Bridging Green and Blue Spaces in Harlesden: Nature Walk with The Canal and River Trust
At first glance, concrete seems to dominate over everything at Willesden Junction in West London, with buildings and rail development projects seemingly sprouting in every direction. However, you only need to venture further into Harlesden and Park Royal to see this is far from the full picture: green and blue spaces, many of them maintained and stewarded by community-based initiatives and projects, are abound and constitute important wildlife corridors in the area. Energy Garden’s community garden at Willesden Junction Station is one of such spaces, and it lives in great company: the Nature Connection Centre at Roundwood Park, the Longstone Avenue Open Space orchard and Harlesden Town Garden, to name a few. Traversing the area is of course the Grand Union Canal, well known to locals as a blue avenue stretching from Paddington all the way to Birmingham, and a place for relaxing walks and cycles.
During August we teamed up with the Canal and Rivers Trust to do a community nature walk where we explored some of the plant and animal species that can be found across the blue and green spaces in Harlesden. We followed a route starting at the Grand Union Canal near Harlesden Underground Station and ended at Willesden Junction Station Energy Garden. This was a chance for us to collectively explore some of those beings we share the city with but can easily fail to name and acknowledge.
If you’ve ever walked with a nature-lover, you’ll be familiar with the stalled rhythm of a mere stroll: stop > stare > identify species > gush over the species > walk > repeat.
In this sense nature walks are not for the impatient kind; they’re an invitation to wonder at the small things and find the extraordinary in the ordinary. It’s easy to lose our sense of wonder towards the places we visit every day, but these easy and accessible walks are a lovely reminder of how quickly we can regain it by simply slowing down and taking the time to approach the everyday with curiosity. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself like we did: crouching over a green patch, unphased by the rain and busy commuters.
In the slim spaces between the water and the Canal path, we found as many as 6 plant species growing together. Among the neighbours we recognised along the way were Ribwort plantain, Red clover, Common Toadflax, Marsh Woundwort, Common Skullcap and Wall Speedwell. We also saw the charismatic Coots and Moorhens that swim and nest along the Canal.
The sun made an appearance upon our arrival at Willesden Junction Energy Garden, where we found some Pink Corydalines and an Olive Tree by the station bins (as you do), which we of course gave a new home in the garden. We ended the afternoon creating Cyanotype Prints – a camera-less photography technique where you make a photo by exposing paper exposed to chemicals to sunlight. Kew Gardens has a great page explaining the process, which you can easily do at home – if the UK sun collaborates. Cyanotype printmaking is a great chance to explore the shapes and textures of different plants and to simply create a beautiful print, which we took home along with a refreshed perspective of this area and its inhabitants.
Keep your eye out for more of these walks in our Events page !
– Juan Pablo