Ealing

Saturday 25th March

After a week of rainy weather, I decided to spend Saturday visiting some new sites in the Ealing Area. I took the bus to Alperton station and travelled a few stops on the tube to Acton Town. It was then a short walk west along Gunnersbury Lane, across the North Circ and onto Popes Lane where there's an entrance into the park.

Site 51: Gunnersbury Park

This was a brand new site for me and is a large town park situated just north of the M4. I entered at the northeast corner and walked around the boating lake then clockwise around the park.

An upside down map with north at the bottom!

The boating lake has a good selection of wildfowl when there's no boats on it

The east side is a mix of formal gardens and light woodland

Horseshoe Pond with the museum in the background and Orangery on the left

Carrion Crow

Egyptian Goose (rufous morph)

Egyptian Goose (grey morph)

Moorhen

There is another pond in the SW corner which is closed off as it's a private fishery but it can be viewed from the path and is another good place for water-birds. It's possible to exit the park here and is a short walk under the M4 to Kew Bridge but I wanted to exit at the NW corner so walked up the west side of the park. This side is just open playing fields so there's not much habitat here.

Playing fields on west side of park

I came out back onto Popes Lane, turned left and then right up South Ealing Road to rejoin the Piccadilly line at South Ealing station. It was just three stops to Osterley. When you exit the station ignore the sign pointing left to Osterley Park. Instead turn immediately right and there's a footbridge over the tube line leading to Bassett Gardens. Turn right and first left heading north and at the end of the road there's a footpath.

Site 52: Osterley Park

The footpath runs diagonally across a field where it joins the main approach track to the park.

Footpath leading to entrance track

It is a private park so don't arrive before it opens. There's plenty of paths around the site, all of which are well signposted. There was a fun run going on today but they didn't get in my way. I explored the main pair of lakes then walked along the main track along the northern boundary adjacent to the M4. I hadn't visited the park for several decades so there had been plenty of changes to the avifauna, for example a Red Kite flew over the northern track.

Main lake with Osterley Park House in the background

I then went back down to Osterley Park House where there is a cafe and toilets. I took the trail on the south side of the eastern lake which leads to the outer track (Osterley Lane) and followed this south to the exit.

Family of Egyptian Geese

Grey Heron; there is a small heronry in the park

Jackdaws are plentiful

Mute Swan

At the exit I turned left onto Windmill Lane which runs north under the M4. Just after the bridge I discovered a new site which I didn't even know existed.

Site 53: Long Wood

The path runs alongside a brook

It's steep and muddy in places so isn't suitable for everyone

It proved to be a useful path to the next site which was my original intent. However, it's worth the walk as it's a nice stretch of woodland and is probably at its best in spring. I only recorded nine species, the best of which was probably a singing Chiffchaff.

Ring-necked Parakeet.

At the end there were two paths: one going up a slope while the other follows the boundary fence to the next site. 

Site 54: Warren Farm 

I walked up the slope to have a look and it was a horse paddock. A Red Kite flew over and I could hear a Skylark singing. I thought it looked like a good place for a migrant Wheatear and as I looked through my bins there was one there before I even started scanning! It was my first one of the year and was some compensation for not seeing any of the Alpine Swifts.

Wheatear

I walked back down the slope and anticlockwise around the area. My only previous visit was in 2020 when I came to see a Wryneck that spent five days here in autumn. Since then the council have cut all the grass and scrub down. There were two Skylarks singing over the grass but with dogs roaming free across it, I can't see that they will be able to breed here. I suspect this is a deliberate ploy by Ealing Council as they want to develop the site. There is a local campaign to turn the site into a nature reserve.

Open grass looking towards the derelict Sports Centre

It proved to be a bit of a raptor fest with two or three Red Kites, a pair of Common Buzzards and a Kestrel all seen on my walk. 

Red Kite

Common Buzzard

Kestrel

I had lunch by the abandoned sports centre then walked up Windmill Lane to the bus stop and took the 483 to Wembley and then onto the 297. It ended up being a really good walk covering four sites, two of which I hadn't visited before.