I often make my way down to the river Thames to escape the bustle of the City.
There is something instantly calming about being beside its flowing water.
Photo: Peter Mujtaba
I used to think of the Thames as London’s river, but it’s actually over 200 miles long (nearly 350 km), flowing eastwards. from its source in Gloucestershire until it eventually opens into the Thames estuary.
So it’s not really London’s river at all, with roughly ¾ of it outside of the sprawling metropolitan area.
I also used to think that life on the river was predominantly human, with summer crowds of tourists sightseeing on the open top boats, or commuters making use of the highspeed clipper boats on their way to work.
But there is far more life in the river than is visible to my blinkered inner-city vision.
Parts of the river were declared biologically dead in the 1950s, but changing land use, together with improved pollution control, have brought dramatic improvements in the quality of the water and a renewed abundance of life.
This includes 92 species of birds, at least 115 species of fish and not forgetting 350 species of invertebrates.
A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to spot a seal as it popped its head up in the busy tidal waters near Tower Bridge.
I’m now even more surprised to learn that a recent count has revealed that there are roughly 800 harbour seals and 2,800 grey seals living in the Thames estuary.
(Source: ZSL 2021 annual seal survey results)
Dolphins very occasionally take a wrong turn (well, that’s what I assume) and make their way towards central London. They have previously been spotted in the river swimming near Vauxhall, not far from the Palace of Westminster.
In 2006, a bottlenose whale was seen in the river below Westminster bridge.
It was nicknamed Willy, because it was hoped that it would return to the open seas but sadly, efforts to save it failed.
If you’re a mudlark like me, then you’ll know that the river Thames only reveals its secrets when it is ready.
The original “foragers of the foreshore” were the Victorians, often London’s poorest children, who searched the banks of the river for practical items like coal, iron, copper nails and ropes to sell.
Today’s mudlarks are mainly hobbyists with a keen interest in history and archaeology.
To find out more, please visit the Port of London Authority website, where you can also purchase the required permits.
Mudlarks’ finds on display at Southwark Cathedral
My most treasured find is a fragment of a Roman bone hairpin that you can see in the photo.
Photo: Peter Mujtaba
When I found it lying exposed on the muddy banks of the river, close to London Bridge, the modern city seemed to evaporate.
As I held it in my palm, my mind transported me back almost 2000 years to the thriving Roman City of Londinium, which I imagined all around me.
Who was the owner of the hairpin? Was she, like me, beside the river, contemplating the timeless ebb and flow of the tide, when the hairpin slipped from her hair?
What was she doing that day?
What was life like for her?
It’s easy to forget that we are all links in the chain of history.
It’s hard to imagine that even the smallest of events in our daily lives may be reflected on far into the future, by someone standing close to where we stand.
Old father Thames weaves its way through the timeless ebb and flow of the tide and continues to surprise us.
Peter M.
