June is of course for roses, and they are looking absolutely splendid in the orchard garden at the moment. I even got a comment about them being better than the ones in the Queen Mary garden, Regent’s park!
The raised beds in the orchard garden- Iris and allium.
The most regular plantings of flowers in the park are in the four raised beds in the orchard garden (not withstanding the adjacent meadow which has just been planted with a mix which includes poppies and cornflowers for later in the year).
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Update on the Imperial-CURB Run-off project
This is a one year project to measure water run-off along the entire river Brent corridor. There are four sampling points in Perivale park itself and a total of 99 samples along the entire length have been collected so far and sent to Imperial College for analysis.
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The Perivale Park meadow 2025 – a blue theme!
The meadow has been rotavated and is currently as I write this being seeded with the following mix:
Isabella Plantation- Richmond park
Following on from one of the spring highlights of west London, here is another. The Azalea and Rhododendron glade in Richmond park, known as the Isabella plantation. This is a movie of the famous still pond in the centre of the plantation.
Perivale wood 2025: bluebells, celandine, stitchwort and cuckoo flowers.
This year there is no public open day viewing of the bluebells in Perivale Wood, so I thought I would show some of the highlights here instead.
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News on Park food – Pear Tree Park Bistro.
Following the closure of the old golf club cafe last December, news now comes that a new food outlet is planning to open this summer in the same premises – the Pear Tree Park Bistro offering modern European cuisine. It is hoped it will have longer opening hours than the original cafe (which closed by 3-4 pm), and also retaining breakfasts on the menu. There are plans to expand the seating area for diners and to open a community room at the back of the building. Indeed, the ethos of this bistro will be the community and engagement with it.
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Brent-Imperial Run-off Project.
A major one-year scientific project is starting which will involve sampling the waters of the river Brent and some of its tributaries. This is a collaboration between the Environmental Research group at Imperial College, CURB (Clean Up River Brent) and around 30 teams of volunteers. The project aims to analyse rain-water run-off immediately before and after “heavy-rain” to establish the levels of pollutants along the Brent corridor.
Brent Riverside track.
Thanks to a lot of clearing out of previously inaccessible undergrowth, a delightful new footpath has been created on the north bank of the River Brent as it flows through what is now Pear Tree park. This complements the existing footpath on the south bank, although the new one only runs along part of the length of the river in the park.
Tree planting in Pear Tree Park
Wild vegetables!
We have recently returned from Rhodes, where we discovered that many restaurants have something called “Wild Greens” on their menus.
A good year for – Cob nuts?
Every year, starting around now, one can watch out to see if any particular species seems like its going to have a good year. So the first of these I have spotted are the cob nuts in the orchard garden
Requited love – a romantic story of the night.
It started about 2-3 weeks ago when throughout the night I heard the call of a bird, just outside the bedroom window so it seemed, or at very least in our garden. To confirm my supposition, I whipped out my bird identification app (Merlin) and identified it as a Little owl.
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Bright sun and frost on Horsenden Hill.
The first proper freeze of the year is always worth a photo or two. In this instance, not of Perivale Park itself but of the nearby Horsenden hill.
Tree Watering Champions.
Signs of a new project for Perivale park (or more accurately the surrounding streets) have appeared. Called “Trees for Streets“, it encourages local residents to go out and water trees planted in Ealing streets (there is one for parks as well).
The Glade Lane Canalside Park Ponds.
A little over a year ago, I reported that the Glade Lane canalside park had acquired its new and impressive mounds. A year later, there is a further addition – a set of nice interlinked ponds, which when settled in and matured in a few years time promises to look very attractive.
The 2024 edition of the morning sky over Perivale Park
At a time of year when most of the colour has gone from the park, one has to look to the sky. Here is how it appeared this morning at around 07.30.
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The last of the autumn colour: Cosmos
The meadow “frame” planted earlier this year has finally brought the Cosmos to the fore. They have been going for a little while now, and will indeed last a little longer!
More seasonal activity!
The entire year has been wet! And so to the 2024 vintage fungii – which are now emerging in force.
Autumn colour in the park: Spindle.
Walking along the Capital ring path in the path, one comes across a collection of flowering bushes with spectacular pink and orange fruits and red leaves.
Fast-charge battery trains next to Perivale Park
Following on from the previous post of interesting things happening in the proximity of Perivale Park, here is another.
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Guerrilla gardens close to Perivale Park
Along Hicks Avenue, the houses of which back up to the park, we spotted this wonderfully cheerful little Guerrilla Garden. Its been there for a while, but is looking particularly cheerful at the moment when Perivale Park itself is starting to wind down for autumn. It is wonderfully well tended, and whoever looks after it, we want you to know it is appreciated.
All about Bees!
This blog features bees quite a lot. Way back in 2019 we had highlighted the Ealing Beekeepers just down the road from the park. Just recently I was contacted by Christy from savingourbees.org offering some nice advice on how to do the very best for our bees and it is reproduced here as a guest post.‡
New sandpits and benches.
In these posts in the past I have often referred to the two general areas of the Perivale park sports fields and the Longfield meadows and ponds on the other side of the railway embankment as the “Greater Perivale park“. Now sandwiched nicely between these two is Pear Tree park, which along its northern and western edge is entirely contiguous with Perivale park itself, the eastern edge being bounded by the railway line and the southern edge by the river Brent. So when something new or interesting is found in these general areas, I might find myself describing it as the greater park and its distinct three sections, each with their own character. So today the photos were taken in the greater park, and particularly in the Pear Tree section and the Perivale park pond area.
“Framed meadows”
Ealing this year has adopted a policy of “framing meadows” with colourful strips of flowers, whilst retaining more “bird friendly” sowings in their centres. At least for the central meadow in Perivale Park.
Pear Tree Park – the opening.
Today, the new park created from the golf course adjacent to Perivale Park, was inaugurated as Pear Tree park at around 11.00 this morning.
A summer’s day (spiral) walk around Northala Fields
Just to the west of Perivale Park are the Northala fields, a prominent feature of which are the four large mounds. The largest and tallest of these has a spiral (right handed!) path to the top, which we walked today. The flowers on either side of the path were stunning – as was the scent from the thistles, attracting quite a few butterflies as well.
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July 7th: A ‘power hour’ of litter picking in your local green space.
The Conservation Volunteers have recently suggested that a “power hour” Sunday 7th July be spent litter picking. So two of the Friends of Perivale Park got out their “power picker”, and visited the site where TCV recently spent about two hours replanting the edge of Coston’s brook. As it happens, not too much litter there!
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Perivale Park Academy.
These notices have appeared around the park recently!
Notice the age group, 2-7. So if you have children/grandchildren that age, consider enrolling them! More details will no doubt follow.
The orchard meadows in June!
The orchard meadows were sown in 2019, five years ago. Watching them each year, I am struck by how very different each year has been. This year is no exception. The photos below do not do the meadows justice – go see them for yourself!