Colne Valley regional park
Colne Valley regional park is a 27,500 acre (43 square mile) area of parks, green spaces and reservoirs alongside the often multi-channel River Colne and parallel Grand Union Canal, mainly in Buckinghamshire, with parts in the London Borough of Hillingdon, Berkshire and Hertfordshire, and a small area in Surrey.[1]
Geography
Much of the landscape is relatively flat — the lower reach of the Colne forming the centre of the park. Almost all the land varies between only 16 to 42 m (52 to 138 ft) AOB[2] and passing a mixture of soils, including occasionally wet, loamy soils and clayey soils, with a small amount of naturally slightly acid heath.[3] Passing through the park is the Colne Valley Trail or Colne Valley Way, which forms a major section of the London Loop and connects to the Hertfordshire Way north of Watford.
East of the village of Denham and west of the villages of Cowley, London, Harefield and the town of Uxbridge, the Colne Valley regional park contains a mixture of farmland, woodland and water, 50 miles (80 km) of river and canal and over forty lakes, which help to regulate the flow of the major Thames tributary and provide fish for angling. As well as providing homes and farms it is also a regionally important place of recreation and internationally important for wildlife. Large areas are open to the public or accessible through a network of paths.[4]
Paths stretch from Staines in the south to Rickmansworth in the north through the alluvial meadows in the valley of the River Colne. Popular attractions within the regional park include Black Park, Chiltern Open Air Museum and the conservation area of Little Britain by the Grand Union Canal, Cowley.[4]
Elevations nearby range from 90 metres (300 ft) AOB in surrounding steep hillsides by Harefield, Denham and Rickmansworth to 16 metres (52 ft) at in the foot of the regional park, Staines Moor.[5]
In the south, the area includes Staines Moor, Staines Reservoirs and King George VI Reservoir. The reservoirs support nationally important wintering populations of tufted ducks, pochard, goosander and goldeneye.[4]
The park includes Denham Country Park, which is a Local Nature Reserve, and Frays Farm Meadows and Denham Lock Wood, which are Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
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Notes and References
- Notes
- ↑ Under creative commons licence by Julian Osley
- References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Ordnance survey website
- ↑ Cranfield University National Soil Resources Institute
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Grid reference Finder measurement tools
