Commissioned by the London Borough of Waltham Forest, the project aims to transform a side street and a dead-end near Coppermill Lane into two vibrant, playful place-making sites. In collaboration with Project Zero, the project engages young people and residents in a co-creation process, culminating in a collective spoken word piece. Conceived as public artworks and developed with graphic designers Europa, we are currently designing signs for birds, bringing a multi-species perspective to the streets.

Bird Signs Project / Coppermill Area, Walthamstow

Birds come to Walthamstow Wetlands for a variety of reasons – to feed; to breed; to roost or to moult. Birds visit all through the year and share their environment with the residents of the Coppermill Area in Waltham Forest. Arriving from their migratory journeys birds are particularly attracted to the areas of open water and islands. In winter, wildfowl come from the South to the UK and by springtime many will have gone back but others such as warblers, terns, martins and swift come North to breed here, returning south before winter.

‘Signs for Birds’ is an art initiative that invites the public to get involved in the co-creation of public art in the Coppermill Area of Waltham Forest. Workshops invite local residents and schools together with other international communities located along the East Atlantic Migratory Flyway to come up with creative ideas for signs for humans and birds.

As a starting point for the workshops we consider some of the shared species that make their temporary homes along the Flyways such as Red Knot, Osprey, Black-tailed Godwit and the Common Tern. Workshops have reached out to two Wetlands Centres along this route: Finima Nature Reserve, Nigeria and the Slimbridge Wetland centre in Oxfordshire.