Tree Planting Ceremony On Oliver's Island

Marking the end of island habitat improvement project

Wildlife, rowers, riverside residents and walkers are set to benefit after the Port of London Authority (PLA) completed a programme of habitat and other improvements on Oliver’s Ait, the island just 120 metres long and ten metres wide, at Strand on the Green, just downriver of Kew Bridge.

In a programme of work costing over £30,000 and completed over 18 months, PLA-managed teams and contractors undertook extensive tree works including, felling, pollarding and planting. They also reinstated stonework on the upstream end of the Ait, which has to withstand tides running past it in excess of four knots twice a day. 

The Ait is a value habitat for wildlife including bats and kingfishers; a survey of the site by London Wildlife Trust also found the rare swollen spire and Thames door snails.  The work sets the island up for a long-term management programme of habitat protection and improvement developed by London Wildlife Trust for the PLA, in consultation with the local community. The approach could provide a useful model for the management of other islands in the tidal Thames.

The PLA marked completion of the major works by hosting a tree planting ceremony with local community representatives.  The trees were planted by PLA chief executive, Richard Everitt, with Kew residents, Mr and Mrs Dobai who have, for fifty years, gauged the arrival of Spring by trees on the Ait coming into leaf.

“Islands like these a unique feature on the Thames,” explained PLA planning and environment director, James Trimmer.  “They provide a natural haven for wildlife and enhance the amenity of the river for those who live locally, or row past whilst training or racing.  Doing work like this is part of our goal to sustain a thriving river, both for river users, natural habitats and wildlife.  We’ve now established the island habitat ready for long-term management into the future.

“This project had the usual constraints of any project on an island – everything that we used, from cement and gravel to chainsaws and saplings, had to be brought to in by boat.  The same applied to the tree planting ceremony, where we had a two-hour tidal window to get our guests on and off the Island.  It’s been great to share the completion of the work with local people who enjoy the views of the Ait, but would rarely, if ever, have chance to visit it.”

Joining the small group who visited the island was Strand on the Green Association’s Richard Griffith.  He said- "It’s fantastic finally to have had a chance to visit the Ait, Oliver’s Island, a feature of the Thames that we’ve enjoyed looking at for many years.  In recent months we’ve watched the PLA team working away to repair and sustain the Ait.  They’ve done a great job and Oliver’s Island is now well set for many to see and enjoy in years to come.”

February 8, 2014