Ideas Board

The area surrounding the proposed Dock Branch Park is as deprived of wildlife as it is for health and wealth. The main wildlife seen and heard are Herring Gulls who scavenge in litter and household bins. Ripping into plastic bags scattering the none edible contents onto pavements and roads. Pigeons pick up scraps of thrown and discarded food. A lone Peregrine hunts the sky from the tallest waterfront building. In thick bushes Starlings chatter. Domestic cats pounce on Dunnocks and Robins while they search for insects amongst leaf liiter. Rats are in the sewers, Mice seek houses for warmth. Squirrels scamper across roads and up into trees. Bees forage on flowering weeds. Tarmac and slabs cover the majority of the ground. House gardens are small, if at all. Trees that line the roads, stunted by their isolation. What little area of grassland are kept short, only one plot of land has been given over to the management of alternating stripes of cut grass / long grass with plants whose seeds have been blown in by the wind. But that will soon be smothered due to the value of the land. There is only one truly wild area of secondary woodland that has grown up over 30 years, but this little wild oasis is threaten to be felled. Other self seeded areas of emerging woodland exist but the progress for development will undoubtedly end their days. It’s not as if wildlife is avoiding the area. If suitable habitat are allowed species will seek food and shelter. A dragonfly was been seen hawking beside the threaten woodland, Red wasps nested in a raised tree bed and grasshoppers will live on an unkempt patio. If allowed diverse wildlife would return enriching the area.