Category: Environment

From Alperton to Paddington

How do you first see a city? Arriving at Venice’s Santa Lucia station and stepping out onto broad steps leading down to the Grand Canal is hard to beat. Yesterday I walked to London along the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal.

Wrabness to Mistley

On Tuesday I took a slightly shorter walk than usual, only five miles. As usual, it was along a tidal stretch of river – not the Thames, the Stour that divides Essex from Suffolk and joins the North Sea at Harwich.

From Sewage to Senile Treatment

In between Mortlake and Kew by the towpath there is a substantial plant that was used by Thames Water to treat sewage. It’s proper name is a biothane plane but that needn’t concern us as it shut in 2015.

Plogging Party

Are you up for a Plogging Party? It’s in Sullakki, 28th – 30th September. I cannot go but if you are interested you can read about it here. 

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A Swift Hello

There used to be eels in the lake at Barmeath and probably still are. The lake is landlocked and I could not work out how they got from the sea to the lake but they did; probably through an overflow drain that runs under the fields and then through ditches down to the sea. Much… Continue reading A Swift Hello

Frank Banfield Park

Is it fair that a critic forms an opinion of a restaurant, a play or an opera based on one visit? Probably not but conscientious restaurant reviewers (I’m thinking of Nick Lander in WeekendFT) make multiple visits before delivering judgement. Today I am going to form an opinion based on visits over more than thirty… Continue reading Frank Banfield Park

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We Three Trees of Orient Are

Parrotia persica (commonly called Persian ironwood) is a deciduous tree in the family Hamamelidaceae, closely related to the witch-hazel genus Hamamelis. It is native to northern Iran and southern Azerbaijan (where it is called Dəmirağac) and it is endemic in the Alborz mountains. (Wiki) It was Urban Tree of the Year in 2014.

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Robin Lane Box

Robin Lane Fox’s latest column in FTWeekend is required reading if you live in the UK and cherish your box. RLF gave his son box plants for his garden in west London and in August this year Cydalima perspectalis did not decimate them, it 100%ed them when he was away on holiday with his family… Continue reading Robin Lane Box