Places to Visit - The River Crane in West London

A tributary of The Thames, the Crane is a wonderful place for a walk or cycle. The Environment Agency, local councils (it covers three) and The London Wildlife Trust have spent a lot of time and money here and it shows.

Map of The Crane - copyright OpenStreetMaps

Little Egret, photographed February 2023

The best place to start would be around Twickenham Station or a bit further west at Kneller Gardens, as the lower part of the river runs behind peoples houses and not so freely accessible.

Grey Heron, photographed February 2023

You avoid most of the roads and traffic by passing beneath them.

Long Tailed Tit, photographed February 2023

Although lovely at any time of the year, the spring offers more chances to see the wonderful wildlife found here, with less leaves on the trees to obscure your view. Besides the few animals pictured here, their were several Kites flying overhead on my recent trip and I have seen Kingfishers in the past.

Crane Park is the site of the old Hounslow Powder Mills, set up in the 16th century and where they manufactured gunpowder up until 1927. Although not their any longer, you can still see the Shot Tower, found beside the Crane Park Island Nature Reserve and is one of the highlights along this stretch of the river.

The Shot Tower

Crane Park Island Nature Reserve, with photobombing Robin, sneaking in before I could properly focus. They are very tame and will feed from your hand but I sadly came unprepared, and he soon flew off.

Fabulous tree near the junction with the A316 (pictured February 2023)

So, if you don’t know this part of London, I highly recommend it and please let me know what you find when you do and please share some of your pictures.