Perch Pond means that each year we loose the full beauty of them, and the wildlife looses an important part of its habitat.

Vegetation, sanctuary and a bit of colourI have been going on about this for years. Why is it not possible to do this strimming, which I believe is required so that woody shrubs and trees don't grow up so that their roots undermine the embankment, at a different time? For example, what about earlier in the year before the flowering has begun, say early March, and/or later in the year after the flowers and seeds are over, say late September?

It is possibly to do with manpower. The Epping Forest arm of the City of London Corporation, the Conservators of Epping Forest, has much more to manage than just Wanstead Park; and on the whole they do a good job of it. It's just that in this little part that I know and particularly care about, it has not been found possible, even after pointing out the problem to the Ecology People and to discussing on-site the issue with the Head of Operations for Epping Forest earlier this year (see here), provisions can't be made to adjust things slightly.

Show me to the nearest brick wall.

Paul Ferris, 21^st May, 2014

Daffodils on Lincoln Island

The daffodils are in flower on Lincoln Island. There are numerous clumps of daffodils scattered around Wanstead Park, but few in any profusion. Many of those that are to be found may have arrived either by deliberate introduction to brighten things up, maybe as an unofficialy introduced commemoration, by throw-outs from nearby gardens or by some other chance.

December 2001 - Wren Group member Les Rice rows Gill James and Jim Brown to Lincoln IslandOnly on Lincoln Island at the north end of the Ornamental Waters are there any to be seen in number. It was years ago when I first became interested in wildlflowers that I first was aware of them. I used the Wren Group's dingy to go over there to have a closer look, and at the time - and perhaps in my early enthusiasm and lack of experience - reported that amongs the variety of what may be called "garden" types, there were one or two "wild" daffodils Narcissus pseudonarcissus. I think now that may have been a mistake. Even so, I suggested to the group that perhaps we ought to try to preserve whatever was there.

Since then I have been over to the island a number of times, although only a few times when the plants are in flower. Most of the time there has been no sign of them, for it is once a year in the winter that the Wren Group have been making expeditions to the island on one of their Winter practical work sessions. The idea of this has been to keep the site clear of bramble, saplings and fallen tree-litter, so that the daffs have a chance to be seen and possibly even to spread.

The daffodils on 24th March 2014This must have been successful, although I wonder how much they have actually spread. They have certainly multiplied, but I feel that perhaps we ought to do a post-flowering session, dig some of the clumps up, divide them and replant them - thus spreading them as one might in a garden. They are not wild; they have evidently been planted at some time - but who knows when?

I like to think that they may be relics of an old planting when the house was still on the high ground where the golf-course stiil is. They are probably not that old; probably an expert on daffodil varieties might be able to offer some clues based on when the varieties were created or fashionable. Whatever the case, they do make a colourful display and must give pleasure to some as they walk around the Ornamental Waters. I suspect that few would think of the effort spent by a gallant few, rowing and being rowed across there every year, in winter, in a grand variety of weathers!

Paul Ferris, 26th March 2014

Uncovering the Alders Brook

The winter rain in 2014 has beaten all records, so it is not surprising that we have seen the Shoulder of Mutton Pond and Heronry Pond in Wanstead Park as full as we have seen them for many years. The Perch Pond has been overflowing – as it should – through the Dell and into the Ornamental Water. It is only the latter that is still not as high as it should be.

We know all too well that there is a significant problem with the water supplies into and out of our chain of lakes, which start with the Basin on Wanstead Golf Course. Part of the reasons why the Shoulder of Mutton and Heronry Ponds are both so full are that their outflows are blocked – the Shoulder of Mutton should be providing excess water to Heronry Pond and that to the Perch Pond. Simple maintenance!

Water from Alexandra Lake flows across the pavement to be lost down a drainAnd on Wanstead Flats, Alexandra Lake has been flowing across the pavement into Aldersbrook Road, and the water gushing down a surface drain to go who knows where. Where it should go, I am sure, is through the lake's outflow, which is a concrete structure at the NE corner of the lake, almost opposite the large house on Aldersbrook Road which is the cemetery Superintendent's house.

Alan Cornish in his investigation into the reasons why Heronry Pond is so often so lacking in water¹ suggests that there is a drain from the Alexandra Lake which should transfer water to the Park's lake system, but if ever this were the case it doesn't make sense to me. If you go into the cemetery through the main gate and turn left, you will in a few yards notice a depression in contours of the landscape, which derives from near the gardens of the Superintendent's house and can be seen to fall away and become more pronounced towards the New Crematorium buildings and the Catacombs beyond. This is a natural valley, the obvious course of drainage from the near part of Wanstead Flats, in the vicinity of Alexandra Lake. Indeed, when what is now the City of London Cemetery was the the grounds of Aldersbrook Manor – once the property of the Lethieulliers – the area in front of the Catacombs, or Columbarium, was once known as Aldersbrook Pond and later the Great Lake². Man-made lakes are typically formed by means of damming watercourses; the watercourse in this case is the Alders Brook. Beyond the east end of the lake, there is an area of land long used as a tip for waste material from the cemetery. This is known as the Shoot.

Beyond the Shoot is an area of “wild” land, part of which incorporates the cemetery's Nature Reserve, The Birches. It is only within The Birches that the Alders Brook nowadays becomes visible, as a small pond surrounded by trees which itself was artificially created as a wildlife resource. The outflow from the pond can be seen in the form of a culvert which runs under the cemetery's east boundary fence, under the Bridle Path near the Bridle Path Allotments where it can be seen as the Alders Brook proper.

