PARKS
Resident enjoying Acton Park
THE BOROUGH’S MAIN CONSERVATION SITES
1
Brent River Park
The park includes Pitshanger
Park, Perivale Park, Brent Lodge Park,
Hanwell Meadows and Elthorne Park,
and Elthorne Waterside.
The many parks and spaces
have created a mosaic of different
habitats, providing a home to a
wide range of bird, insect, mammal
and amphibious species. There are
also lots of different wildflowers and
hay meadows throughout the park.
2
Horsenden Hill
The park in Perivale is the
largest single nature conservation
site in Ealing.
With beautiful areas of ancient
woodland, grassland, ponds and
hedgerows, the park provides an
opportunity to experience nature up
close. The park is separated into three
distinct sections: Horsenden East is the
highest point in Ealing offering amazing
views from the summit, which is 84
metres above sea level. Horsenden
West boasts a mosaic of wildflower
meadows, hedgerows and ponds. The
third part, Paradise Fields, is a peaceful
haven of reed beds and lagoons.
3
Islip Manor Meadows
This is a wet meadow with
more than 20 grass species and 10
flowering plant species among the
diverse wild growth.
Damp grassland and ephemeral
ponds also have a number of
uncommon plant species growing
there. These include ragged-robin,
lesser spearwort, marsh cudweed,
sneezewort, pepper-saxifrage and
devil’s-bit scabious.
4
Northolt Greenford
Countryside Park
The Northolt and Greenford
Countryside Park has some of the
borough’s best walking and cycle
routes and consists of a number of
smaller parks, playing fields and
countryside. It forms a more or
less continuous belt of green open
space, much of which is extremely
valuable for nature conservation.
The Greenford lagoons and birch
wood provide a great refuge for a
wide range of wildlife species in its
many ponds, wetlands, woodlands,
meadows and scrub.
The Marnham Fields and Smiths
Farm Open Space offer much larger
areas of meadow and scrub.
They are on either side of the
Grand Union Canal and are
linked by a traditional wooden
footbridge constructed out
of green oak and decorated
with a distinctive ‘Green Man’
carving. More than 2,000
trees have been planted
to increase the diversity of
wildlife and attract new birds
and insects to this area, which
was once a landfill site.
Rectory Park has a range of
sports facilities and children’s
playgrounds,
while Northala Fields
is a unique park with its four
distinctive grass mounds running
along the south of the A40. It
has established wildlife habitats,
including ponds and fishing lakes
and wildflower meadows.
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN
NATURE CONSERVATION?
The park rangers run task days
when volunteers can come
along and work on a current
conservation project. They
regularly take place on Tuesdays
(although there may be
occasional weekend workdays)
and tasks include woodland or
meadow management, pond
care, fencing or footpath work,
hedge planting or tree planting.
Rangers also organise
volunteer days up and down
the River Brent, clearing
rubbish and undertaking
conservation projects to
benefit wildlife along the river.
It is a great opportunity to
learn new skills, meet new
friends, keep fit, enjoy the great
outdoors and do something
positive to help your local
environment.
Email [email protected]
if you are interested in finding
out more.
around ealing
Autumn 2016
37