Apartment blocks have sprung up all around this abandoned dock, giving residents a view from their balconies of the river. And it is not only humans who appreciate this - in the woodland nearby crows have built their nests high up in the trees.
Crow's nest
Sea gulls hover overhead, looking down on the water in the dock and the rushes that stand tall, swaying in the wind.
Rushes sway in the wind
Deep down in the machine pits the humid conditions are the perfect environment for ferns to grow, and mosses spread across the old dock walls.
Nature has been allowed to reclaim this site.
This is salt marsh - a habitat very rare in South East England, with its brackish water - a mix of fresh and sea water that is washed up from the coast by the River Thames.
It is home to a variety of birds and water fowl. Two swans guard the entrance, one on each side of the dock gate; a moorhen scuttles across the mud, leaving a trail of footprints behind; there are ducks bobbing about in the water.
A moorhen scuttling across the dock
All of this can be seen from above by the walls of the basin.
Information boards show pictures and names of the wildlife that is seen here, making it the ideal location for anyone who is new to birdwatching and wanting to know their names.
A view down to the water
Walk from Bow Creek Ecology Park or from East India Dock
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