This site covers the section of the Brent River Park from Brentham Meadow (which lies close to Hanger Lane) in the east all the way to Stockdove Way Meadow (next to the Greenford to West Ealing railway line) in the west. Habitats on this site include the grassland of Ealing Golf Course (which also has a fine pond complex and some oxbow lakes), hay meadows, scrub and the old stone walls in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Perivale.
Local Wildlife Site
Accessible Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation
Brent River Park North: Hanger Lane to the Great Western railway
Borough: Ealing
Grade: Borough Grade I
Access: Free public access (part of site)
Area: 56.19 ha
Description
Wildlife
The section of the River Brent here is mostly lined with trees and shrubs, although some sections are open on at least one bank. This provides excellent habitat for dragonflies and other aquatic insects. Ealing Golf Course takes up the largest part of the site. In the northwest of the golf course, parallel lines of ridge-and-furrow can be seen in the grassland, indicating that this land was once cultivated but has been undisturbed since then. As a result, some of the grassland here has abundant burnet saxifrage. Small areas of flower-rich grassland also occur near the oxbows towards the west of the site. Each of the three terraced ponds has its own characteristic community of wetland plants. The hay meadows at Brentham Meadow and Long Field provide grassland communities contrasting with the closely mown fairways on the golf course. Here wildflowers and common grassland insects thrive because of the annual hay cutting regime. The churchyard of St Mary the Virgin supports a very uncommon fern species, rustyback, growing on a brick tomb.Facilities
Information; cycle paths; historic features; sculptures/ monuments; waymarked walking route
No photo yet available for this site
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