Hackney Troubles – National Crisis – International Criminals

There is a lot of confusion about why people across London and the UK should suddenly run amok looting and setting fire to things. Naturally there is a lot of reactionary garbage in the media desperately trying to portray it as mindless violence, calling for more State…

Abney Park Nature Reserve

Veteran Tree Project

Abney Park Cemetery Nature Reserve

Abney Park Cemetery was a visionary, Victorian masterpiece. In 1840 a new non-denominational garden cemetery was created in Stoke Newington. It also been planted as a world class arboretum with 2,500…

Read it, weep and then read what you can do.

Since my complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman in January - about…

Thanks to a political decision to privatise Hackney's only remaining public tree gang, today one of the most experienced tree surgeon's in London leaves the council. Tree Gang Mark – even if I knew his surname I wouldn't print it in respect for the privacy of a quiet, unassuming family man, - leaves today after over 30 years caring for trees in North London (nearly 20 years in Hackney). That kind of experience and commitment is irreplaceable but Mark and his team have…

To whom do we give thanks?

Where do we pay our respects to the life force that sustains us on this planet? We are so ignorant we do not even begin to have an answer to these most fundamental of questions.

Drowning in an ideology of ignorance in a post-thinking age, like it or not we are still totally dependant upon the benevolence of ancient forces we have forgotten to respect or even notice.

Returning to some form of sanity…

The wonderful Dove Tree (Davidia involucrata) in Kynaston Gardens is in flower at the moment.  This tree is from China where it is endangered in the wild.

It has the most amazing flowers with big balls of anthers beneath huge white bracts. 

Each ball also has a small stigma hidden between the ball and the bract.  Presumably this is 'designed' for pollination by a Chinese insect, perhaps a bee.…

Adela reaumurella - male

These amazing looking little moths are part of a group of micro moths called longhorns (for obvious reasons).  They can currently be found flapping around trees and shrubs in Abney on warm days.

The larvae feed on dead oak leaves.

For a full list of species recorded in Hackney see the most recent list produced…