River Lea Catchment Partnership

Welcome to readers visiting from the link on the River Lea Catchment Partnership website and on the Houghton Hall Park Newsletter! 

Visitor numbers have increased substantially since those links were posted.  Thank you for your interest.  Do comment via the 'contact' link on the right.


 To regular readers, have you visited the River Lea Catchment Partnership website yet?  http://www.riverleacatchment.org.uk/

Houghton Brook runs into the Luton Lea and is mentioned in the Management Plan of the Luton Lea website page.

To find Houghton Brook and the project, go to the link above, and on the 'Rivers' menu go to 'Luton Lea' which is first in the list, or click on the map.  Houghton Brook is the western most tributary of the River Lea.

Next click on 'Luton Lea Catchment Management Plan' and then 'Catchment Projects' and a map will open up showing coloured spots for the different projects run by Groundwork, the group responsible with partners for this section of the River Lea.  The purple ones are those that affect the whole catchment.  Click on purple 11 at the source of Houghton Brook by the Green and Houghton Hall Park, and read the exciting plans to improve the banks in that section alongside the park down to Park Road North, remove the silt and replace it with river-washed gravel and more.  There is also a mention on the plan of works to be done on the Houghton Hall Park newsletter to plant more trees on the north bank and sow wildflowers alongside the stream where it's mostly nettles at present. 

Golden gravel will replace silt

I am very grateful to Maddy Kershaw, Marketing and Communications Manager of Groundwork, that Houghton Brook has been adopted as a project of the Luton Lea, along with support from Julia Scott of CBC, the Environment Agency who made suggestions for improvement, and Alexe Rose of the Greensand Trust which runs the Friends of Houghton Hall Park now incorporating Friends of Houghton Brook!  (see https://www.houghtonhallpark.org/get-involved for how to join) Maddy has written a letter in Luton on Sunday about what Groundwork is doing for the River Lea see below:

As Maddy says, 'the involvement of local people is key to the protection and preservation of the river' so if you live anywhere along Houghton Brook or the Luton Lea and want to be involved, do get in touch with Groundwork via the website.  One thing volunteers can do is learn to test the quality of the water, and the bio-diversity of the stream.  This is citizen science that anyone can do.  There's something for everyone in this project.

The may blossom this year has been wonderful, the scent filling the air and the songs of birds lifting the spirits despite the relentless noise and intrusion of the road works. 

Sadly I have not seen water voles this year although, like last year, evidence has been found that they are still in residence. 

Enjoy the summer and do something for wildlife!

Foxes on the Woodside Link

 

 

 

The black poplar looks down on the road as the level rises steadily. 

 

Following reports of a fox with cubs I went out to look.

 

 

Well-camouflaged against the road a vixen looks around but she's safe today because it's Sunday.  I hope she's found enough food in the diminished scrub and woodland behind to feed her cubs.

 



When she notices me it's a staring match, but she's safe from me too because I'm behind a fence.  Her cubs are trapped in a very small thicket.  They'll have to find their way out soon and decide which side of the Woodside Link they want to live because wooden fences will be put up along the road.  I would be pleased to hear reports of readers' sightings.

Spring Comes to Houghton Brook

 

 

 

A May morning beside the brook accompanied by larks, chaffinches, robins and more.  Other days yellowhammers and whitethroats have joined the chorus.  Turn up the sound and enjoy!

 

 Common Whitethroat staying still for a rare moment!

 

 

 

 

Don't be fooled - the soundtrack is not this little chap who could only manage a few cheeps!

 

The willows are coming into leaf and soon it will be harder to see these little songsters.

 

 

Under water things are also moving, if a little more slowly.

Watch out for the water snails!

 

 

 

 

Below: Two grey wagtails close to the source of Houghton Brook next to Park Road North.  They are well camouflaged.  The grey blends in well with the silt, only the yellow under the tail betrays their presence.

