Work on a pond being built to provide a sanctuary to wildlife will start at the end of November, according to a community group responsible for preserving biodiversity in London Fields.
The London Fields Group told the Hackney Post that they will start creating the pond, located on the western perimeter of the park, in the coming weeks, with one of the ecologists involved expecting it to have “instant results” when it’s finished in spring next year.
Pond to become a home to newts, toads and frogs
Ian Philips, a local ecologist, who has been working for 25 years in Hackney Marshes, said that the pond will be used as “an educational tool.”
“It will be great for people of all ages to come in and enjoy it and see more species. We’re going to increase the biodiversity here and it’s also going to be great from an educational point of view because you’ve got London Fields and Gayhurst schools both really close,” said Philips. “They will come in here and they will see the wildlife that can exist in the middle of a city.”
“Fairly soon” after it is completed, visitors can expect the pond to be a home to “toads, frogs and smooth newts,” according to Philips.
Volunteer group work every weekend to protect London Fields wildlife
The London Fields Group has been building a wildlife habitat for animals in three areas of London Fields Park to help maintain animal numbers that it claims are at risk due to Hackney’s rising population levels.
At least 20 volunteers have been joining the group every weekend to to help build the habitat around the edge of the park. They have been trying to protect existing shrubs by growing new plants, and building loggeries, a green classroom and insect homes.
London Fields Group chairman Kevin Flemen has lived in Hackney for more than 30 years and witnessed the environmental changes that have taken place in the Park year after year first-hand. The park is being used more and more “because of the high-density housing that’s gone up, most of which doesn’t have any outside space… This has a huge impact on the environment,” he said.
“[London Fields Park is] for football, it’s for runners, it’s for cyclists, it’s for parties, it’s for yoga and it’s also for wildlife.” Flemen said. “This means that while it looks quite green, there’s not actually a lot of wildlife habitat. Think of as a ‘green desert’, in that it’s green, [but] it’s empty. There’s not a lot of actual habitat for animals,” he added.
According to Flemen, neither the Hackney Council nor London Fields User group have got any records of species that exist in the Park. However he claimed the wildlife used to be much more vital than it is now.
“[There were] more woodpeckers here, thrushes, lots of different bird species, and bit by bit the number of birds that you see in the park has fallen away completely,” the group’s chairman said. “So there’s very few birds, there’s very few small mammals, there’s very few insects… because there aren’t enclaves for animals to hide. There’s no place for them to eat. There’s nothing for them to drink.
“You have to make the wildlife bit happen, and that’s what this project is about. So this project is to create a healthier park with more wildlife, more biodiversity,” he said.
London Fields User Group will continue to build the wildlife habitat and recruit volunteers via Eventbrite for the upcoming green classrooms.
