The olympic legacy

I met up with Gary at the basin this morning, a clear and sunny day after the washout of yesterday, we both agreed that unless the Water Rail mentioned in my last post does not give itself up soon, that will be it until the first Little Ringed Plover turns up on March 17th (trust me). Gary had attended the last East India Dock Basin Users Forum meeting where he learned that the money earmarked for clearing the silt from the basin has been reallocated to "The Olympic Legacy". I still find it impossible to take on board that a month of running, jumping and swimming can have such a massive impact on people's lives; I remember a group of allotment holders being turfed off their plots, which were on land gifted to them "in perpetuity" by some philanthropic Victorian, simply because the ramshackle nature of the site didn't fit in with the "olympic vision", unbelievable. What this means is that East India Dock Basin will not be a water body in less than ten years time, Alder and Willow will seed in the sediment as the process of turning open water to reedbed then carr and finally dry land begins; when this happens will the area still be considered important for wildlife? I doubt it.