 



 



 

Grey wagtail behind dandelion head

 

Next time you walk along the stream between the Green and Park Road North, keep alert for a bird flying swiftly past, up or downstream as it is likely to be this wagtail searching for food to feed his family.

 

Get out there and enjoy the brook this month!

Parkside Link Bridge

From out of the mud a new scene has arisen awaiting landscaping.  Woodside Link Facebook Page says on 1st April: "We'd like to hold another exhibition soon focusing on the scheme's landscaping features - so your questions would also help us prepare information for that."  I have asked when it will be but haven't heard yet.  This is our opportunity, as residents, to ask questions and comment on the plans.  So keep your eyes on the Woodside Link Facebook page for the announcement of the date and venue.

 

I would like the willows that were removed alongside the old stream to be replaced along the new stretch, so as to continue the wilderness theme and encourage willow warblers to visit each year as they used to.  Also, water voles like apples, so apple trees close to the stream would provide food for them.  There are signs they are still there but there are more rats around than voles.  The copse that has been decimated needs replanting to provide cover and habitat for nesting birds such as whitethroat, willow warbler, black cap and chiffchaff, and undergrowth for foxes, small mammals and slow worms. 

 

These pictures show what the area around the Parkside Link looks like now.

 

Old bridge on the old bus link just showing remains of old stream bed

Newly dug route of Houghton Brook showing new bridge over it

 



 

Closer view of new bridge over new stream

A few remaining willows lean over the brook in the short undisturbed stretch

  

 

Frogspawn - I usually get one common frog in my garden each year!  I hope I will this year too.

 

 

The beautiful weeping willows, always the first to burst into leaf in spring

 

Keep watch for new developments and make sure you have your say!

 

A Bird's-eye View on the Changing Landscape

 

Little Egret surveying the course of the stream

 

There wasn't a bridge there last spring

 

Green Woodpecker on beech trees,

wondering where the woods he nested in last year have gone

A pair of Common Buzzards close to Chalton Cross Farm

 

I love bird-watching at this time of year as one can see them so clearly on the still bare trees in the low rays of the sun.  Will they nest locally I wonder?

 

Yellowhammers and linnets are numerous still on Shanley fields, and I have heard skylarks singing and seen the first warbler of the year, or was it a chiff-chaff?

Past White Winters - 2012 and 2015

Take a moment to enjoy with me the glories of frosty mornings on Houghton Brook in previous winters!

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your company! 

 

Regeneration

The warm December has encouraged the stumps of the hedgerow that was cut down along the bus link to regrow.  This is hawthorn but the leaves of blackthorn and field maple are also visible.  Spring is in the air!



In the stream the weed is already beginning to grow too.  A lot of other things have changed since I last looked too!  The borrow pit below has filled with water and wildlife is making itself at home.  A mute swan appears to have found something to feed on, and flocks of black headed and black backed gulls seem quite at home next to the M1.

 Further west towards the town centre, work has been done to trim the hedges bordering the stream, but sadly vandals have taken the opportunity to use it as a dumping ground again. 

 

 

We can do something about this eyesore by banding together and working with CBC and Groundwork to care for the stream and keep it clear of rubbish like this.  As Houghton Brook starts in the town centre adjacent to Houghton Hall Park, and is already part of their regeneration programme, it is likely the Friends of Houghton Brook will join with the Friends of Houghton Hall Park to clean up and protect the stream all the way from its source at the pavilion, through Parkside and HRN1 to where it goes under the M1 to Luton.  So wherever you live in Houghton Regis, you can help in the area nearest to you.

 

Will you become a friend of the stream too?  The health of the stream is important both for our welfare, safety from flooding, and the welfare of the wildlife living there and further downstream.  But it needs active helpers to keep an eye open for anything amiss and report it. 

 

Thanks to those who have responded so far.  Please contact me via the contact button on the right to show you care for Houghton Brook and would like to help.

Regeneration is already taking place -

why not become part of it and help improve

our town's natural environment?