Co-op funded street trees

Tues 30 April 2024 Thanks so much to the Co-op for their Community Funding which has allowed us to plant two new street trees on Orchard Road, Brentford. We chose a Prunus Accolade Cherry Tree (for the left pit), and a Sorbus Commixta Rowan Tree (for the pit on the right) both of which should be great for biodiversity and add some colour throughout the year. A very special thank you to Josef, and his team from Lampton 360/Hounslow Council, for doing the hard work of removing the old tree stumps and for planting the trees on an unusually warm spring day. This project has taken several years to organise and we look forward to seeing them flourish and grow over time.

If you haven’t yet done so, it’s possible to sign up for a Co-op card and support our Air Quality Brentford cause profile page. You’ll also get access to exclusive offers, discounts and events, and help support your local community too.

Sparrow boxes and greening front gardens

23 April 24 Last October we held a Zoom meeting to discuss how sparrows are in need of nesting sites. House sparrows are on the red list of endangered birds and in an effort to help, we have used some of our Co-op Community Funding to buy bird boxes for the front of houses in Brentford. Sparrows need greenery, for protection and for insects, so the idea is to also green up our front gardens to encourage them to nest. This improves air quality locally and provides green corridors of our streets. Thanks so much to the Co-op for this funding and to neighbours who sanded and varnished the plywood boxes and have helped install them too. Take a look at the video we made and read more about the project here.

We bought 5 Woodstone sparrow boxes and 14 of the plywood sparrow terrace boxes. You will see them up on the front of houses on Avenue Road, Latewood Road, Brook Road South, Orchard Road, Hamilton Road, York Road, Layton Road, South Ealing Road and Braemar Road. Sparrows nest several times each year, so there is still time for feathery tenants to move in. We could potentially buy a second round of boxes, if you are interested in having one on the front of your house and greening your front garden, do get in touch with us.

We bought the bird boxes from CJ Birdfoods. They have an amazing livestream of nesting boxes for different types owl and birds of prey in Holland which is quite entertaining. It’s in partnership with Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of their Dutch partner Vogelbescherming. Currently one of the three Tawney Owl chicks has fledged and those remaining in the nest are being well fed in preparation for their own future ventures.

We also purchased a swift nesting box but haven’t yet found a location for it. If you know of a public facing space, high up and with a free flight path in to the nest, then let us know.

South Western Railway Community Rail Conference

Mon 9 October 2023 Having adopted Brentford Station for one of our community planting projects, we attended South Western Railway’s Community Rail Conference at St John’s Church, Waterloo. There was an update

Swift boxes: We’ve asked about putting swift boxes on the north facing elevator shaft at Brentford Station and perhaps also at the new shaft being built at Isleworth Station. They need unobstructed locations high up and these seem good potential spots for the birds.

Water butt: We’ve asked if we can have a flat water butt fixed behind the shelter on the north platform to help water the containers next to it.

Notice board on the north entrance of the station: We’ve asked if we could have a lockable notice board to generate help for looking after the community planting at Brentford Station.

Use of unused lock-up on north platform: We asked if we could use the lock-up on the north platform for an occasional seed swap space.

Station House: We’d love Station House to be used as a community hub but are not sure that we have the time or resources to do this solely ourselves.

Station elevators: It was confirmed that the lifts are operational 24 hours and 7 days a week. There is however a notice beside the lift entrances indicating that the lifts are only operational when the office is staffed, which is a bit a confusing, so we’ve asked for these to be removed or replaced.

Information about Sparrow and Swift nest boxes

Thurs 5 October 2023 In London, sparrow numbers fell by 60% between 1994 and 2004. House sparrows and swifts are now on the red list of conservation. We are planning to find funding to buy some sparrow and swift boxes in relation to greening front gardens, see our previous blog post, but before we do so we wanted to find out a bit more about these boxes.

Paul Richens who has been successful in having sparrow boxes on Orchard Road in Brentford kindly gave a talk about the birds and shared his experience with us. It’s an interesting watch, if you can spare 15 minutes: Watch Paul’s YouTube video here.

Paul’s answers to our questions can be found here.

