Wild spaces: protecting Hackney nature

Middlesex Filter Beds in the east of the borough. Photo: Tim Sullivan

When it comes to local wildlife, Hackney’s accolades are many and impressive. With 40 per cent of its land made up of green areas, 24 sites of importance for nature conservation and at least 30 protected species within its borders, Hackney can hold its environmentally minded head high.

Yet, despite the best efforts of local campaigners, environmentalists and the council, one crucial misconception perpetuates in Hackney and beyond. And it threatens to snuff out the long-term chances of survival for local wildlife. The notion that urban wildlife will thrive best in pleasant, man-made green space. The reality, it turns out, is rather different.

According to experts such as Tim Webb from RSPB London, the areas we view as most green are in some cases far from ideal habitats for many creatures.

“One of the big problems we’ve had in greater London generally is that habitats have been very well looked after and maintained for people,” he said. “By which I mean the grass is cut short, the hedges are all trimmed. It all looks very pretty but it’s a bit barren as far as wildlife is concerned.”

Our fondness of well-kept parks and open green spaces is based on ideologies from as far back as the end of the 19th century. Neat, domesticated country landscapes were seen as the ideal, while areas of unruly wilderness were to be avoided. As Deborah Kleese observes in her article ‘Contested Natures: Wolves in Late Modernity’, this attitude also had religious undertones.

“The pastoral landscape was the literal representation of the biblical Garden of Eden,” she explained. “Its antithesis, and the ethical equivalent of evil, was wilderness. Hence, the conquering of wilderness and all things wild took on moral as well as practical significance.

“Although…park animals were protected…scenery, and then natural and historic objects, superseded wildlife as the major values and attractions of the parks.”

This attitude lingered on well into the twentieth century, when local authorities began to protect wildlife against predators in local parks simply to preserve their own view of what a healthy green space should look like.

Almost a century later, local authorities have arguably moved on from this blinkered attitude, but there remains a certain level of general ignorance regarding what is best for local wildlife.

Hackney’s reputation for ecological richness stems principally from the wealth of green areas to be found in the borough. But primarily these are designed for people, according to Mark Pearson from Hackney Wildlife.

“It’s often rolled out that Hackney is a very green borough, with lots of parks, but the majority of the parks are really kind of wildlife deserts because their priority is for community usage,” he said.

“This normally equals amenity grassland and no areas of scrub or real shrubbery, apart from ornamental things or standing trees, which have a very limited value.”

Similarly, displaying birds and animals in captivity in places such as Clissold Park’s aviary, is praise-worthy for its ethos of promoting education but is no substitute for allowing birds to breed and flourish out of captivity.

“It’s nicer from my point of view to have wildlife where it belongs out in the world and to see it that way,” admitted RSPB London’s Webb. “That would be my preferred option, but it’s not always possible for people to get to see a lot of wildlife that way.”

Pearson goes further, arguing that having birds in captivity sends the wrong message to those learning about the natural world. “My personal opinion is that any animals in captivity for human pleasure really gives people a very distorted impression of wildlife,” he argues.

In response, park rangers are doing their best to ensure that parks are not simply people-friendly playgrounds – but this is a daunting prospect.

“They are maintaining and enhancing the parks for wildlife and for people which is a difficult balancing act,” said Webb. “Trying to get a community space that works for people and wildlife is very hard.

“They’ve been leaving some wilder areas around the edges [of Clissold Park] which is great for wildlife, so instead of having deeply manicured public spaces, we’re learning to live a bit more with nature. This will increase the sort of habitats where you’ll get more wildlife.”

This balancing act between the needs of humans and wildlife has been more successful in some local areas than others, argued Pearson.

“Springfield Park is pretty good because it’s managed a little bit more sympathetically for wildlife, so there are areas of woodland and scrub, unlike most other Hackney parks,” he said.

But as for Hackney’s other parks: “They’re just regular generic parks really…The really important areas you can pretty much count on one hand.

