The season's winter work began in earnest this weekend with dedicated environmental do gooders doing good in Wick Wood and on Hackney Downs. On Sat a hard core of HMUG veterans built a stylish 'S' shaped 50m dead hedge in a clearing in the woods. Plenty more sustainable housing for wood mice, wrens, mini beasts and fungi. A lovely mild sunny morning made the work much more like play. Then today TMs were out on the Downs planting hornbeam and native black poplars and filling in gaps in a…

A ugly picture is beginning to emerge of what the LDA (London Development Authority) are planning as 'legacy' in the so called post-Olympic 'park'. Neo-con insanity necessitates the inevitability of yet another property development scam but on Monday (9/11) I discovered a detail that helps bring it all into perspective. In making various calculations about where to site wind turbines the busy Olympics brains have worked out that the NW corner of East Marsh is the only possible place,…

Thanks to a very poorly attended consultation event at the Town Hall this evening (9 members of the public) I think I now understand why East Marsh was chosen as the location for the 2nd Olympic turbine (another is to be built at Eton Manor in Waltham Forest). Evidently 'our' turbine will not be operational before Nov 2013, too late for the Olympics; but it must be within the Olympic site to satisfy a planning condition for Olympic legacy renewable energy. East Marsh is deemed to be…

One of the many issues not discussed in the Hackney Pravda advert for an Olympics wind turbine on East Marsh is why the turbine is not on the Olympics site. It is an Olympics project, i.e. ODA (Olympics Delivery Authority). The primary reason for building it is to create the illusion that the 2012 games will be Green and to help meet the 25% renewables condition of the IOC (Int. Olym Cmte) award. Rather than debate whether a turbine on East Marsh is a good or bad idea we should be…

I spend many hours hiding in Abney Park's woodland and when there this summer had a wonderful encounter with a butterfly. I watched as a Holly Blue fluttered around a muddy patch on the path one hot day. I wondered if it was thirsty and looking for water. Taking out my water bottle I sprinkled some water on the path. My friend came and went and came and went. A short while later it came again and instead of going to the water on the path it sat on top my water bottle! We then spent…

South Millfields maintenance Sunday 30th August 2009 Seven TMs spent the afternoon maintaining South Millfields arboretum. We weeded inside the guards, removed tight tree-ties, re-fixed and straightened loose and damaged guards, crown-raised some trees with damaged or vulnerable lower branches (so that they will now grow to be 'standards') and installed name labels to replace and supplement the original labels - many of which were damaged or absent. One species, a Chestnut-leaved Oak…

Last Saturday I attended a very small gathering to commemorate one aspect of Hackney's rich tradition of radicalism. Dignitaries including Diane Abbott MP and Hackney Council Speaker Councillor Muttalip Ünlüer were on Stoke Newington Common to unveil a plaque in memory of all those who campaigned to end enslavement in the 19th century. A cedar tree was planted in…

Aside from the orgy of residential development grabbing land and destroying trees in Hackney there is now a huge rush to build sports facilities over large areas of park land including SINC (Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation) land of ecological significance.

Proposed Developments

Hackney Marshes - large sports building on south of mainb marsh, sports hub on north of main marsh, 3 cricket ptiches on main marhs (destroying Hackney'smost valauble meadow and…