With all the talk of technologists and virtual and augmented reality, one sense is overlooked – that of smell. And there is no more stunning scent than that of Lady’s bedstraw (Galium Verum) drifting in a peaceful meadow at dusk.
Is the park playground embarrassed?
When you take family to a park playground, you hope the kids will be safe and can run around happily without concern. We in fact visited Perivale park playground yesterday (Friday) at around 14.00 with an infant grand-daughter. We did (sadly) have to check for broken glass and syringes (both of which have been seen there in the past), but at that time it was looking more or less tidy. I decided to visit the area again this morning, and you can see what I found from the photos below.
General nature walk, July 8th, 2023 at 10.00 led by Neil Anderson.
Each year, we normally have a nature walk close to or in the park. Recently these have been organised by the the Ealing Wildlife Group and this year, there will be walk on Saturday July 8th. The meeting place will be on the bridge over the Brent, just past Coston’s nature reserve at 10.00, led by Neil Anderson. He tells me that “provided the weather is fine, the emphasis will most likely be on flora & flying insects such as butterflies & dragonflies. Suspect it will be quiet for birds but I won’t ignore any we come across (Grey Wagtails successfully bred along the Costons Brook in the park).”
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News on meadow sowings – 2023.
Ealing parks will be putting down this year’s bird seed and wild flower mixes in the big meadow in the park, shown below.
The orchard meadows in June – Achillia and Viper’s bugloss.
When the orchard garden project was being planned five years ago, four meadows were created with nutrient-poor soil to encourage a different diversity of flowers to adopt the area. The nutrient-free aspect was achieved by putting down a thick bed of sand into each of the meadows. These were then sown with a perennial seed-mix and planted with bulbs. Of the latter, the gladioli and some dwarf narcissus made a come back this year. So, now in June, what is happening?
Continue reading “The orchard meadows in June – Achillia and Viper’s bugloss.”
The Litten Nature Reserve
Nestling amongst the back gardens of Greenford centre and not far from Perivale Park is this wonderful little nature reserve.
Cornflower meadow.
Yet another meadow to report on – full of cornflowers. Again, having been missing for a year or two, they have made a great comeback this year.
Meadows of poppies and buttercups.
The year 2023 is turning out to be a good one for both buttercups and poppies. Here are some photos of our poppy meadow, part of the orchard garden, and our buttercup meadow, next to the tennis courts.
Heron and Friends.
Herons are daily visitors to the park. One person has even suggested you can set your clock by one heron, who always visits Coston’s brook around 09.15 each day. This is a snap of possibly that heron, or another, with two friends, sent in by Ros. Thanks Ros!
A new river bridge in the park.
Depending on how you define the park boundaries, we have four bridges – two crossing the Brent and two crossing Coston’s brook. A fifth is now taking shape, crossing what might be called Perivale Brook. This latter feeds the ponds in the area next to the children’s playground and previously crossed the path there in a pipe. A pipe that proved too small in diameter and was constantly blocking with leaves from the trees there. Now the pipe is being replaced by a custom built bridge.
May along the river Brent – and our new stream is now a river!
I noted on March 16 an unintended river appearing in the park. Clearly a burst water main, the leak has expanded and now the footpath to Greenford is a proper river. This has been reported to Thames Water, so we might expect it to be fixed soon, if only to save on our precious water. Let’s see!
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Dandelions – a stunning spring flower!
Every year, it seems one flower or plant in particular is favoured by the conditions. Dare I say it, this year it is Tulips and – yes Dandelions.
More splashes of seasonal colour.
The raised beds in the park orchard area are again devoted to spring bulbs at this time of year. Following the annual top-up last November, they are now in full flower – rather later it has to be said than most daffodils!
Seating galore from which to view the wildlife in the ponds.
Are you one of those walkers who likes to see a bench to sit on when you visit a park? Fear not. The meadows to the east of the railway viaduct have lots of seating, in the form of nicely shaped rocks arrayed along the banks of the small stream that flows through the meadow feeding the largest pond. From which you can observe what is happening in the ponds themselves. Such as the marsh marigolds which are making a welcome reappearance; they were planted about four years ago, but last year’s show was very minimal. This year its a bit better, but too soon to say whether they will become permanently establish.
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Heron vs Frog: nature in action
We caught a young heron in the process of swallowing a frog it had just caught. We often see herons in this location, the ponds near to the bridge across Coston’s Brook. This one was very fastidious, dipping the frog in the waters several times before swallowing it.
Friends activities during February 2022-February 2023.
I attach here the report of park activities and projects presented at the Friends AGM yesterday.