A brief summary of Q&A:

Sparrows
• Do the sparrows live in the box all year round? Yes
• Do they just use the boxes to nest in and lay eggs? They nest in Spring and Summer and live in the boxes over Winter too.
• When do the baby birds hatch and fledge? They can have up to 3 clutches between March and July.
• What’s the best environment for their surrounds? A friendly one, with greenery for protection from predators and a source of insects. They also like bird baths and some grit to help digest their food.
• Does it matter if the box faces north, east, south, west? It used to matter if they faced the sun (south facing) but they are so desperate now they will use boxes in any aspect.
• Do you need to do anything to maintain the bird boxes, ie cleaning them, or do they do that themselves? Yes it’s recommended to clean the boxes out in October/November, to prevent parasites and ticks, by lifting the roof lid and emptying the box and putting a little sawdust in it. If you don’t they will build a nest on top of the old one.
• How noisy are they and do they generally tweet at certain times of the day? They are noisy, they like to chirp at dawn, this can be 3am when the sun comes up in the summer, throughout the day, and again before they go to bed.
• Are they messy? They do make mess (we all do), so it’s best not to position the box over your front door. The droppings can fall on to your front garden and are good for fertiliser. Paul also sweeps up his neighbour’s front garden occasionally to make sure there isn’t mess there.

Swifts
• What’s the best location for their bird boxes? Swifts fly high and only nest high and generally in the same location they were born in. They are fascinating birds which only touch land when they nest, otherwise they do everything while still flying. They sleep in flight by turning off half of their brain and then the other half of the brain. They normally live in Africa and we only see them in the UK between May and July when they migrate here to breed, then they fly back to Africa again.

This link shows sightings of swifts: https://www.swiftmapper.org.uk/

We would like to do initiative in relation to greening front gardens, to make green corridors, to help with air quality, biodiversity and of course the birds. Here are some examples of greening from Brentford and the inspirational Bonnington Square in Vauxhall for suggestions and ideas. If you have any other questions about sparrows or swifts do let us know and we’ll ask Paul and add them to the list above.

Our response to Hounslow Council Air Quality Action Plan consultation

7 September 2023 Hounslow Council is currently consulting on their Air Quality Action Plan. The consultation period closes on 13 September 2023. Have your say here.

Please see our written response from Air Quality Brentford:

Greening and watering

Greening seems to be an after thought in the report, and just for major roads. We would like to see the priority for Greening raised much higher. Green infrastructure needs to be hugely increased and specifically in relation to improving air quality, on smaller residential roads as well as major roads. The Council could encourage residents to green their front gardens. Vauxhall is a great example of a very busy area with traffic and yet the roads around there have so much greenery, and are looked after by the Council which means they can be maintained. Air Quality Brentford has carried out 10 planting projects but it depends totally on the time, effort and energy of residents who live near the particular projects and as such some of the projects have struggled. It would be great if the Council could put far more resources in to greening Brentford, adding pockets of planting wherever possible, greening the grey, and then maintaining them so they survive and thrive and can be of benefit to our town. Greening also encourages walking as it provides a more inviting environment. We encourage Hounslow Council to increase funding in this area to plant and maintain this resource, now and in the future.

We ask that the Council continues to plant even more trees, for air quality in particular, and to act as shade as climate change increases temperatures in cities in particular. It’s a fact that trees reduce temperatures in streets and parks as well as creating shade for refuge from the heat of the sun. These also provide much needed homes for insects which are in decline and to support biodiversity. The effort to plant more trees needs to continue.

The Council needs to provide resources for water harvesting schemes so that pocket parks and greening projects can be made more sustainable. Could the Council commit to piloting a number of different approaches? Air Quality Brentford could offer to participate to help maintain our planting projects across Brentford.

Traffic speed

We continue to ask and campaign to lower the speed limit of traffic on the A4 running through the residential part of Brentford to be restricted to 30mph. This would significantly lower the NO2 and particulates on this busy arterial route. Could the Council work with TfL to enforce this or even run a trial and see how it effects pollution?

Vehicles

The Council’s own recycling vehicles are still highly polluting for residents and for their workers. Please could you accelerate the change to zero-emission vehicles for this purpose?

The buses running through Brentford are still terribly polluting, pumping out pollutants on the pavements on residential streets as they drive. These buses need to zero-emission as soon as possible. It’s heart-breaking to think that a public service like this is also so harmful to human health. The Council is doing a lot but this is very important and it’s listed no 86 of 90. Could action and priority be brought forward please?

Further addressing of idling vehicles both by the public and especially by Hounslow Council vehicles. It’s unnecessary and can be addressed easily by educating drivers.

