What Dennis Did
Greenford to Gurnell Greenway: Project Update
Visitors to the park may have spotted notices describing progress in the Greenway project. I also attach it here if you want to peruse the details, thanks to Richard!
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Birds in the park – February 2020.
This morning we went for a stroll around the park with Neil Anderson to see how many different species of birds we could spot. The final total: 31 and as Neil put it “if we’d looked harder we could have found House Sparrows by some of the gardens + previous visits have seen Jay & Greenfinch”. The kingfishers in particular were a treat! As the river Brent improves we hope to see them far more often.
The first six years of a new pond.
People have been asking about the new ponds in the park. When first dug, they did look rather raw, although even now just a few months later, they mounds of clay spoil surrounding the ponds are starting to green out. Richard has kindly sent us some photos of how a newly created pond develops over the first six years or so of its life and I share those here. 
No ice-skating please: Winter in the park.
The first real cold snap of the winter has resulted in hoar frost on the twigs and branches and a very slightly frozen surface to the new ponds in the park. The stream feeding them is still flowing, so its unlikely anyone will (or should) be ice-skating there this winter, or indeed in the future given the direction of climate change.
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Quadrat surveys of our biodiverse Perivale meadows, 2019.
Last year, five of us conducted three quadrat surveys of the meadow areas to the east of the railway viaduct in Perivale Park (below, red arrow). This is a beautiful grass meadow and part the Greenford-Gurnell Greenway project, whereby the south meadow has been converted to new wetlands, with the little stream feeding these wetlands running alongside the north meadow. This meadow and the adjacent new wetland ponds featured in a local BBC news item recently.
Continue reading “Quadrat surveys of our biodiverse Perivale meadows, 2019.”
Gurnell-Greenford Greenwayers Diary for Cleaning Up in 2020!
Richard, who organises the Greenwayers diary (and much more) has sent the following dates for clean-ups in 2020. Continue reading “Gurnell-Greenford Greenwayers Diary for Cleaning Up in 2020!”
Google maps: “Your photo is making a difference”
Google maps has for some time allowed anyone to upload a photo of a feature on the map. Once you have done this, they then kindly send you periodic encouragements to continue the habit by revealing the viewing statistics for your photos and a slider which supposedly rewards your activities with “points”.
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Welcome 2020: Winter cheer and future projects!
January 1st and another year to look forward to – lots of projects and ideas on the brew. Here I show splashes of colour still visible in the park and the first signs of spring in the orchard.
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Perivale Park in the BBC news – in a good way!
I noted the planting by the edge of the new river in the extended park area last week. Now the BBC has spotted this new wetlands and you can see the TV report here (time codes 5:04 to 7:05: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000csmw/bbc-london-evening-news-23122019#t=5m4s
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Gauge map, Costons Lane, Greenford
Richard has just sent me this link to the Costons lane river Brent monitoring station (the weir near the new bridge). The display below is live.
Perivale Park stream-side plantings.
Today’s planting was of sedges, rushes and other damp-loving plants along the course of the newly created stream in the extended park area east of the railway embankment. Many of them will produce interesting flowers next year, and will naturalise the shallow banks of this new stream feeding the wetland ponds in the adjacent meadow.
Sunrise in the park on December 9, 2019.
It is on mornings such as these that I lament that I do not have a professional camera. The best I can offer here of sunrise in the park is one taken using a mobile phone.
LONDON NATIONAL PARK CITY RANGERS
Planting Sessions Friday 13th and Saturday 14th Dec
Planting Sessions Friday 13th and Saturday 14th Dec
Thames21 will be hosting 2 planting events. We are going to be planting sedges rushes and a variety of other colourful species on the Gurnell side of the park. Starting location is going to be the Perivale Park Golf Course Café. Below are the links for the event and a poster for the days as well. We are going to be working around the pond areas rather than the steeper banks of the Brent, making these very family friendly events. As always, all equipment will be provided and under 16’s need to be accompanied by a responsible adult. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided. Please pass on the details to anyone who you believe would like to help conserve their local river.
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More spring bulbs in the park.
The bulbs alluded to in a previous post have now been planted.
Perivale North Meadow Wildlife Survey, 19/08/2019.
The two meadows to the east of Perivale park and across the railway viaduct are a rich source of diversity. To establish exactly how diverse, we did a survey this August and the results are shown below.
Continue reading “Perivale North Meadow Wildlife Survey, 19/08/2019.”
An update on the Friends of Perivale Park.
Following a public meeting on 4th November, it was agreed to form a Friends of the Park committee. This committee met on 25th November and elected the following officers; Continue reading “An update on the Friends of Perivale Park.”
Bulbs for London – in Perivale Park.
The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association is a long established charity that runs an annual Bulbs for London program. This year, as a newly formed Friends group (of Perivale Park) we applied for bulbs and were delighted to hear that our application was successful. The box arrived a day or so ago:
Orchard garden update: next year’s planting for the four meadows.
We now have details of how the four meadows in the orchard garden will be planted for next year. Each of the meadows now has a mound of soil, which will be mixed shortly with sand and evened out as soon as the rains and rather soggy ground conditions allow!
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Gurnell-Greenford Greenwayers Outside the Box!
As the name indicates, the Greenwayers normally work along the river from Gurnell to Greenford but on Sunday 10th November, in the spirit of friendship, we went slumming it in Pitshanger Park to relieve them of a bit of their rubbish before it reaches us!
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A year in the Park
Carmel Cahill sent me these photos; she is one of the new Friends of Perivale Park, which was formed on Monday 4th November, 2019. The photos come with the comments:
Come to our litter sweep in/along the River Brent in Pitshanger Park on 10th November!
Forming a Friends of Perivale Park Group, Nov 4, 2019.
South West London Environment Network (SWLEN) & Ealing Council are looking to form a Friends of Perivale Park group to help maintain and enhance this precious green space. The inaugural meeting is on Monday, 4 November, 19:00-21:00 GMT in the Conference Room of Brentside High School.
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The Perivale Park orchard garden in autumn.
This is the orchard’s first year, and so it is still far from its final maturing outlook. But even at this stage the Malus fruits, of which there are in fact just a few, have acquired their brilliant red colour.
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A short walk along the Greenford-Gurnell Greenway (and beyond)
The new Greenford to Gurnell Greenway is now open for walkers. Here I start at the new bridge, which connects Perivale Park to Ruislip road (East).
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Autumn colours (and new bridges)
Here comes the first striking autumn colour (location 1 on map)
Calling raised bed (guerrilla) gardeners please!
The Perivale Park orchard garden now has four raised beds installed, with soil already delivered and ready to be poured into them in the next few days.
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Islands and beds (raised) in the park.
Even more rains have now fully matured the three ponds in the park itself. With the help of more “shallowing”, pond 3 now has its own island!
The Perivale Meadow Ponds: a wetlands takes shape.
To the east of the railway line connecting Greenford and West Ealing stations, a new wetlands is taking shape.
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