A luxury hotel for birds (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

A luxury hotel for birds

4:47pm Friday 6th April 2007

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A SNARESBROOK pond has become a luxury hotel for birds' after being filled with dozens of straw bales to stop it turning toxic.

Feathered residents of Eagle Pond, Snaresbrook Road, have been using the bales of barley straw as makeshift sun loungers after they were installed by the City of London Corporation (CLC) to prevent the growth of poisonous blue-green algae in the water.

Snaresbrook ward Councillor, Chris Cummins, claims the move is an environmentally friendly way of keeping the pond safe for all its users during the Summer.

He said: "This algae problem was brought up at at an Area One Committee meeting last year and we decided to act upon it.

"We could have used heavy chemicals to deal with it, but the bales emit a natural substance as they rot which kills the algae and we felt this was better for the environment.

"The pond must seem like a luxury holiday hotel to the birds at the moment, but I just hope it doesn't make them too lazy to build their own nests!"

Rob Glaister, of Rivenhall Gardens, Snaresbrook, says the bales caused confusion amongst local residents when they first appeared.

He said: "I walk my dog in the forest next to the pond every morning and I was shocked to see it dotted with what looked like man-made birds nests.

"They make the pond look a bit unsightly but the ducks and geese don't seem to mind them, which is all that really matters."

A Corporation spokesman said the work was part of an operation to tackle algae growth in ponds and waterways across London.

She said: "Blue-green algae isn't particularly harmful to birds but is poisonous for other forms of wildlife, and for humans, so we have taken this action to try and keep its growth under control during the Summer."

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