Spare Time

The narrow, winding canals of East London have been the dumping ground for London’s sewage since the nineteenth century. The canals were originally built to allow barges to have access to the area’s factories, which have also polluted the waters for centuries.

Nevertheless, today the canals are teeming with wildlife. With the decline of heavy industry, they have become more nature-friendly, attracting birds such as mallards and moorhens, and a variety of reeds.

Kingfishers are rarely seen

The water quality has improved so much that rare kingfishers can even be spotted perching on low branches or hovering over the water’s surface.

I took a boat trip with Leela O’Dea, an ecologist who works for British Waterways. We spotted baby coots in nests on the canals between Limehouse Cut and Bow creek in Tower Hamlets.

Leela told me that, "The birds have been hatching a couple of weeks early because of the weather."

More surprisingly, we found that the coots have been using litter that people have dropped in the canals to build their nests. Although litter damages the water quality and deters wildlife, a small number of crisp packets and sweet wrappers have helped birds to make waterproof homes for their newborn chicks.

To watch the video report about nature on East London’s canals click on the link at the top right of this page.

angela.saini@bbc.co.uk