WHO guidelines

In the 2018 in the London Environment Strategy, the Mayor committed to meeting the WHO’s previous recommended guideline values, published in 2005, across London by 2030. Additionally in September 2021, prior to the World Health Organisation’s revision of its recommended guideline limits, Hounslow Council committed to working towards the 2005 WHO guidelines for all three pollutants, which 2022 data shows is being exceeded slightly (see table 1 below).

Following the revision of the WHO guidelines to much more stringent levels, pollution levels in Hounslow are exceeding the new guidelines and so a key area of the action plan’s focus is to help the Mayor meet the 2030 target and work towards the new WHO guidelines.

We are grateful that Hounslow Council is committing to meet the new more stringent WHO guidelines on pollution levels.

Focus Areas

The A4 (Great West Road) in Brentford is also an area with high levels of pollution in Hounslow and is also considered a focus area for improving air quality along with those listed above. 

Could this area please be officially added to the Focus Areas for there are 6 areas in total and the area be added to map so that it is included in this initiative?

Reporting to Directors of Public Health

Ensure that the Directors of Public Health (DsPHs) have been fully briefed on the scale of the air pollution problem in our local authority area; what is being done, and what is needed. Director of Public Health to sign off Statutory Annual Status Reports and all new Air Quality Action Plans.

Could this be a bi-yearly meeting, every 6 months to keep more abreast of the situation? Once a year seems too little?

Doctors and medical specialists

Strengthening coordination with Public Health by ensuring that at least one Consultant grade public health specialist within the borough understands air pollution issues and routes to mitigation. This can either be achieved through training or recruitment.

Please ensure that every health practitioner in the borough needs to know the impact of air pollution. The borough is too widespread and the issue is too pressing for just one person to be responsible for this.

Smoke Control Areas

Where will the Smoke Control Areas be? Could you work somehow in partnership with residents who might already have or use wood-burning stoves to limit their use or suggest ways they can use their burners in a safe way, eg https://www.directstoves.com/resources/how-to-have-a-wood-burning-stove-in-a-smoke-control-area/

Greening your front garden for sparrows and swifts

It’s possible to green your front gardens and provide a much needed home for nesting sparrows at the same time. Air Quality Brentford would like to apply for a grant, or use existing funding, to purchase some sparrow terraces and swift boxes to give away to residents with the hope that this can be done in conjunction with greening front gardens.

If you have walked down Orchard Road in Brentford you might have noticed the sound of tweeting birds (without this you may well hear the sound of traffic). Some of the residents on this road have made special efforts to provide a suitable environment in their front gardens for sparrows. In London, sparrow numbers fell by 60% between 1994 and 2004. The house sparrow is now on the red list of conservation concern, as are swifts which fly from Africa to the UK to nest in the summer.
We’d love to replicate the sound of singing birds to other roads and MakeBrentfordGreener at the same time. If you think you could get involved let us know and we’ll try to offer some advice.

If you would like to express an interest in a free sparrow and/or swift bird box for your front garden, please mail us at airqualitybrentford@hotmail.com in the first instance.

How to help sparrows

A natural approach is to use Ivy which the birds can nest in, but not everyone wants a wall of ivy. Another approach is to install a nest-box or a terrace box with several compartments each at the front of your house just below roof level. The more greenery you can provide around the nests the better so they can feed on insects.

Putting up a nest box for swifts

Swift chicks make very little mess or noise, and you can either buy or make your own box. Swifts need an unobstructed flyway, at least 5m above the ground, to which they zoom in at high speeds!
Find information about making your own box at http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeswiftswelcome or buy a swift box from the RSPB shop.

Potential small trees and drought tolerant plants

Here are some suggestions of small trees and drought tolerant plants for your garden to help Make Brentford Greener.

