WARREN Farm has renewed its calls on how visitors can help protect skylarks.

Skylarks are on the UK Red List, which means that the species is globally threatened, with numbers in Britain having dropped by 61% in the last 40 years.

In March, The Royal Parks called on dog owners to be on the 'lookout' when they visit Warren Farm when they tweeted: "If you're an Ealing local, please do be on the lookout at Warren Farm and keep your dogs out of the long grass as they request."

Unlike Richmond and Bushy Parks, Warren Farm has not been designated as a National Nature Reserve, which means that there aren't any bylaws in place to specifically protect the skylarks.

Katie Boyles from the Brent River & Canal Society (BRCS) told Nub News: "If Ealing Council was to agree to the BRCS's vision of giving our meadows official Local Nature Reserve designation, bylaws could be put in place here, which would give our skylarks the greater protection they deserve.

"Right now, we can politely ask all visitors and their dogs to please keep to the paths, but we have no means to enforce it for the few who don't, unlike The Royal Parks who can."

That message has been reiterated in Warren Farm's latest blog post which came out last week.

The blog post read: "What our experts ask is for people and their dogs to keep to the mown footpaths.

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"We know that lots of walkers are doing just this, which is fantastic. Thank you!

"We believe the vast majority of visitors to our meadow do stick to the paths and are respectful of the skylarks.

"For the small minority who don't, we can educate - point to the posters and share this blog post.

"We are aware that there a couple of new paths that have appeared and main paths have become wider due to increased numbers of people discovering this incredible green space during lockdown.

"The Council is cooperating with us to mow only the main paths, encouraging people to use these safer routes.

"The widening of our footpaths has been unavoidable and the problem is unlikely to go away as visitors will still want to social distance.

"Currently these paths are working to allow this to happen safely.

"Stay safe. Keep social distanced. Keep to the paths."