Mudlarking
Yesterday I donned my wellies and stood in cold water for a far longer time than I had planned to. The notion of mudlarking was one I have been enthralled by for some time. The term dates back to Victorian times when the poorest in society would scour the riverbanks for anything they could sell. Scavengers, like the mudlark birds. When you scour the internet it would give the impression that mudlarking only pertains to the Thames. This is incorrect, mudlarking happens all over the country. It is, in fact illegal to mudlark on the Thames without a license. I thought I would go over some tips, rules and precautions you should take when mudlarking.
Check if you are allowed. Some waterways pass through private land. Even public bodies of water may have a restriction so it is good to check.
Pack things to clean your hands, work with gloves in certain waterways.
Take a first aid kit. I have not had this happen to me but it is possible to cut yourself so take precautions.
Respect the bed! Don’t go digging around. Water beds are a delicate and complex eco-system so if you have to move more than a few pebbles with your fingers then leave it there.
Canals are treacherous and rivers can be tidal. My advice here is water is cold and deep and you need to be careful. Many good mudlarking rivers also have a rise and fall in height so be careful and mindful of your environment.
Safety and rules aside the whole process is immersive. Wondering how these fragments ended up there is fascinating. What journey have they been on? As much as most of what I recovered were ceramic and glass there were pieces of plastic too. I took it upon myself to bag that up, a bonus litter pick as my way of saying thank-you to the river.
I really do feel that although I disposed of the litter and took the plastic to be re-cycled there is a creative conversation to be had around what we put into our waterways. Perhaps there is even a very macabre art project that could transpire from dredged canals, yes that is the true crime podcast nut talking there and I know I do not have the stomach for it.
This small collection of items are firing all of my synapses and I want to explore these ideas further and see how found items can tell a story of the waterways and the land around it.