Every week a London Wildlife Trust volunteer will be keeping us up to date on The Greenway Project, our year long mission to green up an important, but somewhat neglected, stretch of land in east London.
8th July
This week, London Wildlife Trust volunteer Okey Oparah reports from the Greenway.
Day nine: loggeries and filming
It was another Tuesday on the Greenway project, the weather was clement and this week we had a visit from the BBC, who wanted to do some filming for their Breathing Places project. On hand for the day's work were volunteers Archie Lenson, Clelestine Okoro, Mathew Driver, Steve Parrish and me - Okey Oparah.
We started off by cutting wood for a loggery – this is made from dead wood and tree branches stacked vertically, half buried and covered with sand so that they can form "breathing place" for insect larvae to feed and live. Stag beetle larvae feed in the rotting wood for up to seven years before emerging briefly - usually in late spring - as adults.
The BBC Breathing Places producer Rebecca arrived on time. She had a tour of the site and then watched us installing the loggery. We should be on the BBC Breathing Places show this Saturday – make sure you watch out for us!
At about 3pm the rain came, so we had to call it a day, but we achieved a lot while the sun was shining. See you next week!
Diary entries from London Wildlife Trust volunteer Nritijuna Naidu...
25 June
Day eight: some special visitors
It was one of those perfect summer days for outdoor, physical work. Not only was the sun shining, we were also eagerly anticipating an exciting arrival and a delivery. Visitors from Newham Council, Thames Water and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) were expected, plus we were getting our very own bikes and trailers to help us continue our mission to green up the Greenway.
Oke (student of environmental sciences and a new volunteer), Pablo, Kareem, Enric, Girish and I were ready with our tools and bikes to welcome our visitors. It was an opportunity for us to showcase our work and for our guests to get a taste of a much loved and much needed project.
Newham councillor Richard Crawford, John Liddard from Thames Water, Matt Watts from LOCOG and London Wildlife Trust’s Chief Executive Carlo Laurenzi arrived as we were busy shearing plants that were overhanging onto the pathway.
They immediately got stuck in, helping us shear and shovel as we tidied the path. As we worked together, we talked about past work, future plans and our shared interest in the Greenway Project. It was encouraging to hear how much they appreciated all our work.
With more than half of the path cleared, we needed to transport the cuttings to the designated area and so time to put our new bikes to good use. Pablo was more than happy to ride the bike down the path, collecting the cuttings along the way and riding back, with Oke providing assistance. Girish and Enric followed. Finally, all cleared, we collected our tools and walked back to the van with the bikers leading the way.
Next week, I am going to get on board and use one of the bikes – I can’t wait!
10th June
Day seven: Life’s little lessons
It’s two weeks since I last went to the Greenway. The place had a different look about it. Recent rain seems to have encouraged immense plant growth. A little bit of rain, a little sunshine and some soil, et voila, a new life begins.
In its own subtle way, nature teaches us life’s many lessons. Lessons of dedication, determination and direction. Every single plant, insect, bird and animal has a role to play. One such fascinating bit of nature, the stag beetle, was our subject of study this week. Our task was to build a loggery, our attempt at creating a favourable habitat for the endangered beetle.
Gill, Celestine, David, Enric and I were geared up for a day of constructive work. We collected thick dead wood trunks after sawing off thinner branches, identified a site for the loggery, after which, Celestine took over the task of digging up a hole in the earth.
The stag beetle is Britain’s largest native beetle. Once a common inhabitant, it is now endangered mainly due to habitat loss. This beetle has an interesting life cycle. It has a long larval stage of about five to seven years, during which it feeds on rotting wood, before it finally develops into a short-lived adult whose purpose is to mate, lay eggs and die.
A loggery is a set of thick logs stacked vertically, half covered in soil. As these are standing logs, they take a longer time to decay hence providing a perfect place for the larvae to feed and grow into an adult.
With a beautiful loggery in place, we were happy with our bit of work for the day and are looking forward to creating more habitats where life can blossom. After all, every little helps.
20th May
Day five: buddleias and bananas
It is always great to see new, enthusiastic volunteers. And it's even more pleasing to see volunteers returning to the project. It shows the commitment one has for the cause. Day five was one such significant day. It was a day of reunion, team spirit and satisfying work.
Mohammed, Gill, Pablo, Talvinder (Tal), Kareem, Enric and I were uniformed Greenway soldiers, and our target was the infamous buddleia. Tal, a self-employed driving instructor, was the new member of our expanding team.
Ready with our tools, a Collins Guide to British Wildlife and a bunch of bananas, we marched to our site and identified the day’s tasks - chopping down buddleia, transporting the cut branches up the steep bank and finally dragging them to the collection point.
Between all the chopping, tying, pulling and dragging, a new interest was growing in all of us. An interest in wildlife and nature.
It is one thing to be working mechanically and calling it a day, it is a completely different thing when amidst all this, one gets a chance to learn something new and acquire the curiosity for more. A wildflower or a fluttering butterfly was reason enough for us to regularly fish into Gill’s bag for the guide book so we could identify the species we spotted.
We learnt a lot more during the day - about the site, other invasive species, camping techniques, rope knots, the Greenwich Meridian line and Mohammed’s passion for bananas! It was the banana breaks and strong team spirit that gave us the energy for a day of hard work.
At the end of the day, as we looked at the site, it was evident that we had accomplished quite a bit. All in a day’s work, well done Team Greenway!
