Social bird housing

There's this little, new park in Islington. A newly laid slither of green squished alongside the overpriced townhouses and the bustle of Upper Street. Somewhere that feels private and secluded in a London borough that's anything but.  

As I walked through it, I spotted what I thought was a giant bees nest clinging to a tree. Even from a wee way off, my brain was telling me that couldn't be it.  

Closing in, the one yellow blob resolved into lots of smaller ones. Like someone has installed two Buddhist prayer wheels a bit too high up.

Closer still and I work it out: a riot of nests for birds and insects, piled high on each other like they were nailed up in a hurry by someone with a job lot of the buggers and only one eye. 

It looks like a bulging beige tower block, or one of those ancient medieval cities in the middle east. 

I love it. 

A connecting sleeve runs out from the main body of one nest of nests. Like population pressure has forced the city is grow out to meet its neighbour. 

Or, for the more discerning invertebrate, a new complex was created - boasting  Velux skylights rather than pedestrian portholes.

Being December and baltic, the complex seems uninhabited. Surely soon this Islington property will soon be snapped up by young families and city workers keen to be near the local facilities. 


Bizarrely, I can't help wondering about the practical problems like noise or bird poo this place will generate.