A bank of Snowdrops in the wildernessThe inflow to the small pond in the cemetery can also be seen: this is a culvert which tracks back underneath the Shoot area, and thus from the direction of the shallow valley through the cemetery which derives from near Wanstead Flats.

On a visit to the cemetery on 21^st February I'd seen that all but one of the Poplar trees that had lined Poplar Road, at the north edge of the Shoot, had been felled. I was told that the intention was to make some use of the Shoot area for burials, as space within the cemetery is now so limited. The felling of trees around the area had provided me with something of an access to what is usually not part of the public part of the grounds, and indeed – to an area which possibly hadn't been accessed for decades! It is incredible that such a wild area can exist in such formal and urban surroundings. I found myself in an area, adjacent to The Birches, which was a hidden world of valleys, undergrowth, fallen trees and a bank of snowdrops. apart from birds, foxes were the only other sign of animal life, loping off as I approached, then standing to look at me over their shoulders before disappearing.

Temporarily covered - the exposed culvert containing the Alders BrookOn a return visit on 27^th February I ventured into The Shoot area proper, a desolate landscape of tipped vegetation, broken machinery and muddy turned-up ground. It is higher than the general ground level of the cemetery, so the views from the top are different from elsewhere. A large area had been dug out, once a strange mix of smoking, compost-like tippings, complete with the sound of House crickets, beautiful area of Gorse and other wild plants – and a haven, of sorts, for such creatures as Foxes. The crickets have long-gone, and much of the gorse, but on this day there was a temporary fence to stop one falling over a cliff! Below, was the dug-out area that will presumably be part of the new burial grounds. More or less in the centre of this churned up earth was what appeared to be a hole, temporarily covered up. I carefully made my way down to what I suspected to be the exposed top of the culvert that carried water through to the pond in the nature reserve area nearby. Sure enough, I could hear the sound of water below the covering board. Not much, which did not surprise me; as I've already noted, the overflow from Alexandra Lake has been all-but blocked for a long time. I just about remember when the brook ran open from just about here, and even a Kingfisher had been noted at one time. The culvert had been extended at some time to allow more use of the Shoot.

The outflow from Alexandra Lake should be visible in the centre of the picture...I spoke later to the Superintendent of the Cemetery, and he confirmed that the watercourse had been unintentionally exposed. He told me too that the water did indeed derive – in theory anyway – from Alexandra Lake, supplemented by surface water from the cemetery. Chatting to one or two people associated with the Conservators of Epping Forest, I was told that it would probably be the responsibility of the Environment Agency to ensure that the outlet for overflow water from Alexandra Lake be kept clear.

References

1. CORNISH, A. M.Sc. 2006. Wanstead Park - A Chronicle. Originally published by the Friends of Wanstead Parklands in 1982 and updated and republished by Wanstead Parklands Community Project.

2. DAVID LAMBERT 2006. The Cemetery in a Garden - 150 Years of the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium. City of London Publication.

See also:

Discovering the Alders Brook

The Birches Nature Reserve - The History and Location of the Site

Protecting the Bluebells in Chalet Wood

The Wren Group clearing Chalet Wood of brambles in Autumn 2013In not-too-many weeks people will be visiting Wanstead Park particularly to see the show of native bluebells in Chalet Wood. This is fast becoming an annual event for some, although few will stop to think of the effort that has gone in over the years for them to appear like this. For many years – perhaps since the early 1980's – the Wren Conservation and Wildlife Group has been visiting the wood during the winter to clear fallen tree-litter and brambles so that the bluebells can grow better and look better.

Some small path edgings laid in February 2014The plants are almost becoming a victim of their own success: increased visitors invariably mean increased trampling. In 2010 I wrote an article in this website which included the suggestion that some form of path-delineation might be in order to guide people through the wood, and – preferably – off the bluebells. This winter, the idea has come to fruition, with the delivery some eight weeks ago of some timber cuttings from further north in the Forest, courtesy of Epping Forest staff.

Stopping for a coffee-break whilst clearing brambles and moving logsThe timber was dropped off for us in a few spots in the wood. It was a larger diameter than I would have wanted, but this was necessary because smaller pieces would quickly have been used to make the “wigwam” structures that pop up here and elsewhere in Wanstead Park.

As I write this article, seven weekly visits have been made to Chalet Wood to arrange the edgings along desire-line paths. At most of these visits, just three of us – Gill and Alan James and myself – have used to-hand levers and makeshift rollers to move in some cases some considerable logs into position. This is in addition, of course to lifting, moving and sawing slightly smaller ones.

Path edgings in late February 2014Most of the comments from passers-by have been favourable, with the realisation that there is likely not to be so much trampling. Some comments have been made that some of the paths are too wide, but this could be dealt with in future if necessary. We have deliberately left the wigwams; children, and perhaps some adults, seem to enjoy building them and we'd like to encourage play in more “natural” surroundings. We have moved some of the largest logs into positions where it might be nice to sit down and appreciate the woods.

I anticipate that it will make a difference to the show of bluebells. It is not meant to be a physical barrier to walking anywhere in the wood, but might act as a psychological one. Over time the logs will rot down. By then it is hoped that the trackways through the wood will be more defined anyway, so that people can enjoy Chalet Wood at any time of the year.

Paul Ferris, 13^th March 2014