Local Wildlife Site

Wildlife

Shadwell Basin is a relic of the London Docks, now a water sports centre for children. To the west of the basin is Wapping Wood, a small park with naturalistic landscaping, including woodland and meadow. A series of shallow canals leads west from Shadwell Basin, passing through new developments and ending just before Hermitage Basin.Shadwell Basin has vertical sides, with little or no aquatic vegetation. Its main value is for birds. Several floating rafts provide nesting opportunities for common terns, Egyptian geese and mute swans, while sand martins nest in pipes in the dock walls. Small numbers of wintering waterfowl, including tufted ducks and great crested grebes, may swell in cold weather.A narrow strip of trees and scrub on the southern side of the basin, and several larger copses in Wapping Wood, support common breeding birds including blackcaps and goldfinches. The meadows in Wapping Wood include cornfield annuals such as cornflower, corncockle, corn chamomile and corn marigold, and meadow species such as knapweed, birdsfoot-trefoil and chicory. As the meadows mature, the annuals will gradually disappear as the grasses and perennials take over.Despite their concrete bottom and vertical sides, the canals are full of submerged aquatic plants, including large amounts of small pondweed and common stonewort, both of which are rare in London. They are also home to fish, including three-spined sticklebacks and a few large carp, and large numbers of mallards.. Rafts with native wetland vegetation have been introduced around Tobacco Dock and along Spirit Quay, the latter funded by the Mayor of London's Rewild London Fund in 2024.

Facilities

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