“Stoke Newington Reservoirs – by far the most important wetland site in the borough – Abney Park Cemetery, Wick Woodland, Hackney Marshes – especially along the River Lea which is a fantastic site – and also Middlesex Filter Beds, which is a very small nature reserve in the south east of the borough.”

A stark example of the clash between man and nature hit the borough last summer, when twin babies were mauled by a fox which had managed to enter their room.

Reactions to the incident were swift, with calls for greater pest control and the humane destruction of a fox found in the area. Meanwhile, others such as fox welfare campaigner Barbara Read urged people not to make sweeping generalisations about foxes in urban areas.

“It was a very unfortunate incident for the children and parents to see that happen to their children, but it’s also been very unfortunate for those of us who care about foxes and are trying to get people to have a balanced view of foxes,” she pointed out.

“We should consider it a privilege to live alongside wildlife in our urban environments. Without the diversity wild animals and birds bring to our towns and cities, they would become drab sterile places that lack any sense of connectedness to the wealth of beauty in the natural world around us.”

Hackney-based photographer Stephen Gill, who captured local birds in the context of urban landscapes with his work A Book of Birds, argues that it may be better to simply step back and allow natural habitats to develop independently, rather than trying to manufacture them.

Indeed, in many cases it is the slightly overgrown, natural state of Hackney residents’ gardens that provides the perfect environment for local wildlife. Webb points out: “Because traditionally the East End has been a bit poorer, some of our back gardens are a little ramshackle. Quite a few of them are overgrown and full of holly and ivy and a lot of dense shrubs, which is great for wildlife.”

Another form of open space that provides an area for wildlife to flourish is the humble brown field site – previously developed land which then becomes derelict and unused.

“Brown field sites are really good for birds, brilliant for invertebrates, butterflies and mammals, but to the human eye people just associate them with wasteland,” Pearson said.

Such areas are either made into artificially constructed, pleasant-on-the-eyes green space, or industrialised.

Industrialisation poses one of the biggest threats to local wildlife, as newly constructed buildings fail to take the environment into consideration. Pearson said that this is an area over which the local council has little say.

“The council are relatively toothless, in the sense that they do control planning applications, but they can’t impose any legal obligations on developers,” he said.

“What I’d like to see from a personal perspective is all planners and developers forced to integrate positive wildlife gains, whether that’s swift boxes, hedgerows or small wild areas for sparrows.

“There are a lot of simple things you can do, which, if they’re integrated into the planning process would be fantastic, but [developers] are not legally obliged to do so.”

Gill notes how local wildlife has been forced to adapt to urban life, sometimes in the most ingenious of ways.

“The pigeons in Hackney seem to like KFC leftovers, which I always find a little strange, seeing the birds eating the birds covered in a secret blend of herbs,” he observes.

“City birds also seem often to have stomping grounds that get carried over from generation to generation. There are a few patches where certain birds seem to gather, for example there always seems to be a cluster of carrion crows in a south side corner of Victoria Park.

“Local birds seem to find a home in such spots and take advantage of the wonderful range of the man-made cast offs we offer them for nest-building material. Strands of plastic bags and crisp packets seem a favorite, as well as string.”

Unfortunately, some species fail to adapt to the urban lifestyle and are slowly driven out. While black backed gulls and herring gulls flourish in the borough, various species of warbler have all but vanished from Hackney, partly due to the lack of scrub in the area.

Time is critical to ensuring that Hackney does not become one of the ‘drab sterile places’ Barbara Read talks about. And it remains to be seen whether government cuts and increased pressure on local authorities to restrict spending will have a serious adverse effect on environmental work in the borough.

Fortunately for the borough’s wildlife, the local will to protect and conserve it is notoriously strong. Organisations such as the Tree Musketeers, the Hackney Wildlife Group and 21 different park user groups campaign actively for environmental responsibility and conservation in the area.

The Hackney Biodiversity Partnership, set up in spring 2009, also acts as a link between local residents and the council, which aims to preserve Hackney’s most important natural areas through the work of its resident biodiversity officer.

If enough Hackney residents support the idea of truly hospitable habitats for local wildlife, Hackney’s valuable natural heritage may be out of danger.