Welcome Trailsheet 1 of 4This trail has been designed to provide visitors with an introduction to the Park. It starts on the lake side of the Visitors’Centre and follows a series of numbered markers anticlockwise around the lake.
The Park was formerly a sand & gravel quarry which closed in the early 1980’s when the CountyCouncil bought the site and built the Visitors’ Centre as an Interpretive Centre and bird hide.Atthe time it was considered to be a state-of–the–art, environmentally friendly building.
(*) Indicates that additional interpretive materials are being developed (See footnote). These willbecome freely available for viewing or printing from the Friends of the Park website:http://www.hocp.co.uk/
Harrold-Odell Country Park, Carlton Road, Harrold, Beds MK43 7DS Tel: 01234 720016 email: [email protected]
All of these sheets may be printed for personal, non-commercial use.
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1 Lake Edge (Directly in front of the Bailiff’s office)The marker pole in the lake is used to monitor the depth of the water. When the level reaches the top red marker the area is on ‘Flood Alert’and the road to Carlton is closed as it’s impassable to traffic.
Throughout the year, this is an ideal spot from which to view common water birds (*1) such as Mute Swan, Mallard, Coot, Canada Geese, Egyptian Geese and Graylag Geese. Over the water Common Terns can often be seen swooping and diving to pick up insects and small fish from on or below the surface of the lake.
Water birds are best left to feed themselves as they like to graze on grass (geese) or search forinvertebrates in the grass (ducks). However, you can feed them grain which can be purchasedfrom outside the Bailiff’s Office.Please do not feed any birds with bread as it swells in theirstomachs and can cause suffering.
2 The Telescope (Left of path)The Grebe Lake is man-made and was created when the originalquarry was allowed to flood naturally.
Basic facts about the lake:Area: 40 acresDepth: 14 feet at the deepest pointVolume of water: 36 million gallonsRate of flow: one knot (1 nautical mile per hour)Direction of flow: North east (left to right)
The Heron Island is all that remains of the original landscape before quarrying started in the1950’s. The bed of the lake is made up of fossil-rich Jurassic clay. Sand and gravel were takenfrom the lake and were processed on the site before being sent for use in the construction of thethen new city of Milton Keynes.
3 Notice board, edge of overflow car park (Right of path)This dome shaped area of open land was originally the site of noisy industrial activity. Here sandand gravel were washed, sorted and stored before being loaded on to lorries. Water from thewashing process flowed away to the east through what is now the Nature Reserve.
When quarrying ceased this area was left and was colonised by heathland plants and rabbits. Lookat the notice board for detailed information on the flora & fauna of this unique area.
4 Bird Hide (Left of path)
The hide is a perfect place to observe the birds on the lake throughout the year (*1). Directly ahead, on Heron Island, is a colony of about 26 pairs of Cormorants and 3 pairs of Heron.
Cormorants are usually regarded as sea birds that nest on cliffs. The ancestors of the birds you can see probably learned to nest in trees in Holland, where they have no alternative but to nest in trees for safety. Each Cormorant eats about a kilo of fish per day – if you do the simple maths you will see that the colony needs more fish than thislake could possibly provide. As a result they can be seen a various points along the
Ouse valley, fishing in the lakes, quarries and the river.
You can use the recognition cards inside the hide and the Information Sheets on our website tohelp you identify the wide range of birds that use the lake. Sightings are recorded each week on ablackboard on the veranda of the Visitors’ Centre.
One of the more common birds on the lake is the Great Crested Grebe. Easily recognised by thetuft of feathers at the back of its head and the fact that it looks as if its body is sinking in thewater. In the July it is possible to witness parents teaching their young to fish.
Can you spot the ‘Sun-catcher Pyramid’ sculpture across the lake? This is one of the manysculptures that can be found in the Park.
Welcome Trail sheet 2 of 4
Welcome Trail sheet 3 of 45 Tin Shed (Right of path)This wooded area is a habitat that is typical of the type that has been here for hundreds of years.Here you will see evidence of coppicing, one of the earliest forms of woodland management thatis still used today. Willow trees are cut to within 10 inches of the ground, causing them to sproutnew growth in profusion. They can grow as much as 12 feet in two year and these shoots can beused for basket making, fencing and to make charcoal.
A small path leading away from the front of the shed and running parallel with the main track will take you to ‘The Swirl’. This was constructed by
the Friends of the Park in 2007 by driving willow stakes into the ground and then weaving a wall with willow branches. This technique was used in
medieval times to create the ‘wattle’ walls of wattle & daub houses.
Look carefully at the woven material and you will see that although it has been cut from trees, it was started to re-grow. In time this will produce a
living wall. Try to spot where the same technique is used elsewhere in thepark to create protective screens in front of potential hazards like drainage
ditches and for bank protection.
