<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/21/how-londons-new-rail-project-has-created-a-sanctuary-for-birds>
"London’s new Elizabeth line will allow commuters to start taking high-speed
trains under the city this week, on part of a 73-mile route that stretches from
Reading in the west to Shenfield in the east. They will not be the first
travellers to enjoy the benefits of the new line, however.
On Wallasea Island in Essex, thousands of birds have already taken advantage of
the £19bn rail project – on a mosaic of lagoons, islands, and bays that have
been created out of 3.5m tonnes of earth that were dug up during construction
of its new stations and 13 miles of twin tunnels.
Avian visitors to this newly constructed nature reserve, run by the Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds, include avocets, spoonbills, black-tailed
godwits and little egrets. Hen and marsh harriers have appeared in winter while
wigeon, teal and plover have also frequented the site.
For good measure, I spotted yellow wagtails, oystercatchers, lapwings,
black-headed gulls and reed bunting on my visit last week. Brown hares
scampered through the long grass while skylarks shrilled above the flat,
uninterrupted Essex landscape.
This is a nature lover’s paradise – and remarkably it has been created out of
the detritus of one of the UK’s most complex, expensive, crisis-afflicted
engineering projects of recent years: Crossrail, an undertaking whose price tag
rose from £15bn to £19bn and whose opening on Tuesday will take place four
years later than originally scheduled."
Via
Future Crunch Jun 1, 2022:
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-ebola-electric-trucks-super-reserve/
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
