Stanmore Country Park Nature Trail
Post 16: By 2000 the growth of oak and birch secondary woodland meant that the few remaining open areas in Stanmore Country Park were small and separated from each other by belts of woodland. The plants and animals in such glades are at great risk of local extinction. For this reason management since 2000 has focussed on clearing woodland to join and enlarge the open grassland areas. The area to the left was cleared of birch woodland in the winter of 2012-2013 to connect Upper Blue Pond and John Hall’s Fields.

As you climb the low bank just ahead, note the rounded pebbles of the Stanmore Beds. It is these pebbles that create the fast draining, acid soils of Upper Blue Pond and John Hall’s Fields. The origin of the Stanmore Gravel is uncertain, although it is certainly recent - Pliocene to early Pleistocene, that is, 5 million years old or less. One theory states that the pebbles were deposited in tributaries of the ancient Thames. However, they look more like the pebbles of a stony beach.

To description for post 17

Click here to learn more about the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum including guided walks and conservation workdays.