Looking for free, fun, nature based activities to occupy the kids this half term? Look no further than the Ealing Beaver Project!
Come and explore Paradise Fields to be guided around the site to discover the Ealing Beaver Project. Hear what the Ealing Beaver family have been getting up to since their release in October 2023. With Beavers being a keystone species called “ecosystems engineers”, Ealing Beaver Project is excited to show you around the site and discover what is to come. You can see signs of feeding and the dams they have built, plus the positive biodiversity and ecological changes made to the site.
October Free Half-term Activities
Family Beaver site tour: Explore and see the work of the Ealing Beavers.
- Tuesday, 28 October: From 12.30-14.00
- Wednesday, 29 October: From 15.00-16.30
Morning Bird Walk: Discover the many birds that live with the Ealing beavers.
- Thursday, 30 October: From 10.00 – 11.30
Meeting Point: Underpass entrance to Paradise Fields, Greenford UB6 0UW
For more details of other Ealing Wildlife Group activities at their Eventbrite
Location
For the half term activities at Paradise Fields meet at the beaver mural underpass entrance in the carpark of Westway Cross Retail Park (behind the McDonald’s). There is free parking for up to four hours in the main carpark. Please check this on the day and park at your own risk.
Westway Cross is relatively easy to get to. The nearest point accessible by public transport is Greenford Underground Station (on the Central Line), which is roughly 8 minutes’ away on foot. From Sudbury Hill Station (Piccadilly Line) in the north it’s a 25 minute walk along the Greenford Road.
Will I see the Beavers?
It is unlikely you will see the Beavers as they are generally nocturnal. You will see lots of Beaver activity including signs of feeding and dam building, and learn a lot about why the reintroduction of Beavers is so important for the environment today.
What should I wear?
Wear wellies or sturdy waterproof footwear, and clothing suitable for the weather or layers. If there has been wet weather the site can be muddy.
Paradise Fields Site Guidelines
When going around the site, please take care and follow the guidelines:
- Keep dogs on leads at all times and under control. Clean up their poo and dispose of it in the bins provided.
- Keep to designated pathways. Be mindful of falling trees and branches and stay away from the water’s edge.
- Respect the beavers. If you are lucky enough to spot them on site, please keep a safe distance and speak quietly so you don’t disturb them.
- Beavers are wild animals, do not feed or approach them.
- Leave no trace: don’t take plants, flowers and wildlife from the site and take your litter home with you or put it in the bins around the site.
- No fires or BBQs onsite: they cause wildfires and disturb wildlife.
About Paradise Fields
Paradise Fields, the home of London’s first urban beavers! This 10-hectare site occupies a low-lying basin in the southwestern corner of Horsenden Hill, the Borough’s largest conservation area, with 100 hectares of meadows, wetlands and woodland habitat. Paradise Fields is the UK’s only publicly-accessible urban beaver site. We invite you to spend time in this dynamic, well-loved and much-utilised space designed with wildlife and people at its heart.
In October 2023, a family of Eurasian beavers was introduced to the site by the Ealing Beaver Project. The project aims to restore nature, improve the area’s resilience by mitigating against flooding and drought, and capturing carbon in the face of climate change, and to engage urban communities with nature and Beaver ecology.
Get updates from ActForEaling
For more activities, see our ActForEaling Green Travel and Exercise partners and look at further articles on Green Travel. To keep to up to date subscribe to ActForEaling email newsletter for emails on what is going on around Ealing.
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