6 x Woodland Trust recommended small native trees to withstand climate change:

• Crab apple (Malus sylvestris) full sun and drought tolerant, supports birds and other wildlife
• Juniper (Juniperus communis) evergreen, makes a good nesting place for birds, grows well in full sun
• Osier willow (Salix vimimalis) fast growing, provides important source of nectar and pollen for pollinators
• Hazel (Corylus avellana) another fast grower producing hazelnuts in three to five years, valuable to a range of wildlife
• Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) prefers full sun, produces sloes in late summer and is a good support to birds and insects
• Silver birch (Betula pendula) very drought tolerant, able to withstand intense heat and attractive to a variety of small birds which feed on its seeds and the insects it hosts

6 x Drought-tolerant perennials to help support insects and other wildlife:

• Hardy geraniums (Cranesbills) long-flowering perennials that thrive
  in full sun and can be cut right back to stimulate a second flowering
• Catmint (Nepeta) loved by bees and flowers well on a free draining site
• Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) drought tolerant and will flower prolifically in a sheltered sunny spot
• Lavander (Lavendula angustifolia) highly scented free-flowering and attractive to beneficial insects
• Russian sage (Perovskia) enjoys full sun and well drained soil
  producing masses of lavender flowers late into the year that bees and other insects love
• Sea holly (Erygnium x zabelii) extremely drought resistant, attractive spiky silver-leaved plant

St Pauls Green Fair

Saturday 8 October 22

We attended this lovely fair organised by St Paul’s Church Brentford, and gave away many dafodil bulbs and indoor and outdoor plant cuttings to help green up Brentford’s front gardens, balconies and windowboxes. There was a lot of interest in growing plants and we hope to encourage residents to continue adding to their front gardens to help Make Brentford Greener. The wonderful Bonnington Square is our inspiration – a haven of greenery just south of Vauxhall train station, and well worth a visit to see how residents have surrounded their homes with greenery not far away from a very busy road.

SWR Community Rail conference

29 Sept 22 Air Quality Brentford was invited to South Western Railway’s Community Rail conference today in Salisbury. As ‘station adopters’ for Brentford Station we look after 8 containers of plants and the slope opposite The Kings Arms. It was an interesting day with an opportunity of meeting other station adopters and sharing the different ideas other groups have put in to place at each of their stations.

The Mayor of Salisbury, Thomas Corbin, who was also a train driver up until recently, welcomed everyone to the historic Guild Hall and there was a video from the new Rail Minister, Kevin Foster (MP for Torbay).

Claire Mann, Managing Director, summarised what had been an eventful year, with the collision of two trains at Salisbury last October, praising how the community came together to support the passengers on the trains. The West of England lines have suffered with the extreme heat this summer, the lines have buckled and the clay embankments collapsed and need a lot more rain to fall before the current speed restrictions can be lifted. Tolworth celebrated 50 years since Daivd Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust performed. The Platinum Jublilee was a peak passenger event and also for the Queens funeral in which SWR also transported 2000 armed forces in the early hours, to be present on the day. There have been dips in passenger travel related to Government covid guidelines to work at home, heatwaves and strikes.

Paula Aldridge has 17,000 bulbs which have been delivered to SWR for their Big Bulb Plantout, we are taking part in this, planting 600 bulbs in our Brentford Station containers.

Anna Jipps, Railway Heritage Trust, discussed funding they have for certain heritage projects and we will be investigating whether there is potential to put our own Station House in to use again.

Marcia Burnett, Network Rail, discussed safety education especially for secondary schools and mentioned Tegan’s story, which can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSfs2bXZGDI. She is a small team of one and doing a great job to raise awareness.

Finally, Geoff Marshall, for any train station buffs, did a quiz on the least used stations in Britain, he has a YouTube Channel for anyone’s who interested. Stations include Swale, Coombe Junction Halk, Finstock, Redcar British Steele, Netherton, Teeside Airport and Peartree in Derbyshire where there is a buzzer to Network Rail to let you on to the platform.

Can you help do some watering?

Are you able to offer some time to help water and occasionally tidy these containers at Netley Road? They have suffered a lot in recent months for a variety of reasons and we plan to renew some of the plants and give them a boost, however before we do that we’d love to find some local people from Haverfield or Brentford Towers to look after these. You don’t need to know anything about plants or flowers but if you, or someone you know, would like to help then please send us an email at airqualitybrentford@hotmail.com.

All our community planting projects are looked after by different people all over Brentford, mainly those who live near the containers and without their help the plants would struggle to survive, especially in these hot months of the year. The Netley Road project is number 5 on our Tour de Plants map and is part of our campaign to help #MakeBrentfordGreener and we hope that volunteers will come forward so that these planters can stay in this location.

We could also do with some additional help at Watermans Co-operative on Brentford High Street, number 7 on our map, opposite the Premier Inn.

Read more about our planting projects here:
https://airqualitybrentford.wordpress.com/2021/02/09/tour-de-plants/