The council has been trying to attract wildlife to Beverley Brook by cutting back some of the trees around it and creating barriers in the water to provide more varied habitats.

Unfortunately, a new kind of life form has appeared, one which shows it’s still alive by the presence of a little green light. There were three electric bikes in and around the stream yesterday evening – two Limes and one from Forest.

It’s one thing to find five Lime bikes in a row on the pavement of my street – all neatly spaced out and pointing in the same direction – but another to have them in the stream.

I have reported them to the companies, but presumably they already know where they are because of their electronics. One of the Lime bikes has been there for at least a week.

It’s a shame that these monsters are now disturbing the wildlife, which seems to be returning. I saw a happy-looking grey heron there one evening, which may be the same one that looked a bit odd last night but I’m told was just sleeping.

I’m grateful for the efforts of Community BlueScapes to improve Beverley Brook. Unfortunately, the new, supposedly ecologically-friendly mode of urban transport seems to be in conflict with them.

Update: 23 minutes after sending an email reporting the bikes to Lime, I have a response. It turns out that complaints are received globally, so the question is ‘what city and country are you talking about?’

Contributed by Charles Miller