Ealing Wildlife Group are a local community conservation group and applied for a project licence from Natural England. They are focused on bringing nature back to urban areas and engaging local people with green spaces. They have spearheaded a number of other successful conservation projects in the area including driving the increase in birds of prey in the borough, developing a community nature reserve and reintroducing the threatened Harvest Mouse to the borough after local extinction.
Citizen Zoo is a social enterprise harnessing the power of the community for urban nature conservation and rewilding. They set up the London Beaver Working Group to explore the possibilities of beavers returning to or being reintroduced back into London. They have also been successful in their own reintroduction programmes for Water Voles on the Hogsmill River in Kingston and the Large Marsh Grasshopper in Norfolk. In 2022 they began restoring Kingston’s largest nature reserve by adopting rewilding principles.
Friends of Horsenden are a community of volunteers dedicated to preserving the cultural and natural heritage of historic Horsenden Farm, Hill, Wood and Meadows. They support a cooperative of enterprises including coppicing and hedge laying, forest school, community Orchards, vegetable growing alongside mental health charity Mindfood, a brewery, a bakery and much more. They also help support regenerative conservation projects including a small holding with rare breed livestock conservation grazing in collaboration with the site Ranger and other initiatives with Ealing council and Ealing Wildlife Group
Ealing Council have pledged to support the project by sponsoring the initial outlay on infrastructure such as fencing, gates and grilles to enclose the site. This project will benefit a variety of priority species on Ealing’s Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) including Water Voles and Great Crested Newts. Of particular interest to the Council and local residents, hydrological modelling has indicated that this project may significantly reduce flooding downstream around Greenford Station and surrounding streets.
With support from
Beaver Trust is a climate and nature restoration charity restoring beavers to regenerate our landscapes. They provide practical solutions to help people live alongside beavers and support legislation that rebuilds ecosystems and strengthens climate resilience in a time of ecological and climate crisis
The Mayor of London’s Rewild London Fund is supporting SINC owners and managers to improve these key sites, and making sure that the network is resilient in the face of climate and ecological emergencies. Rewild funding enabled the physical preparation of the chosen site, baseline surveys and establishing monitoring activity. A new officer was recruited to manage the project and support the engagement of over 150 Beaver Believers. The beavers have flourished, building five dams on site in just five months, transforming the site into a flourishing and immersive wetland, combatting the climate crisis and creating a biodiverse ecosystem.