In 2016, Thames 21 (a charity working to improve London’s waterways) installed a 60-metre floating reed bed along the river wall by Tesco’s car park. Common reed and native flowering plants like marsh marigold and iris grow on a pontoon, creating a mini reed bed.

Reed beds were once common along the River Lea. Thames 21 wants to re-create these habitats because they have multiple benefits: creating homes for invertebrates and wildfowl, providing hiding places for fish to spawn, and even helping to clean up pollution.

Since 2016 Thames 21 has installed thousands of square metres of floating reed bed along the Lea, including 11 sites along the Limehouse Cut (just west of here). They work with the community to plant and maintain them, greening up this former industrial area.

Keep an eye out for dragonflies, damselflies, swans, coots and moorhens. There may be carp sheltering under the pontoon and if you are lucky, you might even spot a heron or kingfisher.