Red Green Group/Friends of Perivale Park. Green Flag award 2022-2026.
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.‡
This is another in our occasional series by our good friend Neil Anderson, on the state of plant and animal diversity in Perivale Park. As usual, it takes the form of general comments about various areas of the park, and then a list of the plant species observed in the orchard area.
Last week, a 3m wide strip of the flower meadow in the park was seen being prepared. It runs alongside the meadow seeded with bird mix last year.
We are lucky that our bedroom window faces south, which means that in the mornings we can see the sun rise in the east and in the evening we can see it set in the west. Sometimes it can feel like a display of modern art, and a few times I have here shown the morning artwork. …
First, a bit of history. For many years, a bowling green was maintained in the park, just adjacent to the Cowgate road entrance. From personal memory, about 20 years ago there were regular Sunday bowls matches but one day some youngsters decided to play a game of football on the green. The cost of bringing …
Continue reading “Diversity in the Park orchard: A newsletter.”
Recent warm and sunny conditions have resulted in a profusion of insect life. Probably most noticeable amongst these have been butterflies and various bees. One of the most striking butterflies to be seen at the moment is the fairly large lemon-yellow male Brimstone that will have over-wintered as an adult, perhaps hidden amongst some ivy. …
With all these flower meadows and bee corridors being planted around Ealing (and Brent) and especially Perivale Park, are the bees happy? To find out I visited Ealing Beekeepers, who run hives within the foraging range of the park (typically 2-3 km, but can be up to ~6 km or further).
One of the (several) projects under way in the park this autumn is the preparation of an orchard area, replacing the old bowling green.
Bees are having a tough time around the world. Oddly, they are surviving very well in cities. One reason are the wild flower meadows in London and for some summer relief I thought I would tell you the story of the one shown below.