May - a walk along Ouzel Brook

Yesterday I took a lovely walk along Ouzel Brook where I found new bridges, gates and marker posts installed, and I do recommend it to my readers for this weekend.  Accessible from Chiltern Way alongside Bedford Road, or from the Tithe Farm bridleway 22, I was walking through fields of lush grass and flowers, and it was very beautiful and almost peaceful.

Starting from the bottom of Grove Farm bridge, this first gate leads into a meadow which must have been a field of gold when the dandelions were all out -  I should have come earlier!

You can't miss the way with these marker posts.  This is footpath 13.

There is no livestock in these fields at present, but there often is, so please keep dogs on a lead as indicated on the signs below.

The new bridges and kissing gates are a great improvement on the old rickety stiles.



I turned back along footpath 14 towards the Grove Farm bridge again.

I saw a jay in this field and heard chaffinches, chiff-chaffs and a green woodpecker calling. 

The path runs along the side of the field, and there are some beautiful flowering and fruiting trees which attract the birds here.

Grove Farm bridge where I started from, left takes you back to the first kissing gate, straight ahead leads over the bridge and to Bridleway 44.

The blue signs are bridleways and yellow footpaths.

This is where the scenery changes dramatically as the thick brush has been cleared south of the stream for HRN1, letting in a lot of light and reducing shelter for wildlife. 

This used to be very dense thicket.  The yellow tipped stake beyond is NOT a way marker!  It's part of the building works.

The bridleway runs very close to the works here.  One can only hope they plant some more trees to replace the scrub they cleared.

Work in progress...

From the top of the footbridge one can see the foundations of the main street being laid. 

View of AMP1 from the top of the hill on the by-way which, thankfully, hasn't changed a bit.

At this point it poured down with rain so I made a hasty retreat to my car.

 

I hope you enjoy the holiday weekend, whatever the weather, and the signs and sounds of spring in the remaining green areas of Houghton Regis. 

 

PLEASE DON'T DROP LITTER - TAKE IT HOME WITH YOU!

 

THANK YOU



Autumn Watch around Houghton Regis

Two sorts of fungi on this log in Houghton Hall Park

In Parkside I came across this honeycomb with wasps swarming over it, and a broken wasps nest nearby.  I have no idea what had happened.  Curious!

Just south of the A5 dual-carriageway is a footpath through dense woodland, and here I found an unknown climber dripping with jewel-like berries.  Any ideas?

These sloes contrast beautifully with the yellowing leaves.

Hawthorn berries, a feast for birds

Colours of Autumn

Sunset from the Chalkpit

Common Darter in Houghton Brook

Green, white and gold in the Chalkpit

An abundance of red berries in Sewell Quarry amongst the yellowing silver birches

View north east from Sewell Quarry towards HRN2 and the new warehouse, with Wingfield beyond

Looking south west along the Chilterns towards Totternhoe Quarry, Ivinghoe Beacon and Wendover Woods

 

Houghton Regis Northern Boundary with Chalton and Chalgrave

On a very hot, still afternoon I visited the spring at Kingsland, on the edge of Parkside, and found it still wet, even after months of drought.  The area was green and full of life in contrast to the brown fields around, a lovely sight and a vital resource for insects and birds.

A speckled wood butterfly alighted on the grasses and a handsome hornet hoverfly (below) paused long enough for me to admire its yellow and red colouring, designed to deter birds from attacking it. 

The eastern boundary with Chalton Parish runs along the ditch on the other side of the field close to the Woodside Link, then turns west along the Sundon Link.  At the new roundabout on Sundon Road the boundary continues to follow the ditch but this time the Ouzel Brook is flowing west... when it does flow!  An elevation of 126 metres above sea level is marked at the roundabout making this a watershed. 

A footpath follows the track alongside the brook and hedge which veer left while the boundary carries on in a north-westerly direction across the A5 towards the ridge, which it reaches at its highest point of 133m offering wonderful views in all directions.  Below, the sun sets behind the ridge.

View from the footbridge over A5 towards the Sundon Road bridge

 

 

View from the ridge 

 

View across a barley field towards the Chalkpit

 

The boundary dips down towards New Barn then bears left away from the path along the line of pylons behind Grove Spinney (below) next to Grove Farm. 

 

 

Looking east from the bottom of Lords Hill B5120

 

 

The new roundabout on the A5 with a grand view of Chalk Hill

 

 

Pegasus crossing on Lords Hill

 

 

While the pylons march across these arable fields, the boundary with Chalgrave Parish sticks to the hedge marked at intervals wherever a footpath strikes up the hill towards Wingfield. 

 

 

 

This is a delightful path to walk along, wide and smooth with all sorts of wildlife sheltering in the hedge and ditch alongside...

 

 

...and scenes of rural life just over the hedge!

 

 

After the reservoir, opposite Thorn Farm, the path turns up or downhill while the boundary continues along the hedge to the A5 Watling Street shown below.  

 

 

I will leave the boundary here to pick up another time and connect with Sewell Greenway.  For now, here are some more views of the changes taking place in Bidwell.

 

 

 

As I climbed the hill towards Wingfield, more and more distant views appeared until I could see Blows Down in all its glory, Dunstable having disappeared in the dip between.  Houghton Regis is surrounded by lovely vistas which lift my spirits when I take to the footpaths.  The northern boundary certainly has some treasures to reveal to those who make the effort!