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).
Continue reading “A short walk along the Greenford-Gurnell Greenway (and beyond)”
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.
Continue reading “Calling raised bed (guerrilla) gardeners please!”
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.
Continue reading “The Perivale Meadow Ponds: a wetlands takes shape.”
Fungi.
Last october, Trees-for-Cities volunteers planted the new park woodland. Large mounds of bark chippings were brought in as mulch. After all the trees had been planted, a lot of these chippings were left over. Now, some 11 months later, the fungi have come!
Prospective Pulchritude of Perivale Park Ponds.
The past month has brought frequent and sometimes flash rains.‡ The cumulative effect of which has been to fill up the three new ponds in the park to (literally) overflowing, just a week or two after their excavation.
Continue reading “Prospective Pulchritude of Perivale Park Ponds.”
Autumn colour in the orchard and first water in the new pond.
The normal time for seeding the flower meadows is late March/April, but this year a later planting in June was made in the orchard area. With the help of a fair bit of rain this summer, together with hosepipe watering of the fruit trees in the orchard, this late meadow is now starting to show its colour. Currently, its best viewed close-up.
Continue reading “Autumn colour in the orchard and first water in the new pond.”
River Brent Bankside Cleanup – Sunday 8th September, 2019, 13.00.
PinkHill Meadow (Oxford), a model for the Greenford Greenway ponds + more new ponds in the Park.
One of the two meadows just the other side of the railway viaduct that runs along one side of Perivale Park has had a lot of earth moved recently. Here are some photos of its current appearance and some information about what it might shortly become.
Fruits of the forest (sorry, park)
In mid August, the brambles are frutifying and we went out collecting. The result was rather more colourful than we anticipated!
Oak processionary moths in Perivale Park
The park is blessed with some large and presumably old (if not ancient) oak trees. Most look healthy, but today I found out that some are infested with the oak processionary moth.
The golden yellow hues of August in the Park.
Early August, and the sunflowers are in residence, but the shallow pond is now dry despite recent rains and the yellow grasses are now seeding.
Continue reading “The golden yellow hues of August in the Park.”
Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.
Whilst this forum is mostly about Perivale Park, there are many other fantastic green spaces in London to explore. One of my favourites is the nature reserve in Tower Hamlets in east London, the cemetery park.
The first fruits of the Perivale Park orchard garden!
The trees for the orchard garden were planted about four weeks ago, and some of the apple trees already have fruits!
Continue reading “The first fruits of the Perivale Park orchard garden!”
The Perivale Park Orchard Garden in July.
If you have visited the park recently you might have noticed progress with the orchard. The trees are in and are being watered, four sturdy benches made from recycled tropic hardwood for seating are now complete and very soon raised beds will appear for planting with herbs.
Continue reading “The Perivale Park Orchard Garden in July.”
Bee corridors mean …. honey!
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).
July flowers: close up!
When flower plantings started in our area in 2016, we were never sure quite what to expect. It depended on rain and the type of seed set down. Now in mid-July we are starting to get some answers for 2019.
Northolt park flowering meadow.
You are as likely to meet a contractor in many London parks now as you are a park ranger. So it was yesterday that we ran in Andrew, one of the Perivale Park contractors for Ealing council, talking to local residents about the developing orchard garden “pocket-park”. Since these contractors visit many sites, I asked what the most spectacular local park was in early July. He suggested we visit Northolt park, about 4 km north-west from Perivale park.
We have new signs for the Perivale Park flower meadows!
Thanks to a generous grant from the Perivale ward of Ealing council, we now have three colourful and informative signs in the park next to three floral meadows. Thanks to Jan and Brad for their fantastic designs!
Continue reading “We have new signs for the Perivale Park flower meadows!”
In-River litter pick or Balsam Bash: the Choice is yours
NATIONAL PARK CITY TALKS, Sat 29 June, 11 – 5, Conway Hall, London.
Here is a flyer for the first of many events for June-July celebrating the creation of London as a National Park City. If you love your parks, do go along and hear what others are doing!
Bee Corridors and Ponds, June 2019.
In June, only last year’s plantings are in full colour (being around 2 months ahead of this years seedings). Here are some snaps of one of the Ealing “bee corridors” set out last year and now in full magnificence. This should last a month or so longer. There are also corridors that have been ploughed and re-seeded this year, so together they should offer a spectacular display for many more months.
The orchard garden: the layout starts
Close to the Nicky Hopkins bench in the park, on the site of the old bowling green, an orchard garden has started to take place.
(Almost) all things orchard.
Here is an orchard update, both for Perivale Park and for our exploration of the Hanwell orchard trail.
Bee corridors in London (Brent). Hey, Ealing has them as well!
The BBC news headline reads ‘Bee corridor’ planted in London to boost insect numbers and goes on to describe how “… wildflower meadows will be put in place in 22 of Brent Council’s parks in north London.” Well, Perivale Park is one of a similar number of parks in Ealing getting the same treatment!
Continue reading “Bee corridors in London (Brent). Hey, Ealing has them as well!”
A survey of the plant life in Perivale West Meadows: a follow up 8 months later.
Last autumn we surveyed a meadow next to Perivale Park. The same crowd returned there on Sunday May 5th to investigate how it appears in spring.
Continue reading “A survey of the plant life in Perivale West Meadows: a follow up 8 months later.”
Late April in the meadow.
Last October, a range of naturalised flowers were planted in the park. Here is an update on how some of them are getting on in late April. The daffodils have flowered, but the wild garlic and bluebells are just starting.
Floral meadow seeding, April 2019.
Today the central meadow is being prepared for a seeding later in the day. After that the rain dance(s) will need to be performed to ensure a spectacular display in July.
53 Bags of rubbish!
The Greenford to Gurnell Greenwayers had a fun day today, removing all sorts of rubbish from the River Brent. This included one large butane tank (at least 25 Kg), a modern rental bike which was lurking there and 53 bags of very smelly rubbish. This was a canoe job, dislodging items which had become trapped behind a fallen tree and for waders, who were downstream waiting to catch them. Others cleaned the banks. Photos of these heroes are below.