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Stanmore Country Park is a large nature reserve immediately north of Stanmore town centre. On warm summer weekends it is busy with walkers and visitors; on a frosty winter’s day it can be deserted of people but loud with passing birds and foraging muntjak deer. The reserve is open all year round and welcomes all visitors. All that we ask of visitors is that you treat the site with respect – that includes not dropping litter, not picking flowers or fungi, not lighting fires, not damaging trees or fences, and keeping dogs under control.
The Common is managed by voluntary wardens who work to record species and enhance the site’s biodiversity. Larger scale work, such as mechanical cutting of the open areas to prevent scrub growth, is performed by council contractors.
Natural History
Pebble Gravel at the north-western edge of the Park grades into a thin
band of Eocene Claygate Beds to the south and east. As the Pebble
Gravels and Claygate Beds drain freely, water washes nutrients out of
the surface layers causing the soil to be acid.
Up to around 1950 the area comprised grazed open fields. Of these Six
Acre, Spring, John Hall’s and Forty Acre fields remain as open
grassland. The remainder of the reserve is secondary woodland.
The acidic grassland community is dominated by common bent and
Yorkshire fog. Damper areas are dominated by tussocks of tufted hair
grass. Heath bedstraw, lesser stitchwort, red fescue, false oat-grass,
tormentil and sheep's sorrel also occur here. Wild angelica and marsh
thistle make up the taller elements of this community, whilst spikes of
bugle and trailing stems of large birdsfoot trefoil bloom in a
profusion of purple and yellow beneath. Remote, pendulous and wood
sedges, marsh thistle and jointed rush can also be found. One of the
more interesting plants to occur here is square stemmed St John's wort,
an uncommon plant in London. Rough grassland is relatively rare in
England, especially in the SouthEast, and the open areas in Stanmore
Country Park are therefore the most valuable in terms of biodiversity.
A striking feature of the grassland, particularly in John Hall’s
field, are the many raised nests of the Yellow Hill Ant Lasius flavus.
Some of the less competitive herbs such as heath bedstraw, common
tormentil, sheep's sorrel and lesser stitchwort thrive on their
summits. In a number of locations the ant nest mounds march on into the
woodland like overgrown gravestones, an indication that these areas
were open grassland relatively recently. In our management of the Park
we are working to clear these areas of the newly developed woodland,
since seeds of the grassland plants are likely to be still viable in
the soil, allowing rapid regeneration of the species-rich grassland.
Around the edge of the open areas, particularly Forty Acre field, dog
rose is magnificent for a brief few weeks in June.
Most of the woodland is formed largely of relatively young oak, birch
and sycamore, with sporadic occurrences of rowan, holly, english elm,
hawthorn and elder in the shrub layer. The wild service tree, which is
relatively rare in London, is also found. Other areas of woodland are
more open and contain mature beech, hornbeam and oak, with an
understorey of holly, birch, elder and hawthorn. Hornbeam, in
particular, is more characteristic of ancient woodland, so these
sections have probably been wooded for many centuries. Blackthorn
(picture to left) with its savage thorns is common throughout the
reserve, especially in wet areas along the streams and in Forty Acres
pit. In April its white flowers on the bare stems are an early promise
of Spring; later it bears small bitter plums called sloes that can be
used to flavour gin.
The woodland supports a good fern and bryophyte flora. On the drier
woodland floor are shade tolerant plants including bluebell (shown at
left, image by Marian Sartin), enchanter's nightshade, pignut, slender
false-brome, herb robert and wood poa, whilst wood anemones generate a
splash of white along woodland margins in the spring. Wood sorrel is
rare within the site but can be found in the ground flora of the older
woodland.
The ponds in Six Acre field are balancing ponds dug in the 1980s to
protect the nearby underground car park from flooding. Plants to be
found there include water plantain, reed mace, false-fox sedge, great
willow herb, floating sweetgrass, soft rush, broad-leaved pondweed,
pendulous sedge, and celery leaved buttercup. The pit further along in
the woods is probably ancient gravel digging.
Forty Acres Pit
Forty Acres Pit in the northeast corner of the reserve is a mysterious
ancient pond or reservoir. No historical records concerning this
structure are known, although we suspect that it dates from the
eighteenth century and formed part of the system supplying water to
Canons, the home of the Duke of Chandos.
Birds
The birds spotted at Stanmore Country Park include buzzard,
sparrowhawk, tawny owl, all three species of woodpecker, nuthatch and
tree creeper. In summer several species of warbler are found including
blackcap, whitethroat and lesser whitethroat. Also breeding are
blackbird, song and mistle thrush, and many tit species including long
tailed tit. Grey herons, moorhens and kingfishers can sometimes be seen
feeding around the ponds.
Insects
Elm trees on Stanmore Country Park are home to the white letter
hairstreak butterfly, a relatively rare insect that is a Harrow
biodiversity flagship species. The brightly coloured burnet moth can be
seen flying over the grassy open areas during the day. In fact there
are two species: the narrow bordered five spot burnet, with five red
spots on each wing, frequents Six Acre field, while the six spot burnet
is found in Forty Acre Field. Over 240 species of “macro
moth” have been recorded in the Park over the past few years.
Mammals
Mammals recorded at the Country Park include fox, the occasional weasel
as well as grey squirrels and rabbit. More unusually, badgers and roe
deer have been recorded here from time to time and Muntjac deer can be
spotted in the woodland shrubbery.
Map above reproduced by permission of Geographers' A-Z Map Co. Ltd. (c)Crown Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Licence number 100017302. |
Entrance 1 on the map to left is opposite number 51, Dennis
Lane.
Entrance 2 is the main entrance, with a small car park; look for a
small brown signpost on Dennis Lane indicating the park.
Entrance 3 is at the north end of Kerry Avenue, an easy walk from
Stanmore Jubilee Line station. Entrance 4, connecting to Brockley Hill
Open Space, is not open at the present time. Stanmore is served
by the 142, 340 and H12 busses. |