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Save the Lea Marshes.

29 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by The tuesday swim in The Lea Valley

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

east, hackney, lea, leyton, london, marsh, marshes, natural, nature, parks, reserve, save, valley

In a time when we need to be resourceful, thoughtful towards our neighbours, the Lea marshes are proving to be an immensely important place for the people of East London. Right now we need space, air, and nature as an antidote to what is going on with the pandemic. In layman terms the marshes are perfect, we don’t need music festivals, car parks, bigger ice rinks, we simply need the space with a little amount of unobtrusive management to support the local community.

I shot this film over the last few years with a mix of hand-held cameras as I spent time on the marshes, fishing and walking.

Bloodline.

05 Tuesday Mar 2019

Posted by The tuesday swim in Carp, The Lea Valley

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

anglers, canal, carp, clapton, common, cut, fishing, hackney, history, lea, lee, london, navigation, postcard, river

I am drawn to the bike’s simple engineering, uncomplicated, it’s silent gears take me from east London along  the Lea Navigation and out into the open space of the old flood plains that still line the Navigation. I know the Lea from Broxbourne to its exit into the Thames at Leamouth, it harbours a familiarity that offers me comfort, a place that I have known for thirty years. Certain stretches have been altered, the Bow Back Waters were mainly filled in for the 2012 Olympics but this artery from Hertfordshire flows true to itself since the natural river was made navigable over two hundred and fifty years ago. It is a complex network of old river, navigation, flood relief channels and tributaries, but this is still very much a river that is alive, the constant cruisers have brought a new vibrancy to the place and  it has become a playground for modern  London, re-vamped pubs, new-builds, joggers, cyclists, canoeists, dog walkers, birdwatchers and young families have contributed to the rivers new found personality. Only twenty years ago I could fish many stretches of the canal for hours and not meet a soul, today things have changed.

When I ride I leave early while the tow path is quiet, as the canal opens up past Ponders End by the King George Reservoirs the wind often intensifies here on Rammey Marsh, the metropolis is on my back as it gets blown to the horizon. At Pike Pool by Enfield Lock I turn right and leave the Cut and take a tributary more akin to a Hampshire chalk stream. It’s late February, the river looks alive, streamer weed still hangs on from last summer in the middle flow, blossom and birdsong is starting to show, despite the cold start spring has come early this year. The river looks very inviting to the angler, today I see two fishermen but they are not the usual aimless lure anglers but float anglers carefully running floats down the inside crease, as I cycle past I hear their conversation, like their fishing it is more focused, their voices clipped, I want to ask how they are getting on, but on this occasion I restrain myself, instead I wish them “good morning” and cycle on. Soon after I leave the river, cross a nature reserve  and head to the hills of Epping forest. Lungs burst as I take on Mott Street until I reach the comforting sight of Holy Innocents Church at High Beech and the thickly wooden lanes of heavy oak and beech that meander on a level that leaves the heart a chance to recover.

The temperature is still cold, the sky is cloudless, vapour pours from my lips, I am reminded how important the changing seasons are to me, just seven months  ago I was on the Lower Lea, then it was hot, the air was thick with the scent of summer. I was fishing with Tony, we had met at the pub for a quick afternoon pint, I was tempted to have another but Tony was eager to go and  fish. I had recently discovered a new swim, it was tricky to get to but once in place we were hidden from any passers by and any annoying questions, the same questions that I refrained from asking the two float anglers. Tucked away in our hide out, the sun battered down all around us but under the tree and next to the flowing water it was cool. I had not fished this swim before I had often seen carp patrolling, moving out from this deep trench into a more familiar swim where I had previously caught carp. I was quietly confident that this was an timeworn route, as familiar to the carp as the trodden paths taken by the old drovers on Hackney Marsh and beyond.

With ours rods out we settled into the swim, as I turned to speak with Tony I saw from the corner of my eye my rod tip bounce down, then again, I struck and felt a heavy weight heading out and into the full flow of the Lea. Ten minutes later I was cradling a carp like a new-born baby,  near to twenty pounds in weight. It’s a hard thing to explain, perhaps it’s an feeling only anglers experience, but catching these old creatures somehow warrants a close affiliation to the place, each time I catch one of these carp, my relationship with the Lea becomes more intimate.

From Epping Forest I re-join the canal, it’s still early but people are starting to embrace the day, cat-ice still covers the canal. Once again I think back to that warm July day, I think of the other anglers who have fished the Lea in the past, anglers leaving the east-end and disembarking at Lea Bridge, Ponders End or Enfield, rural outposts from the stink of the city. I picture them lined up along the tow path perched on their creels, puffs of smoke rise as they gaze out and onto the canal and dream. I try to re-capture their thoughts now decades old, buried deep into the silt of the Lea.

