Leyton Marsh

In the warmth of a week ago, where did that Spring weather go? I walked up to Leyton Marsh and the area that is being improved for the Olympics. The part near me is not the occupied section, but a few fields and pitches where kids play football with a small industrial area and schools along the edge.

Despite the less than inspiring setting and area, with the sun shining and the birds singing it was good to be out in a bit of greenery. The last trickle of the Dagenham Brook even looks appealing with a bit of blue sky reflected in it's waters and the bright green Spring leaves.



Still with the inspiring Hockney exhibition in mind, I found myself seeing some of the blossom as the strange caterpillar forms he had painted. The roots and trunks of one of the Hornbeam trees trees caught my eyes and a pair of woodpeckers their bright green bodies and red heads shining in the sun, chased each other across the fields.



A couple of families had brought blankets to sit on the grass and a few youngsters were kicking a ball around. I breathed in the scent of the gorse flowers and the remnants of a wood fire someone had lit probably the night before.

Cutting back through Villiers close to Church lane I passed the sad sight of too eagerly lopped aspen trees that had died.This is probably because inexperienced tree surgeons had cut all their new growth before a period of drought or heat and the stress to the trees is too great for them to survive.