The River Crane, a tributary of the River Thames, runs through part of west London, England. It is in the traditional county of Middlesex. The Crane flows 8.5 miles (13.6 km) through three London boroughs: Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames. The drainage basin is heavily urbanised but the immediate old flood-meadows of the Crane Valley are a main "river corridor" in London – a continuous belt of semi-natural habitat. In common with many urban rivers, the Crane's form has been greatly altered, in its case over centuries, by river engineering: widening, narrowing, straightening, dredging, supplementing, adding a discharge channel, and bank reinforcement.
Ingrebourne Valley is a local nature reserve (LNR) in Hornchurch in the London Borough of Havering. It is owned and managed by Havering Council, and has a visitor centre managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. Most of it is in Hornchurch Country Park west of the River Ingrebourne, but there are also areas north and south of the park which are part of the LNR. It has a wide range of habitats, including woodland, grassland, the river and marshes. It is an important site for a range of species of plants, animals and birds, including great crested newts, slow worms, the harvest mouse and the water vole.
London Wildlife Trust (LWT), founded in 1981, is the local nature conservation charity for Greater London. It is one of 46 members of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, each of which is a local nature conservation charity for its area. The Trust aims to protect London's wildlife and wild spaces, and it manages over 40 nature reserves in Greater London. One of its campaigns is to turn London's gardens into mini-nature reserves, and it provides education services for schools. Local groups work on reserves and organise walks.
Yeading Brook is a tributary of the River Crane, in West London. It rises in major part from the Headstone Manor moat, and in minor part from a small stream flowing from Pinner Park. It follows a meandering course through North Harrow, Rayners Lane, Ruislip, South Ruislip, and onwards to Southall, before its confluence with the Crane at Hayes. It is 16 miles (26 km) long and walkable along most of its length, passing through a number of parks, nature reserves and open spaces, including Yeading Brook open space, Roxbourne Park, Ruislip Gardens open space, Ickenham Marsh, Gutteridge Wood and Meadows, Ten Acre Wood, and Yeading Brook Meadows, where it joins the Grand Union canal walk and shortly thereafter becomes the river Crane.
Totteridge Fields is a 97-hectare Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) in Totteridge in the London Borough of Barnet. The SINC includes the privately owned Highwood Hill, and at the western end is a seven-hectare Local Nature Reserve owned by Barnet Council and managed by the London Wildlife Trust.
Coppett's Wood and Scrublands is a 14.5 hectare Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I, between Muswell Hill and Friern Barnet in the London Borough of Barnet. It is part of the Coppett's Wood and Glebelands Local Nature Reserve.
Oak Hill Wood is a 10-hectare Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation Grade I, in East Barnet, London. It is owned by the London Borough of Barnet, and part of it is a 5.5-hectare nature reserve managed by the London Wildlife Trust.
Frays Farm Meadows is a 28.2-hectare (70-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Denham in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was notified as an SSSI in 1981, and has been managed by the London Wildlife Trust on behalf of Hillingdon Council since 1999. It is part of the Colne Valley Regional Park.
Cranham Marsh is a 15.3 hectare Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation in Cranham in the London Borough of Havering. It is owned by Havering Council and managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.
Ruffett Wood and Big Wood are adjoining woods with a total area of 7 hectares on the border of the London Borough of Sutton, close to the village of Woodmansterne. Big Wood is to the south and Ruffett Wood is to the north. They are owned by Sutton Council and managed by the Woodland Trust. They are designated a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade 1. The woods are the largest continuous area of woodland in the borough of Sutton.
Jubilee Wood is located in Malden Rushett in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in London. It is divided into two parts, separated by an electricity sub-station. They are part of the 22 hectare 'Sixty Acre Wood and Jubilee Wood' Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, and the two hectare eastern wood, which is the only part which is publicly accessible, is also a Local Nature Reserve.
Hogsmill River Park or Hogsmill Valley is a linear park along the banks of the Hogsmill River in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in London. It stretches from the junction of Surbiton Hill Park and Elmbridge Avenue in Berrylands in the north to the junction between the river and a footpath to Manor Close in Old Malden in the south.
Ten Acre Wood is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in Yeading in the London Borough of Hillingdon, which is owned by Hillingdon Council and managed by the London Wildlife Trust (LWT). It is also part of the Yeading Brook Meadows Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC), which includes two neighbouring LNRs managed by the LWT, Gutteridge Wood and Meadows and Yeading Brook Meadows LNR.
Yeading Brook Meadows is a 17 hectare Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in Yeading in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is owned by Hillingdon Council and managed by the London Wildlife Trust (LWT). In the north it adjoins Ten Acre Wood across the Golden Bridge and Charville Lane; it then stretches south along the banks of the Yeading Brook to Yeading Lane. The reserve is also part of the Yeading Brook Meadows Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, which includes two neighbouring LNRs managed by the London Wildlife Trust, Ten Acre Wood and Gutteridge Wood and Meadows.
Crane Meadows or Huckerby's Meadows is a 13 hectare nature reserve adjacent to Cranford Park in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It is managed by the London Wildlife Trust, and is part of the Crane Corridor Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.
