neW urBan environmenTs, C.1860–1950^179a network of sewers to ‘sewage farms’ where it was filtered through a series
of shallow pools. These, rich in worms and insects, formed habitats similar to
estuaries and mudflats, providing ideal feeding grounds for waders like the
black-tailed godwit, curlew, golden plover, dunlin and sandpiper, while the
surrounding land, if endowed with sufficient cover, afforded breeding places
for water-loving species like yellow wagtail, reed-bunting, sedge warbler,
and moorhen.^96 Such cover was often provided by rich growths of fat hen,
docks, thistles and classic plants of the sewage sludge like tomatoes, the
seeds of which easily survived the long journey through the sewage pipes.
Vast numbers of the more common birds – gulls, starlings, finches – also
came daily to feed. In the inter-war years, the sewage farms became meccas
for bird watchers and were renowned for their rare birds: even the avocet
was sporadically sighted at London examples.^97
Rubbish disposal also became more organized and centralized, with most
cities being ringed by dumps and tips, utilizing old brick-pits and quarries
or – in the case of London – low-lying, derelict marshland. Disposal
methods became more rigorous and standardized. From the early years of
the twentieth century the preferred method, gradually adopted by municipal
authorities, was for refuse to be deposited in shallow layers which were then
sealed with soil or other inert materials, before a further layer was added.
The surface soil was well-worked and warmed by the decay of the rubbish
below, which provided a rich supply of nutrients; but constant disturbance
ensured that only transient plants, fast-growing annuals, could survive.
In Mabey’s words, a dump is like ‘a huge compost heap, and is mightily
congenial to plant growth. The snag is the bulldozers and the ominous
looming of the next smothering layer of garbage’.^98 But there were usually
some less disturbed areas towards the margins of the tip where slower-
growing plants could survive.
Many of the characteristic plants of the rubbish dump were natives,
the usual flowering plants of waste places and newly turned garden soil –
shepherd’s purse, petty spurge, groundsel, fat hen, stinking mayweed.^99 But
dumps were also characterized by a remarkable range of aliens including
garden escapees like honesty, gypsophila, delphinium, night-scented stock,
hollyhock, buddleia, and sweet William; species generating from kitchen
waste, such as potatoes and tomatoes; and plants originating from the
sweepings from bird cages, such as common sunflower and canary grass.^100
Because many people in urban areas kept chickens, numerous cereals could
also be found growing there. By the 1920s, naturalists were noting the rich
and complex flora of urban tips. Melville and Smith described 170 alien
plants growing on that at Dagenham near London, the giant hogweed and
the dock Rumex patientia forming ‘a veritable forest of vegetation over eight
feet high that must be seen to be believed’.^101
Rubbish dumps also boasted large invertebrate populations, including
a variety of indigenous wasps and bees – yellow-legged mining bee, white-
zoned mining bee – but also numerous introduced species, especially the