Boost for Warren Farm Nature Reserve Campaign
Insurance company donates £2,000 which will be matched by council
Campaigners explaining how the funds will be used to improve the reserve
The campaign for the re-wilding and conservation of Warren Farm Nature Reserve has received a boost after a global insurance company made a donation.
AXA has given £2,000 to the Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS) and Warren Farm Nature Reserve Group and this will be matched by Ealing Council.
The site, which campaigners say is one of the most species-rich recorded in London, has returned to nature since Ealing Council stopped using it for sports over ten years ago. Lying undisturbed, rare plants which had laid dormant for decades, re-appeared as well as Red Listed insects, mammals and birds.
BRCS are in discussion with Ealing Council on the future of Warren Farm receiving Local Nature Reserve designation and the council decided to match AXA’s funding enabling the removal of redundant fencing on the site. This will allow mammals such as UK Red Listed hedgehogs to move more freely across the reserve and its adjoining meadows, and will give greater protection to the site’s skylarks, a bird that nests on the ground and whose chicks can be vulnerable to birds of prey who use fencing as vantage points.
The removal of the redundant chain-link fencing will create a Wildlife Corridor across a vast area. Part of the money will also be used to install a new kissing gate and proper signage to enable easier public access and to inform visitors of the wildlife on the site, including requesting visitors and their dogs to stick to the paths during the skylarks’ breeding season.
The fencing runs adjacent to the Earl of Jersey Field where there is a very narrow statutory public footpath and right of way, with two man-made large holes cut in the fence at either end to enter the reserve from Trumpers Way and Windmill Lane respectively. The public footpath has redundant chain-link fencing on one side and a barbed wire fence on the other, the latter of which keeps the horses residing on the Earl of Jersey Field contained. The old chain-link fencing would have originally been put up to keep footballs from straying off what was once pitches, creating clear sightlines, making public ac-cess safer and with the footpath easier to maintain.
Video showing where fencing will be removed
As part of AXA’s strategy to reach net zero emissions by 2050, it has awarded grants to 28 local organisations to support groups in developing green spaces and protecting endangered species including Warren Farm Nature Reserve.
Zoe Ashdown, Head of People Engagement, Culture & Strategy, AXA UK, said, “We’re really pleased to once again be supporting local causes through our community grant scheme. The big focus this year is supporting organisations that work to protect our planet, so all the projects are community-led, environmental or biodiversity focused. Our people have nominated projects across the UK and Ireland that they feel would really benefit from the support of the scheme and it’s fantastic that we have been able to provide funding to all 28 causes.”
BRCS trustee and Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign organiser Katie Boyles said, “We are over the moon to have been selected as one of AXA’s 28 local causes. Having the support of a major organisation is a real boost and the donation will make a significant difference to the protection of Warren Farm Nature Reserve and our wildlife, as well as making the site safer and more easily accessible for visitors to enjoy. Our urban meadow is critical to the achievement of London’s biodiversity targets and AXA’s generous donation will be of great benefit to the community here in West London. We are also encouraged and thankful that Ealing Council have match-funded AXA’s donation and we will be giving further updates to our supporters via the website and social media channels with our progression as we approach Spring.”
The BRCS and Warren Farm Nature Reserve Group have put forward a proposal which would see Warren Farm and its surrounding meadows by the Brent River classified as a Statutory Local Nature Reserve (LNR). The BRCS, which successfully campaigned for the creation of the Brent River Park in the 1970s, launched its campaign in January 2021. Since then, it has attracted national and local media coverage with 11,000 signatures on its petition and support from notable organisations and individuals such as the London National Park City, CPRE London, The Barn Owl Trust, Conservationist and Wildlife Writer Kabir Kaul, Dr Sean McCormack of the Ealing Wildlife Group, Ealing Friends of the Earth, Rambler’s Association West London Group and LAGER Can.
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February 2, 2022