Houghton Regis Marl Lakes

Houghton Regis Marl Lakes
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Area of Search Bedfordshire
Grid reference TL008235
Interest Biological
Area 20.1 hectares
Notification 1988
Location map Magic Map

Houghton Regis Marl Lakes is a 20.1 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire. It was notified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in 1988.[1][2]

The site is a large disused chalk quarry, and it is listed by Geo-East as a "Chalk Place to Visit" due to its exposure of Totternhoe stone.[3][4] It is a rare example of standing water in chalk. It is important both ornithologically and for its range of dragonflies. There are two marl lakes, one deep and one shallow, which have aquatic plants and molluscs, with fens in a waterlogged area between the lakes.[1]

The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire managed the site between 2011 and 2015,[5] . A Trust noticeboard at the northern and southern entrances to the site names it as Houghton Regis Chalk Pit. The Wildlife Trust BCN produced newsletters during their management period and these are retrievable online. Volunteers helped with tasks at various times[6]. Youth Ranger activities[7], took place and these included tasks such as scrub-clearing using conservation tools and controlled bonfires. The Chalk Pit regularly appeared in Wildlife BCN's North Chilterns Chalk volunteer programme[8]


A Houghton Regis Chalk Pit Angling Club was running in 2015, set up to help combat irresponsible anglers who had damaged the environment and harmed wildlife by discarding their fishing tackle, littering, and campfires.[9]. In 2016 there was an attempt to crowd-source funding for a fishing tackle shop[10]

In April 2017 litter was reported to be a problem[11]. In 2018 it was reported that a seat overlooking the chalk pit had disappeared.[12] Following a hot July 2018, the Marl Lake was reported and demonstrated in pictures to have shrunk back, and suffering from the human nature of discarded plastic bottles and tin cans[13].


There is pedestrian access by a footpath running between Fieldstone and High Street North.

References

  1. 1 2 "Houghton Regis Marl Lakes citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  2. ↑ "Map of Houghton Regis Marl Lakes". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  3. ↑ Chalk Places to Visit in Bedfordshire, Geo-East Archived 2016-08-09 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Geo-East, The East of England Geodiversity Partnership
  5. ↑ Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (January 2015). "A Nature Conservation Strategy for Central Bedfordshire" (PDF). Central Bedfordshire Council. pp. 27–28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  6. ↑ http://www.hrnd.co.uk/2013/06/volunteering-opportunity.html
  7. ↑ http://www.hrnd.co.uk/2014/02/houghton-regis-chalk-pit-youth.html
  8. ↑ http://www.hrnd.co.uk/2016/01/north-chilterns-chalk-volunteer.html
  9. ↑ see http://www.hrnd.co.uk/2015/06/houghton-regis-chalk-pit-angling-club.html
  10. ↑ http://www.hrnd.co.uk/2016/02/crowd-source-funding-plea-for-local.html
  11. ↑ http://www.hrnd.co.uk/2017/04/litter-pickers-dismay-at-weekend-mess.html
  12. ↑ http://www.hrnd.co.uk/2018/07/chalk-pit-viewing-bench-disappears.html
  13. ↑ http://www.hrnd.co.uk/2018/08/marl-lake-shrinks-back-in-summer-heat.html

Coordinates: 51°53′56″N 0°32′10″W / 51.899°N 0.536°W / 51.899; -0.536

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