| The
Country Park has been established on the site of a former gravel quarry.
The quarry was worked from after the Second World War until 1980.
Since the gravel extraction stopped, this area of the park has been
left to regenerate naturally. There is now a mixture of woodland,
open areas, and open water, each attracting a variety of plants and
animals and making this area very important for wildlife. |
- Willows and sallows have established
in the wet and damp areas, and ash, hazel and oak on the drier
ridges. Parts of these woodland areas are managed by coppicing
- cutting the tree at ground level. This encourages the tree to
grow many new shoots which are important to wildlife. The cut
material can be used for crafts such as basket weaving, hurdle
making and hedge laying.
- Some parts of the woodland are
seasonally flooded and so have a sparse but specialised ground
flora and fauna. Such areas are rare in Bedfordshire.
- Damp open areas are dominated by
common reed, with meadow grasses and flowers growing in the drier
areas. A variety of butterflies and moths inhabit the reserve
and an assortment of orchids can be found in spring and summer.
- The pond is home to great diving
beetles, newts and dragonflies. Water soldiers, an introduced
species also thrives there and has to be managed to keep open
water.
- Kingfisher, Snipe, Moorhen, and
Coot can also be found near the pond, and several species of warbler
nest here, making use of the combined wood/reed habitat.
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- During the gravel extraction period
this open area was used for gravel washing, stock-piling and loading.
It was levelled as part of the restoration. It is now has a slightly
domed contour and has a free draing middle with damper edges,
where the finer material is found. The surface is very mobile
and grass is surprisingly sparse. Similar areas can be found in
some parts of the coast and in the Brecklands of Norfolk. This
habitat is rare and fragile, particularly in Bedfordshire, and
is very important for plants and invertebrates.
- In wet seasons, lichens and mosses
bind and stabilise the surface. In drier times, these plants form
a crust that is very easily broken up.
- The loose unstable soil is the
true habitat for many 'weed' species - Ragwort, Thistle, Teasel
and Willow-herb flourish, as do nettles in the higher nutrient
areas.
- The whole area has been colonised
by rabbits that dig significant warrens. With easy digging, some
of these holes have been enlarged and used by foxes and badgers
for short periods. The ground above these burrows sometimes collapses
leaving rutted ground. Please take care on the uneven ground
when exploring this area.
- Solitary bees, wasps and ants colonise
the warm and dry bare areas and beetles are also common here.
Watch out for Green Woodpecker, Fieldfares and other birds searching
the ground for food. Sparrowhawk and Merlin hunt here and use
the warm and loose sand for dust bathing and 'anting'. A surprising
find can be mussel shells, which have been brought into this area
by predators from the river.
- There are a range of orchid species
in parts where their specialist requirements exist. They are easily
overlooked, as is the tiny Whitlow Grass (actually a member of
the cabbage family). Scrub is beginning to encroach this area
and ash, bramble, hawthorn, willow and elder are kept at bay by
moving and rabbit grazing.
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