I took a walk along the River Lee in glorious sunshine from Hackney Wick to Cheshunt. This stretch of the river runs alongside the Hackney, Walthamstow and Tottenham marshes and into the Lee Valley Park area- survivals of an older landscape within the bounds of Greater London.
 The selection of photos above is taken from visits over the past few years in June/July. Nature abounds and some plants thrive in greater profusion here than I have seen in rural locations; Comfrey, Meadowsweet, Purple Loosestrife, Common Mallow, Goat's-rue and Rosebay Willowherb among them.
 I enjoy the writings of Richard Mabey whose first book was published in the early 1970s. It describes his explorations of London's urban and industrial margins and the patchwork of native plants and others from all over the world that grow in these surroundings. He gave this book a title which seems very apt: "The Unofficial Countryside".