As my ride comes to a conclusion I pull off the canal at the scene from a postcard I found in a local market, in the background there is a house now raised to the ground and replaced with a electric power sub station. The rest of the landscape remains familiar, the Lea runs strong, a bloodline from the heart of the city to the wheat fields of Hertfordshire. Written on the postcard it says ‘don’t you think this is a pretty river, it puts me in mind of the Guilford scenery rather  than that of a London suburb…’

 

Caught in a spell.

17 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by The tuesday swim in Carp

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

carp, fishing, hackney, lea, london, moon, new, phases, river

An email arrived from Dexter Petley last Monday, the email began ‘hope the new moon is still working for you. It’s the only time I bother now, especially on these big lakes.  I blank for 28 days every month, then get three runs at once on new moons.’

I have not kept an eye on the moon phases for a while, normally they are in my psyche, a glance to the heavens re-align my monthly cycle but recently I’ve been distracted, the hot weather doesn’t help although I love the current heatwave, early mornings are fine, still and cool, but as the temperature rises I loose focus, days are drawn out, they slow and I meander:

A few days after Dexter’s email there was a new moon, an opportune moment to cast a line on my local River Lea for an hour or two before the sun takes too high, I wanted to see if the carp were once again under a spell? On two occasions (once with Dexter) the carp responded freely under such conditions, almost instantly, somehow the moon made carp fishing easy, as if that was possible? It was 9.15am when I arrived by the river, I watched a favourite spot for a while, although I sat in the shade I could feel the heat, this was a summer to remember and I wanted a new moon carp to grace my net just like the previous year and the year before that. Normally I can see cruising carp as they move from deeper, cooler water into the shallows, I was hoping they had their tails high in the water levitated by moonbeams as they sifted through the silt. After thirty minutes, nothing, no carp stirred,  the spell had  not been cast on these river monsters, I didn’t wet a line. As the heat intensified I decided to take a wander, perhaps they were holding out further down river. The path by the Lea was dabbled in shade and light, the heat was still building, only the river flow and the high branches showed any signs of movement, everything else was still, caught in the spell of high summer, alas the carp were nowhere to be seen.

August on the Lea.

06 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by The tuesday swim in The Lea Valley

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

august, bird, hackney, kestrel, lea, lower, marshes, prey, restocking, river

Of all of the months in the year, August is probably my least favourite month to fish. By August the rivers are low and I’m in a perpetual state of apathy, my mind is wandering towards September and October. With summer stalking for carp pretty much over (even the carp seem to get lazy in August?) I spend more time just watching. Yesterday the Old River Lea in Hackney looked at its finest with gin clear water running through the sun dappled trees and above I could hear a bird of prey, most likely a kestrel.

It makes me wonder that a small silver fish stocking programme would really make this river complete again and encourage the Lea fishermen of old back to some familiar haunts and show their grandchildren how to fish. With next to no tidal variation on this stretch, platforms could be built on the harder to reach swims while low banked runs like the stretch below would be the perfect place to nurture a new passion for angling. With the nearby Middlesex Filter Beds now flooded, this whole area is really becoming an interesting area for conservation and the natural world.

IMG_2472 IMG_2470 IMG_2469

A firecrest on the Lea

20 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by The tuesday swim in The Lea Valley

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Tags

beds, bird, british, filter, firecrest, hackney, lea, middlesex, rare, river

After a crisp cold start this morning I finally managed to get out for a walk in the afternoon with my daughter over the Leyton Marshes. Once on the Lea at the Middlesex Filter Beds I spotted a rare bird, a firecrest skipping from branch to branch just ten feet away on the banks of the river Lea. I’m afraid even the capabilities of the IPhone could not record this tiny bird but dutifully I managed to record the walk. Winter is fast becoming my favourite season.





The ‘lesser’ storm of 2013

28 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by The tuesday swim in The Lea Valley

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Tags

2013, flood, hackney, lea, lower, marshes, storm

After the gale force winds earlier this morning, the Lower Lea took on the colour and pace that resembled the middle stretches of Wye in January. I was quite surprised to find that by the afternoon most of the fallen trees had been moved off the main paths around the Hackney Marshes, some of these trees were quite sizeable. This efficiency from Hackney council is akin to my own dear father who at the age of 82 was repairing his own fallen fence as the tail of the storm was still passing by at eleven o’clock this morning!

Along the Lea a few fallen trees were exposed and shattered, a recent reminder of their sudden and violent demise, while giants still stand alone on the Marsh undeterred by the passing storm.







