Warren Farm Should be 'Coronation Meadow' Say Campaigners
Total rewilding of area would be 'in keeping with the outlook' of King Charles
Existing meadow at Warren Farm. Picture: Nutty Natter Photography
May 11, 2023
A call has been made to redesignate Warren Farm as a ‘Coronation Meadow’ by campaigners hoping to turn the whole site into a nature reserve.
It would effectively become ‘Meadow 101’ as a supplement to an initiative by English Heritage to create 100 wild meadows across the country to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.
The Warren Farm Nature Reserve campaign is suggesting that local councils up and down the country, including Ealing, should follow English Heritage’s lead. The group says that by giving Local Nature Reserve status to Warren Farm Nature Reserve, a 61 acre rewilded grassland and wildflower meadow habitat home to rare and vulnerable species including Skylarks, the council could create the 101st Coronation Meadow.
The neighbouring meadow to Warren Farm Nature Reserve was named Jubilee Meadow in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s jubilee so a Coronation Meadow would be in the same tradition.
Katie Boyles, Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS) Trustee and Warren Farm Nature Reserve (WFNR) campaign organiser said, “Declaring a new Local Nature Reserve for the King’s Coronation would commemorate the occasion and send a strong signal about Ealing Council’s commitment to the future and their climate and ecological policies. King Charles has long been a champion of the environment so this would be in keeping with his outlook and his vision for taking greater care of our environment.
English Heritage explained the reasoning behind its initiative by saying, “Since the 1930s and the advent of post-war modern farming practices, the UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows. Before that, much of England’s grassland – from meadows, road verges and lawns - would have been home to a much more diverse flora than we have today.”
WNFR says. “The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and we are facing a looming climate emergency. There are less than 3% of wildflower meadows left in the UK, of which Warren Farm Nature Reserve, is one. With Ealing’s only Skylarks successfully breeding here and plant species such as Copse Bindweed, with our meadow being the only site left in London where it grows, what a wonderful way to commemorate a point in time and show future generations that in 2023, Ealing Council was looking to the future. Declaring Warren Farm Nature Reserve as a ‘coronation meadow 101’ would be a lasting legacy for our council leader Peter Mason to leave. Street parties are brilliant fun but protecting biodiversity for future generations is a gift of life for everyone.”
The campaign for Local Nature Reserve status for the whole of Warren Farm Nature Reserve now has 21,000 signatures on its petition.
The council has described its proposals for Warren Farm as a win-win for the borough with the reintroduction of sports activities being combined with what it describes as ‘London’s biggest rewilding project’. Although some land that was given over to nature, and became a habitat for skylarks, will be built on, the council is aiming to allow adjacent plots of land to be rewilded as an offset.
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