squirmelia | River Crane Walk (Reply)

I decided to attempt the Flâneurs Community on Dreamwidth's June Challenge II. (c) - Visit the local council's website and do the first walk listed.

I looked on my local council's website for walks and it gave me results such as:

Cholmondeley Walk
Health walks run by volunteers
Walking initiatives for schools
Clamping down on irresponsible dog walkers
And so on.

None were quite what I was looking for, so I searched some more, and still failed to find a walk, so then used a search engine to look for walks in my local borough, and it gave me: Outdoor Activities in Richmond upon Thames

I looked in the Walking section and decided that a shorter path was the best idea, so I chose the first of these: The River Crane Walk.

The River Crane joins the Thames in St Margarets, and I had seen maps for the River Crane Walk before, next to the Thames, but I had never actually found the River Crane, so this walk appealed to me.

The start point of this walk was Twickenham Station, but I decided to follow the directions for another River Crane walk and start at St Margarets Station, as it was more convenient for me: Crane River Walk.

I saw this picture in a shop opposite St Margarets Station:

I walked down two roads, past fuchsias and ivy, and then into Moormead Park. I passed a playground, and then I heard the whooshing, and it sounded like a waterfall. Must be the River Crane! I could not see it though. I continued walking, and then the River Crane appeared:

I had arrived back in London the day before after a week's holiday in Wales, and one of the things I was finding odd was the sound of planes. I live not that far from an airport, so usually do not really notice them, but on this day I did.

I walked near Twickenham Station, so picked up the original route I was intending to follow. There were hordes of people, and police directing them, presumably to a rugby match, as there were stalls with souvenirs:

I did not buy any.

A few more roads, and past another park, and I found myself in Mereway Nature Reserve.

I saw a lustrous green shiny beetle, which I think may have been a thick-legged flower beetle.

I found a faded picture of some grass that said, "Cocksfoot - a native grass with a very silly name":

I saw a fox sitting on a bench:

I then found another faded sign that said "Dock Bug (or is it an alien?)

On a little bit, and the River Crane reappeared, and the Duke of Northumberland's River joined the River Crane, and then I saw a weir and there were shiny blue dragonflies flying over it.

I sat briefly in Kneller Gardens, before walking on, past lilypads, and past carvings of animals - a woodlouse, a fox, an owl, a hare (or was it a kangaroo?), and I found a maze there, marked in the grass, and walked around it to get to the middle, where there was another wooden animal, but I'm not entirely sure what it was.

Woodlouse:

I found a sign that shows the entire River Crane Walk, which extends further than just the section I was doing.

I then reached the River Crane Park, and there were many things to see there- weeping willows, benches carved with birds on them, caterpillars (possibly a vapourer moth caterpillar?), ox eye daisies and blue cornflowers, stepping stones across the river, ducks.

I then crossed a bridge to reach Crane Park Island, where there is a nature reserve. A frog peeped out of the water. A fox ran towards me. I saw lots of fungi by some steps.

Spot the fox:

Then out of the nature reserve, and I was lucky to find that the Shot Tower was open! The Shot Tower was part of the Hounslow Gunpowder Mills. I read some of the history of the tower and then climbed up the steps and looked out at the treetops.