Hazel Atashroo

Book announcement: coming in May: London’s Ours! images from the Greater London Council - fourcornersbooks.co.uk/books/londons-…

Good news: our local skylark meadow, Warren Farm gets nature reserve status following a long community campaign, meaning it will be preserved for the future:

@paulpowlesland Happy birthday, what a good idea. Maybe I should prepare 40 Hazels for next month… 😂

I had to spend my 35th birthday at home, isolating with Covid, so I decided to spend the day planting 35 black poplar trees. Five’s years later & a dozen of these trees survived & they’re starting to get massive: outgrowing the local lampposts & almost ready to climb! As I turn 40 tomorrow, I decided to repeat the exercise, planting 40 trees (18 blank poplar & 22 willow). Digging into the wet, silty mud beside the river, it was hard work, but immensely satisfying to mark the passage of time & a big life transition by giving a gift to the river, and not just receiving.

"A continuous area of beautiful and natural surroundings". 12 open spaces linked by a "network of footpaths, along the riverbank, threading between golf courses and playing fields.” Luke FitzHerbert's dream for the Brent River Park became a reality 50 years ago. Let's celebrate!

I couldn’t get enough of the skies, the endless twilight, only the waves and bird calls to break the silence. What a place. Take me back already!

Today's new post - exploring London Films from the last 100 years at alondoninheritance.com

Thanks to ⁦@Feargal_Sharkey⁩ for visiting the Brent and highlighting some of our “issues”, particularly #Misconnections which are blighting London’s rivers. #swimmableby2034 according to ⁦@MayorofLondon⁩ Let’s work together to sort this out! lbc.co.uk/news/feargal-s…

@amanoutoftim Likely a peregrine? Kestrels prefer mice!

Just saw a kestrel nearly kill a pigeon behind sadlers wells... sad to see a lack of solidarity among the bird community

No responsibility taken for residential developers’ sewage misconnections for YEARS: River Brent is now a public health hazard! Who will fix it? metro.co.uk/2024/11/18/lon… via @MetroUK

Environmental disaster as housing developments flush sewage directly into rivers. mylondon.news/news/north-lon…

@girasole_l Well done! 👏

It’s that time of the year again, Ealing Wildlife Group’s annual photography exhibition and I managed to get two of my photos displayed! I’m super happy. 😁 Ealing folks, go check out the exhibition in Walpole Park. Some really great nature photos up on display! 💚

Couldn’t think of a nicer way to spend Saturday morning: scooping bits of plastic packaging, wet wipes & polystyrene out of the River Brent! A dog walker said their pet regularly swims in this effluent soup! 🫢 ☠️🦆☠️🐕

@AndrewFDMurray @christymoore45 I’d share the poster but it would be against the archive’s rules!

Back in the archive this week. Found a poster for a GLC-funded Irish cultural festival. There was a Christy Moore gig on the very day I was born. 😂

We don’t deserve swans:

@GibsonTomgibo LBC is usually a mistake. 🙉

I made the mistake of putting LBC on for my journey home from work. A frail elderly Welshman was talking in his kindly poetic accent about how we should be using the navy to push migrant boats to the French border and keep them there until they drown. Every other caller agreed.

@ThomasR20535709 @KConnellWriter Lots, I’m a spy. 😎

@Hazelaa @KConnellWriter How many other ones have you got?

Same, except swap ‘pet rescue’ for bird ringing site? I’m there in my mind already.