Continue reading “Friends activities during February 2022-February 2023.”
The frozen ponds of perivale park.
From Chobham common back to Perivale park. Yesterday the temperature was -6C and the large ponds east of the railway viaduct were artistically frozen. Here are a few snaps, very different from the Chobham ponds.
Final winter colour for 2022 – and some rose mulching
As the year comes to an end, it is still a very unusual one. Roses in early December in such abundance? And they have been given a nice winter blanket of mulch which should set them up for next year.
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Raising the Green Flag in Perivale Park
We had a wonderful turnout for the Green Flag ceremony on Saturday 26th November, and the weather did its bit as well.
Raising the (Green) Flag: Saturday 26th November 2022, 10.00 – 10.30 am in the orchard
The park now has its own flagpole, with a green flag ready to be flown from it. This will first be raised on Saturday 26th November 2022, 10.00 – 10.30 am in the orchard and James Murray, our local MP has very kindly agreed to perform the ceremony.
The periodic lake festival in the Park
A few times a year, especially at this time, the golf course adjacent to the park transforms into a lake. This area is a flood plane, and when the Welsh Harp reservoir gets too full, its sluice gates are opened and the excess water flows down the river Brent until it reaches the park golf course. IThe water then enters the course and exits further down. This turns the golf course into a temporary lake. Today more like a river, since you can see the flow from the videos below. Meanwhile the placid Coston’s brook transformed into a river, footpaths flooded and the ponds next to the children’s playground overflowed. Very probably more to come!
Free five-a-side football training for 8-10 year olds on 26th October – the event!
As part of the MUGA (Multi-use-games-area) restoration project, we organised a day of football training for 8-10 year olds from local schools, run by the Brentford FC community sports trust.
Autumn color in the park – and herons galore.
Two hours ago, heavy rain fell in the neighborhood and we decided to find out what had happened. We quickly came across not one, but two herons eyeing each other up. One occupied the new stepping stones across the pond and the other appeared to fancy the position as well.
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Costons Brook improvements – reed and iris plantings.
Today a section of the bed of Costons brook (near the bridge in Perivale Park) was planted by five volunteers with Flag Iris, which should flower yellow in the spring. Earlier this month, the Greenwayers had removed vast amounts of Himalayan Balsam from the banks and overhanging branches have been trimmed to improve the light reaching the brook.
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An exciting new feature for kids in the park (tested by an old kid!)
A few years back, some large rocks (and railway sleepers) were brought to the park, next to the footpath at the cross-paths, close to the Cowgate lane entrance. Kids soon started scrambling on them with great delight, but the rocks were soon enclosed with fences to prevent this. Now they have been moved to their final location, as stepping stones to a little island formed by one of the adjacent ponds.
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Gurnell Leisure Centre: a proposal to relocate to Longfield Meadows?
The Save Gurnell site is reporting two new proposals from Ealing council for the leisure centre. One of these involves wholesale relocation of the centre to Longfield meadows (a site of importance for nature conservation, or SINC), as shown in the plan below. This follows an earlier proposal to relocate just the BMX track to a portion of this meadow, which was withdrawn last year. Longfield meadows are part of what we call the “Greater Perivale Park”.
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Perivale park summer/autumn event, 2022.
This year the event held on 25 September was bigger than ever. We had the dog “olympics”, where owners and their dogs participated in various types of races and skills tests. The team from Café Berry, whose home is in the nearby Pitshanger park, came with their delicious home-baked cakes and snacks, and gave everyone a chance to sample their special dog vanilla ice creams. The local girl guides painted faces and the weather was perfect. A chance for all the users of the park to meet each other – and their dogs! And the new Friends badge was distributed to everyone. Those who have all three editions have a collector’s item! The next opportunity to get one will be Tuesday 27th September at the park athletics track. Come and get yours, and join in the exercise whilst you are at it!
The orchard garden – Geranium Rozanne.
The orchard garden was originally planted with four rectangular flower beds surrounding the avenue of Crab apple trees, with four larger almost square wild flower and spring bulb meadows (parched yellow below). Last year those meadows put on a fantastic display of flax. Now, a year on all these areas have all evolved.
Some lovely mushrooms in autumnal park.
This is the 2022 edition of mushrooms in the park.
I would not dare identify them, but someone might?
New orchard fruit (in September?) with sunflowers.
Well, its an odd year this year. In one meadow, sunflowers are making a rather late appearance, whilst in the adjacent orchard, new fruit has recently set on the trees as if it were April. The fruit looks abundant, but whether it will ripen is touch and go.
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