Lost and Found in E11

   The relatively cold weather of late, here in northeast London, has been playing on the mind of ‘Field Study’s Man in E11’. He has been fretting about the well being of the honeybees in our allotment apiary; in particular, how they have been standing up to the sub-zero night-time temperatures? I tried to reassure the field student by recounting my experience of briefly opening up the hives earlier in the month to administer some oxalic acid treatment for varrhoa mites. I found each of our hives contained a large cluster of bees; a phenomenon measured by the number of frames apparently occupied by the little creatures. I tried to persuade the field student that this was a very good sign considering the cold spell over Christmas and New Year. It wasn’t just that there were a lot of bees it was also that the hives were still heavy with honey stores and the bees were feeding from fondant we had placed at the top of the hives. The field student was obviously miffed that he...

Field Report 2014 - contribution.

field text movie 52b

test piece B test page 1

test piece A (28/11/2014)

Earlier this week I walked alongside a stretch of the River Roding from a bridge at Snakes Lane East (Chigwell) to some sort of field near Royston Gardens and the Redbridge Roundabout. I write, 'some sort of field' because, by the time I reached that place, having attempted to keep to the way-markers of the Roding Valley Way, I was partially lost. The footpath petered out into a field of bramble briars, blackthorn spinneys and stumbling tussocks of couch grass. I moved awkwardly through them. The prickling scrambling shrubbery teased and pestered me, as if to punish me for my trespass and my foolish straying from the path. I was determined not to turn back and leave by the way I had entered. Initially, despite my loss of the Roding Valley Way, I was confident I would find a path across the field and reconnect with the River Roding and Wanstead Park. The A406 maintained a rushing and (temporarily) reassuring presence to my left, the east. There was, I thought, time and light en...