A few yards along the main track from the garage is Troll Bridge. This is one of the entrancesto the Nature Reserve. Although the whole area has been shaped by quarrying, the habitat you see is one that Iron Age people would have recognised. Today it is a managed area where wildlife take precedence over people. Scientifically, this area is ‘FloodPlain Woodland’ made up of a profusion of marshland plants and trees (*2). These include willow, alder, plus more recently arrived species like oak, ash and hazel that are gradually returning it to more natural looking woodland. Note that the area is liable to flood after heavy rain.
Just beyond the Troll Bridge is a culvert used by Otters as a means of crossing from the lake into the reed beds to the right of the track.
6 Silt Bed Seat (Left of the path sign post)It is difficult to imagine that this secluded lake, the breeding ground for Swans, Coot, and Water Rail. Moorhen and Reed Warblers was originally an industrial
waste site. When sand and gravel from the quarry had been washed, the waste water drained down to this point where the solid materials were deposited
before the clean water made its way into the River Ouse via a series ofditches and drainage channels.
Why was the silt deposited here? At this point the water was travelling so slowly that it lacked the strength to carry solids, so it dropped them.
In Summer, you will find Bull Rushes growing on the bank immediatelyin front of the seat. These are the same type as the baby Moses was
hidden in.They are also the rushes that were used to cover the floors of medieval banqueting halls!
7 Hedgerow (Right of the path from the sign post)How old do you think the hedgerow to the right of the path is?
You can roughly work out the age of a hedgerow by measuring a 30 yard length of hedge (say 30adult paces) and counting the number of woody plant species (trees). This will give you the age ofthe hedge in centuries eg. 3 trees in 30 yards = 300 years. Give it a try between the markers.
The old bus shelter to the right of the path marks the half-way point on this trail and is a good place to shelter if caught in the rain.
Welcome Trail sheet 4 of 48 Bus Stop Corner (Left of path)Just around the corner from the Bus Shelter is a short stretch of woodland that illustrates the economic potential of the Willows tree (*3) in the Park.
First notice that some trees have cut using a technique called pollarding. This involves cutting offthe main trunk approximately 4 feet of the ground which encourages new growth.
The thin branches of the willow are harvested and sold for basket making and for decorative purposes such as willow hearts for wedding decorations. If you want to try your hand at this,contact the Warden or one of the Park staff. Thicker trunks and branches will be cut for use in thePark or will be sold as fencing stakes. The very thick trunks and branches are felled, chopped upand sold as logs locally. About 30 tons of wood are sustainably harvested in a manner each year.
9 Squirrel Sculpture (Lakeside left of path)Look directly across the lake at the opposite bank. Here you can see two of the techniques used toprotect the bank of the lake from erosion. The light grey materials are stones in steel baskets called‘gabions. These are used to hold back steep banks in places where it is impossible to use plants tostrengthen the bank. To the right, reed beds are used to create a natural protection against erosion.
In the Summer it is often possible to see a light coloured band running across the reeds immediatelyabove water level, rather like a high tide mark at the seaside. The top of this band represents thewinter water level.
10Seat (Left of path)Directly in front of you and mid-way between the island and the shore
lies the site of a drowned settlement (*4).
Before the quarry was allowed to flood, archaeologists found the remains of an Iron Age settlement and a Romano-British farmstead.More information on these can be seen in the Visitor’s Centre.
11Seat (Left of path)Chellington Church, which can be seen across the lake, stands on a terrace which was created towardsthe end of the Ice Age (*5). A second, lower terrace is located in the main belt of trees just beyondthe lake shore.
The church is all that remains of the village of Chellington. Some say that the village was wiped out by the Black Death. A more likely explanation is that some time in 17/18th century, people moved down the hill into what is now Carlton, in order to be on or near the important route ways through the valley.
Also, on the opposite lake notice where the bank has collapsed. This is a form of erosion that the Park has to manage. One way of repairing a bank like this is by ‘Spiling’. This technique involves driving freshly cutWillow stakes into the lake bed and weaving Willow branches between them. The Willow sprouts toform a natural fence and the collapsing bank falls into the space behind the living barrier.
12Otter BridgeThe bridge crosses one of the main water sources for the lake. The water starts in a small lakenorth of Harrold, also a former quarry. It leaves as a stream which disappears undergroundbefore surfacing and entering the Grebe Lake at this point. More excitingly, this is an Otter routefrom the stream into the lake.
We hope you have enjoyed this introduction to Harrold-Odell Country Park and that you willcome again. It is our intention to develop other trails and supporting information. This will be made freely available for downloading and printing on the website
run by the Friends of the Park at http://www.hocp.co.uk/.Footnote: Materials in preparation*1 Bird recognition, *2 Tree recognition, *3 Management of the Park, *4 Early settlement, *5 Geology & landforms
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