Community Ecologies is a programme that brings local residents, artists, chefs, horticulturalists, ecologists, and educators together to explore the connections between people, place, and the natural world. Through workshops, collaborative projects, and seasonal events, the programme creates opportunities for co-learning, creativity, and skill exchange rooted in the unique urban ecology of the reserve. It invites the community to co-create practices that support both environmental and social wellbeing, making the reserve a living laboratory for resilience and connection.

All events are free
📍 Meet at the entrance gate, Middleton Street, E2 9RR
🕒 Start time: 3pm · Duration: ~1 hour

Upcoming Workshops

The Colours of Herbs — Odhran
📅 Sat 6 Sep · 3–4pm
Experience the colours of medicinal herbs through a sensory plant walk, tea tasting, and creative mapping.

Forage & Preserve: Wild Food Skills for Urban Ecology — Magdalena
📅 Sat 20 Sep · 3–4pm
Learn to identify, harvest, and preserve wild urban plants with practical skills like pickling and fermenting.

Embodied Drawing Workshop — Kirsty
📅 Sat 4 Oct · 3–4pm
Explore nature’s cycles and the beauty of decay through intuitive, playful drawing.

Collective Cartographies — Leela
📅 Sat 18 Oct · 3–4pm
Create a collaborative map of the reserve, weaving together memories and climate-aware visions.

Butoh Movement Workshop — Elspeth Chan Chi Fan
📅 Sat 1 Nov · 3–4pm
Connect body and environment through Butoh-inspired movement, blending imagination, fluidity, and ecological awareness.

Unravelling the Patterns of Nature — Anand & Eden
📅 Sat 15 Nov · 3–4pm
Discover nature’s hidden rhythms through sound, pattern, and creative making.

Wild Food Walk — Than
📅 Sat 29 Nov · 3–4pm
Join a guided walk to explore the edible and medicinal uses of wild plants in the reserve.

Recent Workshops

Creative Plant Naming — Yaya
📅 21 Jun · 3–4pm
A sensory workshop using tea tasting, smell, and drawing to connect with plants and reimagine how we name them.

Providing Solitary Bees with Bed and Board — Eamonn Postlethwaite
📅 12 Jul · 3–4pm
Discover the bees of Bethnal Green, learn to identify species, and help build a new bee habitat in the reserve.

Singing with the Birds — Catherine Clover
📅 26 Jul · 3–4pm
Learn to mimic the bird songs heard around the reserve in this fun, no-experience-needed vocal workshop.