May Day Greetings

May Day greetings from The Island Pansies

Spring Daffodils

It was the beginning of March (2008) on the Island and the daffodils were in bloom for St. David's Day.

Christmas Tree on the Island

Trees are rare on the Island, but once a year a large fir appears here, decorated with lights. The locals call it a 'Christmas Tree'.

Tram Shelter 1933

Thanks to Clare for noticing this fine picture of the Island in 1933 (from the interesting Exploring 20th Century London site). Seemingly emerging from the now vanished tram shelter is a lamp post which remains there to this day (of which more secrets will be revealed shortly).
http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/server.php?show=conObject.1934

Seasons turning

August turns to September, and the first signs of Autumn appear with an early leaf fall on to the Island.

Ants

Human visitors to the Island may sometimes imagine that they are the only life there, apart from the plants in the flower boxes. They are wrong. Beneath the surface of the island there is a whole colony with thousands of tiny inhabitants. I became aware of this today as I followed a trail of ants across the island to the hole from which they emerged - a sure sign of an ants nest. Following the trail in the opposite direction also led me to stumble across the suspected site of Pirate Paul's treasure box (see previous post).

The Island 1850

In the mid-19th century, the Island was the site of the New Cross turnpike gate, where tolls were collected from traffic using the New Cross Road (on the route from London to Dover). This picture was painted around 1850, looking east along Queen's Road with the still-existing White Hart public house at the rear.

Midsummer Flora

The island's flora is mainly to be found in its 31 flower boxes. The unobservant may imagine that these just grow and change by themselves, but in fact they are regularly replaced with ready potted flowers. Earlier in the spring, daffodils were in bloom, to be replaced by pansies. Last week, after a few days empty, these new boxes appeared.