Stuff!

19 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by The tuesday swim in General

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Tags

cinema, experiments, floating, hackney, household, knowledge, london, public, works

lure-box-header.jpg

The problem is we have too much stuff and when we buy new stuff it is packaged in more stuff. As we run out of space we either rent some space to store it in or we throw it out. Sometimes it gets re-cycled or better still it is re-used and passed on. A generation or two back the passing on of stuff or re-making something was an everyday event…not now or very rarely. So what is the problem with stuff? Well it takes energy to produce, transport and ultimately get rid of and that includes re-cycling.

So why is the Tuesday Swim wittering on about green issues? Well this morning I had   meeting with Andreas at Public Works who is putting together a one day event on the Floating Cinema called Experiments in Household Knowledge, and it got me thinking. Firstly I was thinking about my own personal consumption of stuff and my prime pastime of angling. Well the good news is the majority of my tackle was produce before 1975 so I guess that ticks the re-use box, a lot of my bait comes comes from the wormery/composter in the garden and I generally walk to my fishing spots along the Lea. I won’t kid you though as many miles are spent driving throughout the year for good fishing, it’s not easy being green.

Anyhow this weekend there is Experiments in Household Knowledge which showcases people who have a passion for producing something from nature in our hedgerows or supermarket skips or re-working something from discarded stuff. There is also three short films about people who craft things with their own self-taught knowledge. One problem we now have is technology, its beyond our understanding, the art of fixing and repairing is fast becoming lost.

So this weekend is an important event on the Lea Navigation in Hackney Wick, to see folk that can make things, adapt and re-use. Why is it important? Communities in the future will have to become more self-suficient, not in a Tom and Barbara Good manner but more where local authorities draw in the community to be responsible and pro-active.

To begin with, one will have to make a cricket ball using paper-mache and rubber bands….knowledge is power!

Horse & Groom Fishery, Lea Bridge.

25 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by The tuesday swim in The Lea Valley

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Tags

anglers, angling, bridge, fishing, groom, hackney, horse, house, lea, pub, river, road, station, victorian, White

the horse and groom public house Lea Bridge

Back in the day when ‘snatching’ or ‘dragging’ for salmon on the Lea was forbidden from the last day of February to the start of November, the Horse and Groom Fishery was one of the best fishing stations to join, if one was to angle. Mr Teale, the landlord of the Horse and Groom charged the sum of ten shillings and sixpence for the annual subscription or a shilling for the day. At that time the Lea was quite remote for anglers to visit, so taking a stage-coach via Clapton or Walthamstow and disembarking at the Lea Bridge was the main option to get to the river. Crystal clear water would flow over shallow gravel runs perfect for monster barbel to congregate, while views could be enjoyed across the Hackney and Walthamstow marshes and beyond toward Epping Forest. These were good times for the River Lea, before any urbanisation had set in from the near by encroaching villages. Thereafter the river slowly became polluted by domestic and small industrial waste. By the late nineteenth century the Lea was heavily polluted and fish stocks decimated. Thankfully now the river is recovering especially after a big clean up operation for the Olympics in 2012 which has stopped any sewage entering the Lea Navigation at Tottenham and getting washed down into the natural river at Lea Bridge.  The marshes still exist today although reduced in size and drained of its water so that locals can enjoy the open space for football, cricket, or the various nature reserves that are dotted around this area. The natural Lea still has a personality that can be recognised from a book written over 150 years ago, the  ‘Anglers Guide to the Horse & Groom’, although the abundance of fish species have diminished.

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The Lower Lea – A neglected river & her anglers.

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by The tuesday swim in The Lea Valley

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

anglers, angling, carp, east, fishing, hackney, lea, lee, london, lower, river

Since June 16th I’ve not been out fishing due to all sorts of things getting in the way, but I have managed to spend some time observing the Lower Lea, my disguise is my daughters pram and a pair of Polaroids, laden below the perambulator are some free bait offerings and a catapult just in case I come across some feeding carp.  The Lea around Hackney doesn’t really get fished that much although I have seen a few regulars all fishing for a different quarry. It is now mid July and we are having a proper heatwave, the river is running clear and the fish are probably only biting at dawn and dusk or in the night.

