Ealing Wildlife Group

07/10/2026

Ealing hedgehogs – October challenge: Is your garden hedgehog friendly?

This October, while getting your garden ready for winter: Could you make three changes to make it more hedgehog friendly? Then tell us that you did it and send a few pictures, if you like.

* Create a 13x13cm gap in or under your garden fence to help hedgehogs get around
* Leave a wild corner for hedgehogs
* Build a hedgehog shelter from logs, branches and leaves

Hedgehogs still live in Ealing!
They visit our gardens to find food, water and nesting places. However, our gardens can be difficult for them to navigate. Fences and walls prevent them from getting around, many gardens are just too tidy and offer no food or shelter, and there are hedgehog dangers like open drains, netting, or ponds.

Request a hedgehog garden coach
Below are a few more ideas on how to make gardens hedgehog friendly. If you need advice you can also request a visit of one of our trained garden coaches – this is a shared project of Ealing Hedgehog Friends and Ealing Wildlife group: [email protected]

A few more ideas:
* Leave dried plant stems, reeds and seed pods until spring (insects will be hibernating in there, and hedgehogs will need this food in spring)
* Tidy up any builder’s rubbish, timber, boards, fence elements or black bin bags that lay around (hedgehogs may hibernate in them from December onwards)
* Secure open drains, lightwells and any other holes where a hedgehog could fall in
* Create an exit ramp or steps to help hedgehogs climb out of your pond or lower parts of your garden.
* Hang any netting 30cm above the ground. Secure wire fences or chain fences with panels of small-hole mesh in the lowest part (ca. 30cm up along the ground). Hedgehogs easily get tangled up in netting and stuck in wire fencing.
* If you like to replace a shed or decking: NOW is a good time (from the end of November until end of March, hedgehogs may hibernate under your shed or decking).

You find more information on the EHF website:
https://www.ealinghedgehogfriends.com/supportgarden.html

07/09/2026

EWG position on the Troubadour Theatre proposal for Walpole Park. Please have your say, links to petition and to write to your councillor are in this blog.

Ealing Wildlife Group are deeply concerned by the proposed plans to construct a 1,200-seat Troubadour Theatre in Walpole Park. To be clear from the outset, this

03/09/2026

30/07/2026

ONE DAY TO GO!

Submissions for our 10th annual Photography Exhibition close tomorrow, 31 July at midnight.

So if that hedgehog snap, fox portrait, or garden bird shot has been sitting on your camera roll, now’s the moment.

📸 Whether it’s wildlife in your garden, along the canal, or in one of Ealing’s parks, we want to see how you see nature on our doorstep.

Don’t miss out! Get your entries in before the deadline hits.

Details on how to submit are here: https://ealingwildlifegroup.com/photography-exhibition/

21/07/2026

10 DAYS LEFT to submit your photos!

The clock’s ticking for the 10th anniversary edition of our Photography Exhibition, and we want to see the nature and wildlife you’ve captured across Ealing.

📸 No need for a fancy camera; we’ve seen fantastic entries taken on a phone

📍 Photos must have been taken in the Borough of Ealing in the past five years

🌱 There are six categories, including Young Explorers (under 16), so get the budding photographers in your life involved

📅 Submissions close 31 July at midnight.

Don’t miss your chance to be part of a decade of celebrating local wildlife through the lens!

Learn more, including guidelines and how to submit your photos, here: https://ealingwildlifegroup.com/photography-exhibition/

17/07/2026

TWO WEEKS TO GO until the deadline for our 10th annual Photography Exhibition 🚨

This is open to everyone! You don't need a fancy camera; what matters is the story your photo tells, and you've all been sharing so many amazing stories about Ealing's wildlife and nature.

🌿 Six categories (including Young Wildlife Explorers for under 16s)
📍 Photos must be taken within the London Borough of Ealing within the last five years
📅 Deadline: 31 July 2026 at midnight

Find out more about the categories, guidelines, and how to submit: https://ealingwildlifegroup.com/photography-exhibition/

11/07/2026

Children notice things we walk straight past.

Some brilliant entries to the Photography Exhibition over the years have come from young photographers under 16, with a keen eye and a lot of curiosity.

This year, we want even more of that wonder in the mix. If you know a young person who loves spotting nature on walks, in the garden, or at the local park, encourage them to submit their shots to our Young Explorers category 📸

🔗 Learn more and submit via this link: https://ealingwildlifegroup.com/photography-exhibition/
📅 Deadline: July 31, 2026

07/07/2026

Happy World Swift Day 💚

Our Swift Project, led by our Special Projects Officer Fiona, now has over 160 boxes up across Ealing!

Thanks to everyone reporting sightings: we’re seeing real interest in the boxes, including from Sparrows and Great T**s, and lots of you have spotted groups of Swifts wheeling over Ealing lately.

But migration season is nearly here.

Adults that have finished breeding usually leave for central and southern Africa in late July, with newly fledged young following in early August, navigating thousands of miles alone.

Younger, pre-breeding Swifts often head off earliest of all, though not before scouting out nest sites for next year, so keep an eye out and play a Swift call near your box if you have one!

Keep those sightings coming on our Facebook group 👀

📸: Illustration created for EWG by Isabel Morris-McIntyre

03/07/2026

Meet Fiona McIntyre, our Special Projects Officer! 🌱

Fiona has been one of the quiet forces behind EWG for years, managing recruitment, leading our Swift Project, which has seen 160+ Swift boxes established across the borough, and overseeing our Invasive Species work, tackling plants like Himalayan balsam along the River Brent.

Swipe to learn more about Fiona 💚

01/07/2026

July is here, and so is your Ealing wildlife calendar! ☀️

Summer is in full swing and we’ve got a packed month ahead, especially at the Ealing Beaver Project. From beaver safaris and butterfly walks to Costons Lane volunteering and family pond dipping, there’s something for every wildlife lover this July.

And it may not be an event, but don’t forget submissions for our Photography Exhibition close 31 July! 📸