BRITAIN’S leading walking charity, the Ramblers Association, is supporting a petition to protect Warren Farm, which lies on the border of Southall and Yeading.

Brent River and Canal Society (BRCS) has launched a petition to make Warren Farm and its surrounding meadows a nature reserve.

The Ramblers are offering support by writing written to the Mayor of London and Ealing Council.

The group has nearly 500 members, who regularly walk in the meadows and want to see the site protected for residents and to help nature.

Since Ealing Council stopped using Warren Farm for sport in 2013, the meadows have re-wilded to house rare birds, mammals, plants, reptiles and insects.

More than a decade ago, Ealing Council agreed the meadows should be a nature reserve but has yet to take action on it.

BRCS trustee Phil Belman, a local naturalist, said: “Politicians say things, but nothing they say as far as we’re aware is backed up by anything they’re doing.”

During the pandemic, more people have been visiting Warren Farm, and the campaigners believe this has helped them reach more than 5,000 signatures.

Campaign organiser Katie Boyles, also a BRCS trustee, said making Warren Farm a nature reserve would benefit the community for many years.

“We’ve gone through some really tough Covid times and I think people are rediscovering nature on their doorstep and actually really appreciating green spaces that perhaps they’d have never discovered before,” she said.

The State of Nature report 2019 ranked the UK as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world at 189th out of 218.

The 61-acre Warren Farm is home to many rare and endangered species, such as the skylark, a red-listed bird facing extinction in the UK.

Mr Belman said: “There are relatively few sites now in London where skylarks nest: Wimbledon Common - where they’re really, really struggling - and Richmond Park are probably the nearest examples.

“At huge sites like Horsenden Hill, we have no skylarks nesting. So, the fact that, for the last few years, we’ve had several pairs at Warren Farm is pretty special.”

Less than two per cent of wildflower meadows remain in the UK, and Mr Belman said Warren Farm was precious because of its original soils.

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The soil has never been fertilised or damaged in any way, for example by landfill, which is unusual in London.

“Warren Farm is unique because the soils are original terrace gravels of the River Thames and they have substantially been left alone through thousands of years,” he said.

The campaign was initially inspired by conservationist and wildlife writer Kabir Kaul, 15, who strongly believes the meadows' diverse species should be protected.

He said: “It has been wonderful to be part of this campaign for nearly two years, and I have learned so much about this precious green space in the heart of Ealing.”

Lord Randall of Uxbridge, forensic botanist Mark A Spencer and the Barn Owl Trust are among those supporting the campaign.

In 2019, Ealing Council declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency and the campaigners say they want to work with them to protect Warren Farm.

Currently, there are no plans for the land, but residents recently had to fight a proposed training ground for Queens Park Rangers FC.

Campaigners want to see Warren Farm at the centre of a new nature reserve, along with Jubilee Meadow, Trumper’s Field, Blackberry Corner and Fox Meadow.

They also want neighbouring horse pastures, owned by Imperial College London and the Earl of Jersey, to be included in the Brent River Park.

They want Warren Farm on the agenda for this year’s London mayoral election and the May 2022 council elections.

The campaigners also told Ealing Council a while ago that they needed to review their Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation, which they are doing.

Mr Belman said, of the petition: “It’s up to the council to decide. Are they going to go with it? Or are they going to continue sticking their heads in the sand and thinking [they] can ignore this? I don’t think they’ll be able to ignore the number of people who are signing up to it.”

To learn more and sign the petition, visit the campaign’s website: www.warrenfarmnaturereserve.co.uk

Ealing Council has been approached for a comment on its plans for Warren Farm.