Branch Hill pond dried up in the 1880s. Now it will teem with wildlife again, as it did in the artist’s heyday
Photograph: CMA/BOT/AlamyPhotograph: CMA/BOT/Alamysketched and painted dozens of times. From the top of Hampstead Heath, London’s highest point at 134 metres , the artist would look west and north towards today’s suburbs of Willesden, Edgware and Harrow. About 100 metres away, down below, was a beautiful natural pond.
A pit has just been dug with a lining of puddling clay to hold the rainwater, which has arrived after the summer’s drought. It will be completed next spring with amphibians introduced, though not fish, as well as plants such as marsh marigold and reeds placed in and around the pond. It is hoped insects such as dragonflies will be attracted, while the revitalised habitat should encourage hedgehogs, a dying species in London, to return to a pathway and area they once frequented.
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