Essex Filter Beds
The Essex Filter Beds provide an important refuge and feeding area for birds. Although many of the beds have been completely in filled by Thames Water, substantial areas of open water are still present in those remaining. Reedmace and willow are becoming established in some parts. Other aquatic plants include hemlock water dropwort, common water-crowfoot and short-legged water crowfoot, which is rare in London.
The shallow water and invertebrate-rich mud provide excellent habitat for waders and wildfowl. The array of species includes golden eye, common sandpiper, cormorant and heron. Little-ringed plovers and lapwings breed here. Wintering snipe, kingfishers, grey and yellow wagtails and sand martins are other visitors to the open water. Large numbers of house martins and swifts are present in the summer. On a platform across one of the beds, developing birch and willow scrub provides shelter and nesting sites for passerine birds.
One of the most successful trees to colonise the Essex Filter Beds is the willow. Willow trunk cut to about 100 mm above ground level is called coppicing. Sometimes willow is shortened to about 2 meters high, which is known as pollarding. When they grow back, the new branches are long and straight. Branches cut from these trees are harvested to make a variety of things, including baskets and hurdles for fences. Coppicing and pollarding the willow trees also provides habitats for many plants, insects, birds and mammals.
The maintenance of the site’s ecological importance clearly depends upon the preservation of all present habitats. The Lee Valley Regional Park Authority has acquired the Essex Filter Beds. Without sympathetic management to environmental needs there will be a reduction in the habitat’s diversity. Controlling the water levels of the various beds must be a major part of any adopted strategy.
07.09.03 - Lea Bridge Conservation Volunteers clear site of reedmace and reed grass