Lost Between 2 Centuries (2025)

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These things were found at the bottom of a pond. A very large pond, somewhere in London’s fourth circle. A few months back, it had to be drained as the overflow system pipe was leaking and required repair. Swan mussels, carp and other organisms were found, carefully located and rehomed. Non-organisms were rehomed, too. A parade of the dropped, chucked, lobbed, and lost, some more than 50 years ago.

 

Adults’ tools and children’s toys, fishhooks and a Krispy Kreme loyalty card. Someone’s devotion to donuts went unrewarded, lost between 2 centuries. 

 

Draining the pond provided the perfect opportunity to assess fish populations, which were previously very high. Although important in their own right, fish consume aquatic plants which are a key habitat for a range of aquatic invertebrates; invertebrates being, like all the interlocking pieces of this puzzle, an essential component of the ecosystem.

 

Pulling the plug also revealed piles of submerged wood. Some of this is beneficial as a living space for the smaller creatures of the pond, but an excess increases nutrient levels to a point where they overfeed the algae, growing it into a bully that makes life tough for other aquatic plants.

 

A plastic shark, a plastic shoe, a plastic elephant. Chemicals from certain plastic objects were leeching into the water. Tons of golf balls, belts and bones.

 

The inorganic objects from the pond were destined for disposal, never to be returned. Covered in putrid mud, they were collected in large black bin bags. The ephemeral pond bed provided the perfect spot for waders to visit and forage, and, in time, the pond was allowed to refill naturally with rain from the skies.

 

By Miles Russell and Dominique Russell