THE FAMOUS naturalist and broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough opened the Thameside Nature Park on Saturday.
Sir David brushed off the inclement weather to lavish praise on the 120 acre wildlife site calling it “remarkable transformation”
The site rests on a thick bed of rubbish and domestic waste and has piled up to form layers that are 30m thick.
Sir David said: “We live in a crowded country and need to respect its limits to sustain us. Change like this must become the norm.”
This point was underlined by John Hall, chief executive of Essex Wildlife Trust, which has played a key role in turning the giant rubbish dump into a wildlife refuge. “This was an old gravel pit and once excavations were finished it was used as a vast dump for London’s domestic rubbish,” he said. “Every day, barges of the stuff were brought up the Thames and dumped. The only wildlife we had were gulls – thousands of them. They used to go through the rubbish for food. They would drag waste out then spread it round the area. Local people would find they had dropped rotting chicken bones in their garden.”
Shame it was an ticket only advent.
I’d be happy enough to be able to view the video ! “An error occurred ….”
Lovely video! A shame it was not advertised locally as I would have loved to have gone. AFAIK only those who made a donation to the park were invited to apply for tickets, which is fair enough, but why oh why was it so badly advertised, I knew nothing about it.
Good to see the video is now viewable. Shame about the ratio though !