Local resident's letter to The Barking and Dagenham Post - Padnall Lake wildlife threatened
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| Padnall Lake Jan 2021 -Profalondres Instagram |
If you don’t have a garden, one of the best places in the borough to enjoy outdoors is Padnall Lake. Every borough has a small local park.
This is not an RSPB reserve, it is right on my doorstep north of the borough along the A12 near the Marks Gate estate.
The initial vision at the heart of the project when it was created was for “people and nature to come together enhancing the quality of open space available to the wider community”.
We may be stuck indoors at the moment but we are still allowed to exercise within our local area where we can go cycling, running or walking.
All this can still be done around Padnall Lake.
There is genuine wildlife drama unfolding around Padnall Lake. Once around the lake you can look up to the sky and the trees as well as the water and it is truly a source of ornithological wonder.
The small island on the lake provides ground nesting birds a good spot away from foxes. It is a much needed sanctuary for wildlife.
On my daily walk I always see many Canadian geese, ducks, coots, seagulls, moorhens and swans but I have had the opportunity to see cormorants and herons.
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| Swan Padnall Lake Island Profalondres |
There is also a myriad of smaller birds around like pigeons, magpies, blackbirds, crows, sparrows, starlings, great tits and also robins.
But today I saw, for the very first time, a kingfisher. I was very excited by this sighting and felt privileged to have access to this secluded spot right on my doorstep.
A lot has been done to improve the environment as well as increase habitat diversity.
But my excitement was short-lived when I looked at the green space along the A12 and saw the fences that have been put up to start the new housing development.
This motivated me to write this letter.
In a very near future our local haven will not boast of songbirds, Marks Gate residents will not be able to put their binoculars or cameras to good use. The wildlife is under threat.
Soon their habitat will be reduced due to the housing development planned on the green space along the A12. It is not just the fauna which is at risk but the flora too.
The Orchard Project has listed many trees (apples, pears and plums) and most of them are over 80 years old.
Unfortunately, when this housing development goes ahead, it will greatly reduce the amount of green and open space available to local residents.
I thought the borough considered green open spaces “priority areas” as stated in the borough local plan but it seems to have definitely lost its raison d’être.