Every May, flocks of spot-billed ducks, black-crowned night herons and other migratory birds head to a pair of uninhabited islands at the heart of Seoul, joining 50 other species that use them as breeding grounds. 

Though no one lives there now, the Bamseom islets were home to more than 440 Seoulites until the city government relocated them and demolished the homes in 1968 as part of its project to widen the waterways in the Hangang River and develop nearby Yeouido. 

The wetlands’ pristine charm, coupled with the serene, humble lives of the people there, prompted Shim Sa-jeong, a renowned painter in the 18th century Joseon era, to pick the urban island as one of the eight scenic places in Seoul to depict on paper. 

The Bamseom islets are among the seven remaining standalone islands along the river that flows through the capital, also including Seonyudo, Nodeulseom, Seoraeseom, Nanjido and Jeojado islands. They stand as not only hotspots for relaxation and various leisure activities for city dwellers, but also as historical treasure troves and ecological assets. 


Bamseom Islets, epitome of ecological diversity 

Located below Seogang Bridge linking Yeouido and Mapo, the Bamseom islets are the only remaining naturally occurring river islands in the Hangang River that have not been affected by modern human settlement.
Over the last five decades, the sandy islets have become an epitome of ecological resilience. 

Their collective size has grown more than sixfold to almost 280,000 square meters since the U.S. forces measured them in 1966, due to natural sedimentary buildup. 

While some 180 species of plant flourish there, the surrounding waters provide a nursery ground for a multitude of fish species including the Korean striped bitterling, the Korean spined bitterling and the Korean oily shiner. 

Seoul City has been providing special protection since it designated the islands as an “Ecosystem and Landscape Region for Conservation” in 1999. In 2012, the Bamseom islets were added to the Ramsar wetland list.
 
“Bamseom’s instinctive ecological recovery represents the birth of a barometer for the Hangang River’s ecosystem,” Han Dong-uk, director-general of the PGA Wetland Ecology Institute, wrote in the 2009 book, “Islands in the Hangang River.” 

“Its reemergence has also greatly contributed to upgrading Seoul’s image as a metropolis, allowing residents to feel themselves the nature’s astounding resilience that created an ecological space and paradise for migratory birds in the urban center.” 

Nodeulseom Island, time-honored playground

Until the Joseon dynasty, Nodeulseom Island was one of the five main ports in the Hangang River basin, named after the neighborhood south of the river, meaning “a stone that white herons play with.” The name of nearby Noryangjin originated from the Chinese characters for “Nodeul naru (port).”

The 150,000-square-meter area, which was once a sandy plain visited by Seoulites for swimming, today supports the Hangang Bridge. 

It houses a pedestrian overpass, a 2,000-square-meter landing pad for helicopters and a monument dedicated to Lee Won-deung, an Army master sergeant who died while saving a teammate during a high-altitude parachute training exercise in 1966. 

The oval-shaped island was called Joongjido during the Japanese colonial rule before it gained its current name in 1995. 

Seonyudo Island, storied ecological park 

Known as the country’s first recycled ecological park, Seonyudo Island had for two decades been the site of a large-scale water purification plant until 2002.
A building once used as a pumping station has since been transformed into a gallery that chronicles the history of the river, with the geological, ecological and cultural heritage of the surrounding region on display. 

In the 17th century, Seonyudo Island was a peak named Seonyubong that rose 40 meters above sea level, embracing two small mountaintops and a white sandy beach at its foot. Many boatmen were said to have often tied up their vessels by the river and indulged themselves in the breathtaking landscape, which was also portrayed in the works of Jeong Seon, a prominent Joseon period painter. During colonial rule, however, Japan broke rocks there to build an embankment to prevent floods, turning it into a low hill cut off from the land.

Now, gardens with different themes entice visitors, while Seonyugyo, an arch-shaped bridge connecting the park and the Yanghwa area of the south bank, is splashed with rainbow-colored lights in the evening making for a perfect night out for many and earning it the nickname “Rainbow Bridge.” 

“Though the reminiscences of Seonyubong were forgotten long ago, we now have a park that has left intact almost all memories of a water treatment facility, the fruit of industrialization, yet with an unexcelled aesthetic sensibility,” wrote Pae Jeong-hann, a landscape architecture professor at Seoul National University in the aforementioned 2009 book. 

Seoraeseom Island, home of canola flowers 

In May, Seoraeseom Island becomes carpeted with yellow canola flowers ― and couples and families seeking to greet the harbinger of spring, as well as volunteers tasked with telling them the island’s stories. 

The artificial island was built in a 25,000-square-meter area between Banpo and Dongjak Bridges as part of Seoul City’s drive to lay the Olympic Expressway and develop the overall Hangang River basin in 1982-86. Maps drawn in the 17-19th centuries showed another island called either Banposeom or Kido Island on the spot, and a sand dune was reported to have been there in the 1960s. 

In addition to the canola festival, weeping willows, reed fields and walkways along the shore have made the island a breathing place for urbanites, while many anglers visit the area to cash in on the slow stream flow and high water temperature to catch carp. 

Seoraeseom Island also provides a habitat for a number of migratory bird species and has a water ski stand and flower gardens. 

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)