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The River Wandle
has been looking particularly good in the sun this Summer, as we see the
considerable efforts which have gone in to the environment of the river in
recent years come to fruition.
Our
beautiful river was once reportedly the hardest worked river of its size in
the country, with no fewer than 99 mills on its banks in the nineteenth
century producing everything from textiles to snuff. A splendid example
survives at Wandle Mill in Carshalton, now the home of a car components
business and a beautiful example of its type, although one can still detect
its dark satanic origins in the architecture, and it does not take much
imagination to visualise the working conditions of the men, women and
children it employed 150 years ago or so.
The
number of anglers to be seen along the Wandle bank testifies to the success
of the decontamination exercise, and we are told that it now teems with
marine life. Work on the river continues, as anyone walking or cycling the
Wandle path will know – part of it always seems to be closed. I am not
implying any criticism in this; quite the reverse, as it means the operation
to improve this part of our environment is an ongoing process.
The
river’s bird life has become noticeably more varied over the years as the
improvements have taken hold. The variety of waterfowl is particularly
evident, especially in the areas of parkland at Morden Hall, Carshalton and
Waddon Ponds. An increasing number of unusual species have been observed of
late, including a little egret in Morden Hall, a bird that traditionally
didn’t come any further north than
Spain, but which has been on the south coast for some years now as a result
of global warming. Currently, there is a pair of black swans at Waddon
Ponds, a native of Australia introduced to this country as an ornamental
species. The female continues to sit on an island nest built in the middle
of the pond, where she has been for about eight weeks, so there seems little
prospect that we will see any black swan cygnets as a result.
At
this time of year the banks of the river provide sustenance for the
increasing variety of birds, particularly with the number of buds and
berries in evidence. The dense undergrowth contributes to the ecology,
hosting grubs and insects which are crucial to insectivorous birds. Even
the burgeoning growth of nettles hosts large numbers of butterflies. The
estuary at Wandsworth and the wetlands at Morden Hall attract species not
normally seen in towns, including grey herons (unlikely to be popular with
those who have fish ponds in their gardens, but a beautiful, graceful bird
nonetheless), and great crested grebe. Last week, I even saw a solitary
lapwing by the river, a bird not usually associated with cities.
The
management of the Wandle is one of many examples of the way nature is
managed in our towns today and contrasts sharply with and increasingly
sanitised and chemical infested countryside, in much of which our wildlife
is in decline. I wonder if we fully appreciate how fortunate we are to have
it all around us.
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