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Surprise u-turn by Ealing Council as it now plans to designate rewilded Warren Farm as local nature reserve
Ealing Council has told residents that it will no longer build on rewilded Warren Farm and following a long standing battle with residents and campaigners will designate the land as a local nature reserve.
Labour-run Ealing Council has fought with Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaigners over recent years by saying it wanted to build a large sports facility on Warren Farm which has rewilded itself after years of not being used.
Campaigners warned that developing on the rewilded 61-acre wildflower meadow would leave Ealing’s only Skylark population with nowhere to breed which they say contradicts Ealing Council’s own Biodiversity Action Plan which confirms that Warren Farm is the only place in the borough suitable for Skylarks to nest.
Now the council in a surprise u-turn has said its plans for the future of Warren Farm and the area around it will be “the best of both worlds”.
Read MoreWarren Farn is under threat of development by Ealing Council.
They want to build sports pitches directly on the rewilded area now used by 25% of London’s Skylarks for nesting. There are other more suitable locations to put sport pitches, so we are asking the Council to reconsider their decision, listen to the experts and their constituents, and find a solution that doesn’t destroy the only suitable area for these birds to nest in the Borough. For more information see our blog posts below and visit the Warren Farm Nature Reserve website, this article from Ealing News, and the Council’s website.
Warren Farm is a rewilded 61-acre urban meadow in London UK, part of Brent River Park (BRP) and located in Norwood Green in the borough of Ealing. This beautiful green space is home to an abundance of common, rare and endangered species – such as Skylarks, Barn Owls, rare Clovers, Beewolves, Yarrow Pugs, Bats, Slow worms and so many more. Yet it is tragically still under threat of development, unless urgent action is taken.
Why Warren Farm is so important
Skylarks Need Warren Farm
From the BTO Website:
The Skylark declined rapidly from the mid 1970s until the mid 1980s, when the rate of decline slowed. BBS data show further decline, with fluctuations in Scotland and Wales. The BBS map of change in relative density between 1994-96 and 2007-09 indicates that decrease was severe in Northern Ireland and eastern England but that numbers rose in Scotland during that period, especially in the northwest. There has been a decline across Europe since 1980 (PECBMS: PECBMS 2020a>).
UK breeding population -15% decrease (1995–2020) 
Spider believed to be extinct in Britain discovered in Ealing (Warren Farm)
From the Ealing Nub News:
The skylarks, barn owls and bats found at Warren Farm Nature Reserve will be more palatable to arachnophobes than the latest discovery made among its meadows.
Also calling the nature reserve home is the Philodromus buxi – a species of spider recorded as extinct in the UK.
One of 600 species contained in the family of running crab spiders, the eight-legged rarity was first identified in Britain in 1884 but deleted from the British checklist when decades later this specimen from the nineteenth century remained the only ever one recorded on our shores.
Discovered yesterday by amateur photographer and nature enthusiast, Julian Oliver, and confirmed by the British Spider Identification Group as a Philodromus buxi, it is not the first leggy brunette Julian has found at Warren Farm.
REVEALED: The story behind a rare spider spotting in Ealing’s Warren Farm
From the Ealing Nub News:
A hairy seven-legged arachnid featured in first-place as the overall winner at this year’s Ealing Wildlife Photography competition.
Snapped in Warren Farm by amateur photographer and nature enthusiast, Julian Oliver, the spider, which had lost a leg, turned out to be a pretty special spotting.
It provided the first record ever in Middlesex of a Thanatus striatus.
The spider spotting
Since early last year Julian, 52, from Hanwell had been visiting his local wildlife patch Warren Farm and helping with the Brent River & Canal Society and Warren Farm Nature Reserve group campaign.
With a passion in macro photography, especially invertebrates such as insects and spiders, he began visiting as a species recorder, photographing and attempting to identify his finds.
He shared with us what happened the day he met the rare Thanatus striatus.
Community comes out in force tonight as protesters gather to support Warren Farm
From the Ealing.News website:
More than 500 campaigners and supporters of Warren Farm have staged a community protest tonight (21 February 2023) outside Ealing Town Hall against Labour-run Ealing Council and its leadership over plans to re-develop Warren Farm.
The demo came after last month’s controversial decision by Ealing Council cabinet giving the go ahead to turn as much as half of the land into a large sports facility.
The protest took place before an Ealing Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting which has been called by the Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Gary Malcolm. The committee, made up of backbench councillors, has the power to refer the decision back to the council’s cabinet for further discussion and gives an opportunity for councillors to cancel or delay any decision of the proposed development on the re-wilded meadow habitat.
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Header Photo by Julian Oliver
