East India Dock Basin
12ac/5ha
Grid ref: TQ 391 808
Updated 31/12/2023.
Available also via books and apps – click here for details.
Mouse over links for pictures; click for detail page.
First built in 1806, the East India Docks finally closed in 1967 and this basin is the only surviving remnant. It contains tidal brackish water and has mudflats with a small band of saltmarsh vegetation along its northern edge. This is dominated, unusually, by buttonweed, with sea milkwort and sea arrowgrass.
There are muddy and shingly islands within the basin and two nesting rafts, used every summer by a colony of common terns. In winter it attracts shelduck and flocks of teal and tufted duck. It is also a good place to see black redstart, a rare breeding bird that has adapted to living on industrial sites in large urban centres like London.
Visiting
In Canning Town near where the River Lea enters the Thames, south of the East India Dock Road (A13) and just east of the Blackwall Tunnel.
Jubilee line tube or Docklands Light Railway to Canning Town station. Several bus services run to Canning Town also.
Accessible 9.15am to dusk.