'Nature survives in the tiniest corners': the City of London's wild heart

The Barbican is famous for its Brutalist architecture, but the concrete conceals a well-kept secret: a community garden where wildlife thrives

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“There was literally a frog orgy in that one. There is no other way to describe it,” says Jules Waite, from the London Wildlife Trust, pointing at a pond in the Barbican wildlife garden, one of the few areas of London’s Square Mile whose inhabitants are not in lockdown.

In February, frogs are the first garden residents to feel their passions ignite as they emerge from compost heaps or log piles and slip into the ponds. Self-isolation is the last thing on their mind and by April, the hundreds of tadpoles whizzing around the pond are testament to their efforts. Songbirds are going berserk trying to impress one another and summer visitors such as blackcaps have arrived to set up nest.

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