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Wild swimming in the Thames | Kate Rew Once described as a 'fermenting sewer', the Thames is now clean enough to welcome wildlife, fish and even urban swimmersAround the 1800s things got pretty grim for the Thames. The foundation of London as a centre of empire and industry, the river had become little more than an effluent pipe, or, in the words of one observer, a "fermenting sewer". As late as the 60s, you would never have considered it winning a conservation prize.People still swam in it – in terms of resilience to aquatic pollution, a human being is a bit like an armoured tank as opposed to a paper bicycle – but the otters had long gone, as had the salmon and the caddisflies and all the little brown grubs that live in sludge before them.But just 50 years on, the Thames has been awarded the world's biggest prize for environmental conservation, the international Theiss river prize for river management and conservation, beating rivers from Japan and Australia.Salmon are back (last seen upstream of London Bridge in 1833). Sea trout, particularly intolerant to poor water quality, are currently heading somewhere upstream of Reading. Smelt, a very delicate little fish that smells of cucumber, is finning about happily. The river has come a long way since being declared "biologically dead" in the 1950s. In fact 125½ species of fish now live in the Thames: the ½, apparently, being awarded to a fish-newt hybrid.There are still issues, such as run-off and the overlap between our drainpipes and sewers, but most people involved in the river today think of it as a clean place and have done for several years.Few people are as intimately connected with the Thames as the people who swim in it: and an increasing number of people have chosen to go back in the water over the last 10 or so years. This summer, swimming in the Thames both upstream and downstream (Lechlade, Radley, Oxford, South Stoke), I came across oyster catchers, dragonflies, curlews and herons.It is not just sea trout that have returned to the water upstream of Reading. In a throwback to the days of river swimming clubs that patrolled the banks of many great English rivers, this summer saw the development of a local Outdoor Swimming Society group called OSS Rats (OSS Reading and Thames area) that make frequent excursions around Hamhaugh Island near Walton-on-Thames.The OSS is a collective of wild swimmers that arrange spontaneous swims via Facebook. For London, Reading and Oxford members the Thames is a swimming superhighway, and a frequent venue for full-moon swims and river picnic and camping parties. In June, 60 swimmers charted up to 10km from Dorchester through Wallingford, Benson and on down to North Stoke. The next day, one Radley schoolmaster attended an informal one-mile "race" from Benson Lock to Wallingford Bridge with the stars from his school swimming team, who train in the Thames throughout summer.Such is swimmers' allegiance to the river that one, Michael Worthington, has produced a guide, I ❤ the Thames, dividing the river into 77 swimmable sections. The Great River Swim saw 70 people make it around Chiswick Island this summer, just five miles upstream of Hyde Park Corner, and their organiser, Steve Newell, has his heart set on creating more river races and routes in the heart of the city (safety issues with river traffic notwithstanding).The next issue for the Thames swimmers to tackle is the Thames Tunnel "super-sewer" plans, which will remove effluent from the river, reducing water use and getting us to think more about what we put down sinks ourselves. But now the salmon and the smelt and the seals are back, it's easy to imagine a future where urban swimming might become a bit less remarkable.LondonAnimalsKate Rewguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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