We have recently returned from Rhodes, where we discovered that many restaurants have something called “Wild Greens” on their menus.
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 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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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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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.
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.
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.
An Ealing Greenspace at the start of its new life as a Park.
Last Friday was the last day of the Perivale Park golf course being open – and now it awaits its new life as an Ealing park. We strolled around the park and here are a few photos to give a flavour of what it looks like now. The next thing to happen will be the installation of four benches and four litter bins – the locations of which are already being discussed. As things happen, I hope to record them here.
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Perivale Park Golf club Cafe – use it or loose it!
>The Ealing Parks Foundation had its second meeting this year this last Thursday, with twelve people present. Here I list some bullet points emerging from the discussions, mostly relating to Perivale Park. They are from my own notes, and are not formal minutes! Continue reading “Perivale Park Golf club Cafe – use it or loose it!”
The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) in Perivale Park.
The TCV group organises events around the country and today they came to Perivale Park on a corporate volunteering day with a group of about twenty very enthusiastic people from PwC – and one volunteer dog accompanying Ben!. An area of ground‡ on the banks of Costons Brook near to its exit from the culvert in the park had recently been cleared by GEL using an impressive robotic cutting system and it was now ready for replanting.
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Animal proof litter bins anyone?
Around 9 old litter bins in the park, often raided by animals in the past if they could smell food inside them, have been replaced by ones with animal-proof flaps!
Listening to birds.
I am certainly no expert on birdsong, and so have come to rely on technology (and any accompanying expert) to identify birds. Occasionally I will “listen” using the wonderful Merlin Bird ID app. Switched on today sitting on a bench near the largest lake in the Longfield meadows, eight different birds were identified after listening for around four minutes. A little further along the river Brent headed to Greenford another one was identified, making nine in all.
Perivale Park: One of London’s best outdoor spaces!
Back in 2018, we noted here the impending formation of a new National park based in London! This was the brainchild of Dan Raven-Ellison and now six years later, he has produced a guide to London’s best outdoor spaces where seven picks are listed. Amongst these is the “Best hidden gem: Section 8 of the Capital Ring”.
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Litter picking with a Difference: CURB and Coston’s Brook
Coston’s brook is a tributary of the river Brent, emerging above ground in Perivale Park from a twin-tunnel culvert. The culvert is protected by a metal grill, and over time rubbish in the brook gets trapped on the grill.
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Updates – the park Fritillaries and the Colne Valley Viaduct.
Firstly the fritillaries, which are now looking splendid. Again, I think the bountiful rain this spring has helped!
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A different view of the Park Pear Trees
Last autumn, the avenue of pear trees produced a wonderful orange-hued vista. Now a few months later, it is the turn of the blossom.
Wood sculptures found in a nearby nature reserve.
Whilst out exploring a nearby nature reserve, we came across these wonderful sculptures.
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The Ealing Beaver sanctuary revisited.
Time we thought to revisit the Beaver sanctuary, in Paradise fields. It has been raining a lot and so Coston’s Brook, which feeds the pond where the beavers are established should be and indeed was flowing well. The beavers themselves, which are largely nocturnal, are not expected to be out and about. So that they can be observed, there are a number of remote cameras, which capture their activities. There is a dam across the brook, but whether a “helping hand” from humans has contributed, or whether it is fully the work of the beavers themselves I am not certain.
Perivale Park Kestrel
You can often spot kestrels in the park, but less often taking a rest in a tree.
Costons Brook – as you may never have seen it before.
The water course that flows through the park, Costons Brook, is a tributary of the river Brent. Its source is difficult to identify since the development of Greenford these last 100 years or so have resulted in most of it running in underground culverts. The map I talked about here can help identify its original course, which appears to show one arm of the brook running close to Paradise fields, just west of Horsenden Hill.
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Places of interest in Google Maps for the park.
Google maps depends on crowd sourcing for items of interest on its maps (as indeed does the other map I often use, openstreetmap.org). I have been updating the entries for Perivale Park, the results of which you can see below. All you need is to have a Google account to do so, and although the entries are reviewed by Google, all of mine have thus far been accepted and released into the public version of the maps.
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The River Brent and (some of) its tributaries.
The river Brent flows along the southern edge of Perivale Park, on its way to joining the river Thames at Brentford. I thought here I would trace its route from (some) of its sources. The main route of the river starts in the London Borough of Barnet at Moat Mount, where it is called Dollis Brook. Much but not all of this route is walkable as the Dollis Valley Greenwalk.
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A corner of the park is now restored!
Over the last few years, one corner of the main playing field area of the park had become something of a storage depot. Much of the accumulation was because of the loss of other storage spaces in the borough, and also whilst awaiting for completion of the new park at Glade lane. Gradually since June this year, the Perivale “depot” has been depleted and the contents moved to the new park. Finally the last items have gone and we now await for the grass to grow back to complete the recovery. So thanks Ealing Parks for doing this – it is much appreciated.
Unveiled: the new plans for Gurnell Leisure centre
Leisure centers apparently have life expectancies of ~40 years and the one named Gurnell, located in what we like to call the greater Perivale park in the late 1970s, had reached the end of its life. The original redevelopment plans, the “Gurnell redevelopment”, were rejected a year or so ago by the council planning committee and after a rethink a new team at Ealing Council has put forward what they call a very different set of proposals. A public meeting was held on 30th November to announce these plans to the public. Here I show a few of the posters and slides on show.
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Glade Lane canalside park – monumental mounds!
To the west of Perivale park are to be found Northala Fields, the prominent features of which are the four tall mounds with two outstanding viewpoints at their tops. Now to the south west of Perivale an even larger feature is taking shape- Glade lane canalside park.
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The beavers are coming – real soon now!
Perivale park is blessed with having lots of green interesting areas surrounding it and one of them is Paradise Fields, just up to the road so to speak. There a project to introduce beavers is taking place (around five), following the earlier such project at Enfield and the birth of the first baby beavers in London in 400 years there.
The Colne Valley Viaduct taking shape
What, you might ask is the connection between Perivale Park and the Colne Valley viaduct?The viaduct is part of the HS2 rail link from London to Birmingham – and possibly beyond – and will be 3.4 km long, the longest railway viaduct in the UK. East of the viaduct a tunnel is being bored by TBMs Caroline and Sushila from Northolt to Greenford, ending just up the road from the park at Green Park way. Two more TBMs will head towards Greenford from Old Oak common, a new interchange station expected to be one of the busiest in the UK.
Council Proposing to Close Perivale Park Golf Course – and create a new regional park.
As you can see from the map below, Perivale park abuts a golf course. Ealing council are proposing that this course be converted into a new regional park. Quoting Peter Mason, leading of the council “the Elizabeth II Park has transformed the east of London and this new regional park has the potential to have similar positive effect on the borough and West London” This is apparently part of the promise to “residents (of Ealing) 10 new parks and 50,000 more trees”.