Ebb & Flow

Not for the faint-hearted this dizzyingly high run up the 1,120 steps to the top of London’s tallest tower, 22 Bishopsgate on Saturday October 22. The goal is to raise funds for a new Thames Lifeboat Station in the heart of the City. And this is a serious challenge which can be achieved by running, walking, or even crawling! But you will not be alone.
Safety measures ensure that “runners will start in staggered groups of a maximum of 30 runners every 30 minutes. And on the day there will be first aid points every five floors and St John Ambulance medics will be in attendance.”

It was in a tavern on this site that the RNLI was founded in 1824, so that the Tower Run assumes a special significance.

With the promise of unparalleled views over London and a reception, this toughest of Tower Runs will an event to remember.

If you are interested in taking part please follow the link here: The UK’s Tallest Stair Run, where you will find full practical details of the event.

A few stats:
Tower Station’s lifeboats have launched more than 9,000 times since opening on the Thames in 2002, saving more than 350 lives and helping many in danger on the river, trapped on the foreshore, or suffering from a mental health crisis. They also intervene, when called, to help victims of accidents at worksites along the river. They have been there for us twenty-four hours, every day of the year, and now they need our help to build a new “state-of-the-art” station.
There are four Lifeboat Stations covering the tidal Thames, set up after the Marchioness disaster on August 20, 1989: Teddington, Chiswick, Tower and Gravesend.

Some background history of Tower RNLI Lifeboat Station
Rob Jeffries, curator of the Thames River Police Museum in Wapping, told me back in 2019 the story of how Tower RNLI came to be based by Waterloo Bridge : “In the years following the Marchioness Disaster of August 20, 1989, there were increased calls for a dedicated search and rescue service on the Thames in Central London.” Up until then it had been the river police who carried out rescue and recovery missions as just one part of their duties. Finally the RNLI was asked by the UK Government to provide dedicated lifeboat cover along the tidal Thames. They were originally based at Tower Pier next to the Tower of London but they had to share the pier and its facilities with a number of others. When Waterloo Pier ceased operation as a Police Station, it began to deteriorate and as the RNLI were in need of their own space, they were able to take it over for a nominal price of £1.00. Rob explains: “A representative from the RNLI duly handed over a £1.00 coin to an inspector of the Marine Support Unit on the agreed handover date and the Inspector promptly handed the coin back as a ‘Donation’ to the RNLI charity.”
Though the Pier only cost the RNLI £1.00, they had to fund the sizeable expense of refurbishment, much of which was paid for by donations. And, though having moved to below Waterloo Bridge, it was decided to keep their already established name of ‘Tower RNLI’ to avoid confusion, and to call their pier ‘Lifeboat Pier’.

Here in the distance, seen from Lambeth Bridge and dominating London’s skyline, is the Challenge: To climb the 1,120 steps of 22 Bishopsgate on Saturday 22 October, in aid of the new RNLI Thames Lifeboat Station for the Tower crew. Clic here for details of how to enter.

Further information
Discover Tower Lifeboat Station
There’s always the Tower Lifeboat Station Appeal for those not taking part in the Challenge.
See my article on Tower Lifeboat Station here.
Follow @TowerRNLI on Twitter.

Daily walks in Victoria Tower Gardens by the river Thames have often included a low-tide show on the foreshore by resident herring gulls, always interesting and often amusing to watch, and a welcome distraction from the follies taking place in a Neo-Gothic landmark close by.

Gulls are bight intelligent birds, exploiting any easy feeding opportunities they come across, which is why they’ve become lightening-strike chip and ice cream thieves in some coastal towns, passing on their knowledge to the next generation. We have hand fed three of them along the embankment wall, on and off during the past year and they clearly hadn’t received instructions from their parents. They were hesitant and gentle, and it took time to build up trust. At one stage, the gull we nicknamed Bonzo, used to appear expectantly on the wall as soon it caught sight of us. We were always careful to give only a few small pieces of bread as the Thames, you will see below, now has a good supply of natural food. However, the gull in the image immediately below, having picked a yew twig out of the water, seems to be simply playing with it.

But there’s real food on the foreshore. For those of you who don’t know this, the Thames was declared “biologically dead’ by the Natural History Museum in 1957 and now, though still at risk from overflow sewage after storms, as has been the case recently, it is teeming with life. Herring gulls can be seen picking up and eating crabs and all kinds of shellfish, dropping the latter onto hard ground in order to crack them open, a skill passed on from one generation to the next. They catch some fish, and we’ve even seen one catching but unsurprisingly, failing to eat an eel. However, before young gulls attempt to practice what they’re gradually learning, they still want to be fed, pursuing their parents and squeaking a lot.

The Port of London Authority has a Nature guide here and London’s new 25 km ‘Super Sewer’ Tideway, on time for completion in 2025, should intercept any spillage and “clean up our river for the good of the city, its wildlife and everyone.” Hopefully it will. And hopefully, bearing in mind recent shocking news, their example will be followed by others, if not voluntarily, then by law…

Notes on Herring Gulls
Larus argentatus
Their plumage takes four years to reach its adult state.
In the first year the birds are mottled brown all over; in the second they are mottled brown with some grey on the back; in the third they have more grey on the back and more white on the head and breast.
In winter their plumage changes and they have dark streaks on their heads and necks.
Juvenile birds have mostly black beaks and mature birds have a red spot on the lower part of their bill, which chicks peck at when they want to be fed. According to research by naturalist Dr. Niko Tinbergen, “chicks will peck at any long yellow thing with a red spot in order to get food,” so that they are born with an instinctive preference for their parents’ bills.
Their legs are flesh coloured at any age.
Their average lifespan is 12 years, though some have been known to live for as long as 30 years.

Conservation status of Herring Gulls in the UK
They are red-listed as a ‘threatened species’, as there has been a strong decline in both the breeding and wintering populations. (RSPB Handbook of British Birds, 2021)
See also: Birds of Conservation

Further information
Holden, Peter and Gregory, Richard: RSPB Handbook of British Birds, Bloomsbury, 2021
Herring Gull Identification: Bird Spot
The Wildlife Trusts: ‘How to identify gulls’