IMG_1009

You may ask why am I pointing out these anglers to you on a fairly average stretch of river? Well, the Lower Lea is not an easy place to fish, with past pollution outbreaks and now a dominant presence of the cormorant, the poor old fish population has suffered but there are plenty of above average fish still in the Lower Lea, I know because I have seen them and on the odd occasion caught them. To be a Lower Lea angler you have to be resourceful, banks are over grown and the fish are hiding below the over hanging branches and under-cut banks from the ever-present cormorant. Getting to a swim can be quite demanding although now in mid July long dry trodden grass reveals the routes taken by anglers to the rivers edge. Once a swim is cleared of the Giant Hogweed and the burning blisters subdued, a session on the river can commence, as I said the Lower Lea angler is no ordinary piscator, he has to take his fishing just a little further.

IMG_1011

The rover…

A frequent visitor is the quintessential rover searching for perch and pike, armed with a rucksack, short spinning rod and a few soft and hard lures, he does quite well, I’ve seen some photos of his catches, including a huge perch of 3lbs plus. I’ve seen him walking a good stretch of the river and canal covering a good few miles each time while I dart between glides on a mountain bike, a simple approach but with results.

IMG_1007

The specimen hunter…

This chap reeks of the Jim Gibbinson era with his camouflage jacket, aviator Polaroids and shoulder length hair, he starts fishing at around midnight, no bivvie for him just a thick jumper and the shelter of a overhanging bush. I came across this guy one morning tucked away oblivious to many a dog walker as he sat in wait for one of the huge carp that cruise by in the streamer weed. He told me of monster bream he had caught that night, up to 10 lbs! I’m used to listening to anglers tales of monsters but this guy sounded ok to me, his approach and knowledge of the river seemed pretty sound and his captures matched with my own observations of where the big carp and bream lie.

IMG_1006

The fly-fisher

On the better dressed side of angling I came across an angler sporting a pair of waders and a red beard in search of chub or possibly an elusive London brownie. After climbing down the side of a broken wall he was seen wading out into the head of a weir casting up into some faster flowing water. I told him of some chub further down and he soon departed and disappeared through the tall grass.  A spirited challenge I thought as I moved on pushing the pram.

IMG_1012The Lower Lea has a fascination, quite different from the Walton days and the three hundred years of industrial abuse it has endured afterwards, now I feel that this short stretch of river has reclaimed a sense of being natural again, wild and left to its own. Dog walkers, joggers and pram pushers all pass by, oblivious to the nature and the anglers that lurk, all hidden away.

The White House ticket for Hackney Marshes.

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by The tuesday swim in The Lea Valley

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Tags

beresford, fishing, hackney, horse, house, marshes, mrs, public, station, the, White

White house Hackney Marshes

Last year I wrote about the White House public house that stood alone in the Hackney Marshes near the end of Pond Lane. Run by Mrs Beresford this was one of the prime tickets to hold on the Lower Lea. Today the tuesday swim had the privilege to hold one of these hundred year old subscriptions, issued by Mrs Beresford.

White House Ticket

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Off to the marshes #hackneymarshes
I’ve been here before but this is reassuringly familiar, an antidote to the boutique homogenous lifestyle that is rife in our city. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Watersmeet- Our current winter film set on the Hampshire Avon with @adamchetwood @kgparr link in my bio. Where to next? #anglingfilms #chubfishing
Watersmeet - Chub fishing on the Hampshire Avon, our new film for winter #hampshireavon #hampshireavonfishing #chub #fallonsangler #fishingfilms #winterfishing link in bio
A reunion on the Hampshire Avon. Our new film for Fallons Angler ready to view in time for Christmas. Friends, pints, and fishing #chubfishing #chub #fishingfilms #fallonsangler #hampshireavon
Surely it’s time for a perch?
Epping forest #eppingforest
The fading light plays a strong roll on us at this time of year. The Witching Hour film available to view, link in bio. #embracethedarkness
Next week I travel to France and begin filming a life in Normandy over one year. A man whos footprint on the planet has the lightest touch, where his life and the natural world sit side by side. #dustthefilm …
The Witching Hour our new film launching at midday today 15th October link in bio #fishingfilms #fallonsangler
Last week we spread my parents ashes on the South Downs. In life they were inseparable, so we did the honourable thing and mixed their ashes with our own hands, returned them to the chalk on the Sussex Downs at a geographical point between birth, life and death.
The Prince of Peace is dead, thank you for the musical and spiritual journey of my life. 1940-2022 #pharoahsanders
A quick over nighter by the river and under the stars with @fallonsangler_magazine for a new film. Packing light - bedroll, camera, drone and a Katsu Curry Pot Noodle or two. Film out in a fortnight. In the meantime please order our new issue of Fallons Angler capturing the bewitching hour. #autumnequinox #fallonsangler #fishingfilms #canonuk
Norway, reassuringly boring with some hidden surprises #norway #oslo #snorway

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