In the heart of East London, on a World War II bomb site, sits a small nature reserve brought to life by a diversity of plants, animals, fungi, and dedicated staff and volunteers passionate about ecological and community health – Bethnal Green Nature Reserve (BGNR).
Two years ago, BGNR created a new food growing space over the road in partnership with the Hollybush & Teesdale Tenants and Residence Association. The project was awarded Grow Wild funding to create wildlife habitats in the new space, highlighting the importance of biodiversity for food growing and developing a wilder space for people to enjoy.
Staff and volunteers planted a 65m hedgerow with 321 trees of 30 different native species, so that nearly all-year round a plant will be producing nectar, pollen, fruits or leaves for a range of invertebrates, birds and mammals to eat. They also created a new clay pond and recorded their progress to share with others.
A wetland home for wildlife
The idea behind BGNR's new pond was to provide a habitat for the growing population of newts and water invertebrates from the next-door reserve, and the frog population living in a neighbour’s garden. Bringing frogs into the food growing area helps control slugs and other insects that may eat the growers’ crops. The group filled the pond with native aquatic and wetland plants to provide additional opportunities for biodiversity to thrive. Soil leftover from the dug pond was used to make a wildflower mound and planted with drought tolerant native species.
Mistle thrushes, grey wagtails, wrens and robins have all been spotted when previously we only saw pigeons.
'An abundance of pollinators have visited the wildflowers,' says Ed from BGNR, 'and bees have been collecting mud from the pond. We've also seen dragonflies and numerous beetles that we have not seen here before. Mistle thrushes, grey wagtails, wrens and robins have all been spotted when previously we only saw pigeons. [...]
‘The space is now used by numerous people every day, not only attending their growing beds but spending time to relax and admire the space. People on the street stop to look inside too.'
Why choose a clay pond?
Clay is a natural material that can be used to make a pond. It can be ‘puddled’ into a consistency where it will hold water on its surface, as effectively as a plastic liner or fibreglass pond.
'We chose clay as the pond-lining material because we wanted to avoid adding more plastic to the soil', says Ed. 'A clay pond, when it eventually reaches the end of its life, will leave no harmful trace behind.
'We were also curious to experiment with clay because it’s a traditional pond-building material, but there is surprisingly little practical information easily available on how to make a small-scale clay pond. By documenting our process, we hope to encourage others to consider clay as a sustainable, low-impact alternative to plastic lined ponds.'
By documenting our process, we hope to encourage others to consider clay as a sustainable, low-impact alternative to plastic lined ponds.
How to make a clay pond
Bethnal Green Nature Reserve documented in detail the process of making a clay pond and created a free resource to help others who are making a pond. You can read the full resource at the link below:
More from Grow Wild