Why not join Team Greenway? Visit our volunteering pages
13th May
Day four: are you ready?
I was away on holiday last week so missed day three, but joined the team again this week to do some more conservation work on The Greenway.
‘Are you ready?’ was the catchphrase of the day, courtesy of Celestine, a new volunteer on the project. And the answer to that question? You bet we were! Pablo, Celestine, Enric and I were raring to go.
On the first day of the project, we had cut down a few Buddleia plants and had left the cut branches by the sides of the pathway for collection at a later time by a green waste collection company.
However, as the path was inaccessible for vehicles, this was not possible. Hence, a new site was designated for deposits and collections. So, our main task for day four was to remove all the now dry green waste to this new site. We were concerned that heaps of this dry waste was a welcome ground for bonfires, so we had to spread the waste piles out.
We found our favourite parking spot, donned our London Willdife Trust t-shirts, went through a brief ‘tool talk’ and then marched our way up to our work area. We tied ropes to the iron fencing and slid them down the sloping bank to the pathway where all the dry branches were waiting to be air-lifted.
Two of us started tying up bunches of the branches to the rope ends and the other two pulled them up. Once they were collected at the top of the bank, they were once again tied together with the ropes and dragged to the designated site, where they were spread about for collection.
Our mission accomplished, we called it a day. A day well spent. A day that will be remembered as a perfect example of effective team working. We’re now looking forward to day five of the project. Are you ready?
29th April
Day two: same time, same place, a wet day!
"Day two of the Greenway Project started wet and gloomy. The ceaseless rain made me doubt if the project work was still on. A quick check on the internet for the weather forecast was even more depressing – heavy showers throughout the day! After a couple of texts and calls, and learning that London Wildlife Trust’s Greenway warden Enric was already on his way, I decided to brave the weather.
Gillian, a retired teacher, professional artist and a nature enthusiast, was patiently waiting in the little café opposite the station to gather volunteers. With our eyes glued to the station exit, Gill and I waited for another fifteen minutes before making our way to meet Enric. After a short drive to park the van and a long walk through one of the many side tracks of the Greenway, we reached our site. It looked nice and we took a couple of seconds to take pride in our good work from last week.
Rain and sun played hide and seek throughout the morning. Due to the rain and being short of man power, we decided our main task was to be litter clearing. With litter picker tools acting as our extended arms, we set about clearing one small patch of land. Plastic bags and bottles, broken glass, beer cans – empty and full, an umbrella, cushion stuffing and a two pence coin - our loot was quite interesting!
Our three bags tied and deposited for collection, we started exploring the place. We squeezed ourselves between railings, trekked down murky slopes and walked curvy pathways to absorb as much nature as we could.
We took a long walk past a colourful Victorian pump house, the Olympic park construction site, a lovely wooded reserve and an out of the blue DLR station. The path was blooming - sweet smelling hawthorn, wild roses, cherry blossoms, dandelions with their rocket leaves, flowers purple, yellow and white. All along the way and back, Enric gave us valuable information about different plants, flowers, bird and bat nests, batman and the pump house, bush craft skills and plans for the Greenway.
During the short drive to the tube station with Travis playing “Flowers in the Window” on the radio, I started home humming the tune, It’s such a lovely day…let’s watch the flowers grow!"
22nd April 2008
Day one: an Earth Day treat!
“A week ago, when I received an email from London Wildlife Trust about the Greenway Project, I knew I had to be a part of it. It'd been a long time since I took part in an outdoor conservation project and my excitement knew no bounds when the day arrived.
Armed with a lot of enthusiasm, a bottle of water and a camera, I set out on my first volunteering assignment with London Wildlife Trust. After meeting up with Anju, another nature enthusiast, we reached West Ham, our meeting point, and joined up with other Greenway volunteers and project coordinators - a most interesting bunch of people, a mix of nationalities and all from different walks of life.
Just around the corner from West Ham tube station, a curvy pathway marks the beginning of the Greenway, a beautiful wildlife trail stretching over five miles and cutting across four waterways.
Like most urban green areas, the Greenway has its own share of problems – invasive shrubs, fly tipping, litter, etc. Our mission on day one was to tackle the menace of buddleia (or buddleja), a sturdy and invasive exotic flowering plant species that, although being good for butterflies, restricts the growth of native wildlife friendly plants, like hawthorn.
After a brief gathering to learn about the history of the place, identification of the species and handling of tools from Enric and Helen, we started up the pathway with our gear. It was a wonderfully warm day - it seemed like the sun wanted to be a part of the project, shining down on us as we worked sawing, shearing, clipping and clearing the invasive plant.
As Anju and I attacked the smaller branches, Mohammed and Archie went for the trunk of the plant. “Timber, timber!” – warning calls to step out of the way of huge chunks that were being felled. The green waste was tirelessly carried or dragged to be set aside for the authorities to collect later.
All these physically demanding tasks seemed effortless, largely due to the fun atmosphere that developed among the team. During the short refreshments break, we found out about each others’ backgrounds, interest in nature, past experiences and future plans.
This wasn’t just an assignment, it was a day of learning, of exchanging views about new cultures, countries, food and spices, a day of reconnecting with nature. With a few bruises and a lot of satisfaction in our hearts, we said our goodbyes, with a promise to meet the following week for more environmental action.
Looking back over a wonderful day, I couldn’t have asked for a more symbolic Earth Day treat!”