Canal restoration and Silk Stream litter blitz
Canal on the east marsh, 1984
Two initiatives launch at Brent Reservoir this month - canal restoration on the east marsh led by a new era of volunteers at Welsh Harp Conservation Group, and a floating litter blitz on the Silk Stream near the north marsh, led by the vibrant Friends of the Welsh Harp. Cool Oak applauds both campaigns.
In the 1980s, Welsh Harp Conservation Group was the primary eco-campaigner fighting for Brent Reservoir. The group orchestrated the last major re-landscaping of the wetlands. A massive project of pools, lagoons, canals, scrapes and backwaters were built with public money on both the north and east marshes, creating a mosaic of habitats to support a rich variety of wildlife and plants - many protected under the reservoir’s SSSI citation. Founding member Leo Batten tells the story of how the wetlands were reprofiled here.
Sadly, over the ensuing decades council funding for maintenance of the wetlands and support for the group began to dry up, and many areas were simply left to recolonise. Dominant and invasive plant species broke up the fragile ecosystems, silt from the inflowing Brent and Silk Stream began clogging the deltas and pools, and fewer protected species could gain a foothold to breed and re-seed.
Canal restoration, 2023
Scroll forward forty years to today, and a new generation of members is beginning to restore areas of the wetlands by hand. This month volunteers from the group, cleared the east marsh canal of self-seeded willow, and will replant the banks with new flora. These simple tasks will allow light back in, and encourage a new mix of biodiversity and habitat.
Yes, more money from owner Canal and River Trust would speed up works like this. Amphibious excavators, more manpower and a regular timetable of statutory stewardship would make a huge difference, but in the absence of funded maintenance, volunteers are taking matters into their own hands and stepping in.
Silk Stream, 2023
Meanwhile, at the northern end of the site, the breeding and feeding grounds of the north marsh remain threatened by this flotilla of trapped debris just 100m upstream on the inflowing Silk Stream. In spite of two years of site visits and promises, neither owner Canal and River Trust nor the Environment Agency have committed to clear the area.
In response, the ever-active Friends of the Welsh Harp have teamed up with other local volunteer groups including CURB and Friends of the Silk Stream for a massive floating-litter clean-up on Sunday Feb 26. Sign up if you’d like to help.
Cool Oak acknowledges that - under pressure from campaigners - the three owners of Brent Reservoir commissioned a major joint report in 2021 that will outline a new vision for the reservoir’s future. Many of us are hoping this will lead to significant funding and transformative change, that will address many areas including recreational improvements, wetland restoration and plastic pollution. Yet its publication is still plagued by administrative delays, and ongoing basic management continues to remain largely unfunded and overlooked.
If you’d like to get involved in volunteer initiatives like the canal restoration and litter blitz and help fill this conservation gap, drop us a line.
It can be a restorative couple of hours among nice people in one of London’s greatest green spaces and oldest SSSIs.