When I was a child, there was a pleasant little park on a small island in the Thames. Possibly for commercial reasons, the Council sold it to a company who closed it to the public and turned it into a marina in the late 1960's. Over the years, it fell into dis-use and, by the end of the 1990's, it was an overgrown wilderness littered with bits of old boats and boating machinery. The Council, in association with the Environment Agency, re-acquired it just after the millennium and together, they turned it into a small wildlife sanctuary with nature walks and information boards detailing what can be seen at various times of the year. Despite the vandalism to these amenities, the EA and Council still keep the place up fairly well and it is now a popular location for schools nature field trips. There are, however, still signs of it's former abandoned state such as this old boat propeller still attached to a fragment of the fibreglass hull. In a way, I'm glad they left bits like this in place - it gives me something to photograph. :-) ------------------------------- Original Photograph: 17-Sep-2007