A nature lover’s concern about litter at Wanstead Flats came to a head when he witnessed a crow hanging by a plastic bag.
Barry Chapman, 50, of Lorne Road, Forest Gate regularly litter picks in the area and was appalled to see the bird fall victim to rubbish left by visitors.
“On that day it was quite harrowing,” he said.
“We actually saw the bird stuck with the plastic bag hanging round its neck.
“It was flapping around helplessly and then another bird came to its assistance and luckily managed to save it.”
Barry and his partner litter pick every day to make sure that the wildlife in Newham “has a chance at survival”.
They managed to capture the incident by taking photographs on their phone in the hope that litterbugs will see and change their habits.
“The birds live in danger through no fault of their own,” Barry said.
“It makes me upset that the wildlife is in danger and angry with the people who do this.
“There is a varied array of wildlife on Wanstead Flats, it’s like a little oasis in urban London. I want to see it kept like that, it makes you feel like you’re almost in the country.”
Barry explained that one of the biggest problems around Wanstead Flats is the many visitors who come and feed the birds and then drop bags of mouldy bread on the floor.
“They might be trying to do a nice thing for the birds but they end up littering and in this case it nearly resulted in the death of a crow.”
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