Great Outdoors

During World War II thousands of bombers, fighters and transport aircraft took off and landed every day from airfields in eastern England. Each one of these airfields was either enlarged from small club aerodromes, or built completely from scratch. 

Vast natural resources were needed to make the cement for runways and defences; and all over the three counties large holes in the ground bear witness to the sheer volume of sand, gravel and other aggregates (not to mention chalk for cement) needed to build the infrastructure of a nation involved in war.

At Felmersham Gravel Pits any evidence of the wartime exploitation that took place is long gone, hidden beneath a blanket of green helped by the high water table in the surrounding river gravels.  The lakes of dark fertile water, softened by time and wind and blurred by the outline of willow and alder trees, are full of coarse fish; and in the camouflage pattern of light and shade that filters through the reed-fringed margins of the islands of gravel and silt long streamlined pike lie in wait for unwary carp and bream, roach, tench and perch.

It’s hard to believe that this lovely, peaceful SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) is man-made.  The lakes look so natural they could have been here for centuries.  When Martyn Coote and Dennis Furnell visited it was high summer.  Green woodpeckers were making their “yaffling” call from the willows.  This slightly deranged-sounding noise is designed to carry in open woodland. 

The abundant fish life, particularly the shoals of fry that inhabit the shallows and the reed beds, encourage fish-eating birds like herons and kingfishers and there have been reports of otters as well as American mink.  The heavy reed growth has encouraged reed and sedge warblers to breed and the site is famous for the number of whitethroats that nest here in spring.  It’s a marvellous place to listen to the dawn chorus and some years ago Dennis made a series of early morning recordings here that were astonishing in their variety.  One bird he did not hear then was the water rail.  However, this member of the same family as moorhens and coots performed its pig-squeal-sounding territorial song for the microphone just as Martyn and Dennis stopped to chat about the beauty of the site.

Owned and managed by Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northampton and Peterborough Wildlife Trust, access to some parts of the reserve is difficult, if not impossible, for wheelchair users; but other parts have paths that will allow limited access and good views over the water.  Excellent all year round with duck and rare grebes in winter