The Blue Lagoon Local Nature Reserve is a Local Nature Reserve in Bletchley, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. [1] [2] The Blue Lagoon is the only Local Nature Reserve in the Borough of Milton Keynes. The diverse habitat, including shallow and deep water, grassland, scrubland and woodland, hosts an abundance of fauna and flora. The Blue Lagoon is also extensively used as a recreational facility.
The Blue Lagoon lies on part of the site of former brickworks (the neighbouring site to the west is now a landfill site). Bletchley lies on the Oxford Clay Belt [ citation needed ] and the manufacture of bricks was a major industry in Bletchley between when the brickworks were first opened in the 1890s until the development of Milton Keynes in the 1970s.[ citation needed ] The works on the Blue Lagoon site were closed in 1970 [3] and in 1990 the manufacture of bricks on the neighbouring site finished.[ citation needed ]
The area of the nature reserve contains two pits: the northern Water Eaton pit, now known as the Blue Lagoon, and the southern Flettons pit. The Water Eaton pit was flooded in the 1940s when the adjoining Water Eaton Brook burst its banks. [3] The pure blue colour of the pit gave the lake its colloquial and now official name. [3] The Flettons pit was used in brick manufacture until 1970 and in the early 1980s was used as a landfill site. [3]
In the early 1990s, the whole site was redeveloped to upgrade it to Local Nature Reserve status.[ citation needed ] The two parts of the site retained distinctive characters reflecting their differing history and this adds to the diversity of the site.
The Blue Lagoon itself, the main lake on the site, occupies the northern half of the site, bordered by the Water Eaton Brook to the north, the West Coast Main Line to the east and the Newton Longville Landfill Site to the west. The lake is 18 metres deep and so utilised by the Milton Keynes Sub-Aqua Club. [4] They have planted a bus, two cars and a light aircraft to explore. There are also a further six sunken boats and concrete pipes on the lake bed. The lake supports a diverse ecosystem: pike, perch, roach, crayfish are often reported and tench and carp are occasionally seen. As such, the lake is used as an angling site. [5] The area around the lake is predominantly wooded.[ citation needed ]
The southern section of the reserve, around what remains of the Flettons pit, is landscaped around former spoil heaps. The area contains scrub and grasslands and is rich in plants and animals, including some abundant in chalk downland areas but rare in Milton Keynes. [3]
The reserve has experienced fly-tipping and vandalism. [6]
Milton Keynes is the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London. At the 2011 Census, the population of its urban area was almost 230,000. The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary, the River Ouzel, meanders through its linear parks and balancing lakes. Approximately 25% of the urban area is parkland or woodland and includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
The Borough of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority and borough of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire. It is the northernmost district of the South East England Region. It was originally one of five non-metropolitan districts of Buckinghamshire, but on 1 April 1997, under a recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England, it became a self-governing non-metropolitan county, independent from Buckinghamshire County Council.
Calvert is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, near the village of Steeple Claydon.
Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in the south-west of Milton Keynes, and is split between the civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley.
Newton Longville is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about 2 miles (3 km) south-west of Bletchley.
Water Eaton is an area of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and in the civil parish of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford. It is to the south of, and contiguous with, Fenny Stratford. It is one of the ancient Buckinghamshire villages that became incorporated as part of Milton Keynes in 1967.
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The National Bowl is an entertainment venue located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The site was a former clay-pit, filled in and raised to form an amphitheatre using sub-soil excavated by the many new developments in the area. It has a maximum capacity of 65,000. The arena is open-air grassland, without seats.
Lidlington is a small village and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England surrounded by farmland, in the Marston Vale. The hamlets of Boughton End and Thrupp End are also part of the parish.
Arlesey is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire. It is near the border with Hertfordshire, about three miles north-west of Letchworth Garden City, four miles north of Hitchin and six miles south of Biggleswade. Arlesey railway station provides services to London, Stevenage and Peterborough. The Domesday Book mentions Arlesey. The town's name means the 'island of a man/woman named Aelfric'.
Rixton Clay Pits is a former clay extraction site in Rixton, near Hollins Green, Warrington, England. Formerly farmland, boulder clay extraction started in the 1920s for brick making in the adjacent brickworks, and ceased in 1965 - since then it has been allowed to return to nature. It is now an area of ponds, scrub, woodland and damp grassland. It is owned and managed by Warrington Borough Council as a local amenity.
West Bletchley is a district and civil parish that covers the western part of Bletchley, a constituent town of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England. The parish consists of that part of Bletchley which is south of Standing Way (A421), west of the West Coast Main Line, and north of Water Eaton Brook..
Bletchley and Fenny Stratford is a civil parish with a town council, in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It was formed in 2001 from the unparished area of Milton Keynes, and according to the 2011 census had a population of 15,313. Together with West Bletchley, it forms the Bletchley built-up area.
Sport in Milton Keynes covers a range of professional and amateur sport in the Borough of Milton Keynes. In 2019, Milton Keynes was officially designated as a European City of Sport for 2020. There are professional teams in football, in motorsport and in ice hockey. The National Badminton Centre, and the Marshall Milton Keynes Athletic Club train professional and amateur athletes. Most other sports feature at amateur level although there are semi-professional teams in rugby union and football among other sports. There is an international-standard karting track owned by Daytona Motorsport.
The London Brick Company, owned by Forterra plc, is a leading British manufacturer of bricks.
This history of Milton Keynes details its development from the earliest human settlements, through the plans for a 'new city' for 250,000 people in northern Southeast England, its subsequent urban design and development, to the present day. Milton Keynes is the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, founded in 1967. At the 2011 census, the population of its urban area was estimated to have reached almost 230,000.
Newton Leys is a district that covers the southern tip of Bletchley and straddles the boundary between the Borough of Milton Keynes and the rest of Buckinghamshire. The larger fraction of Newton Leys lies within Milton Keynes and forms a part of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford civil parish. It is separated from central Bletchley, Water Eaton and the Lakes Estate by the West Coast Main Line. The remaining fraction of Newton Leys lies within the (former) Aylesbury Vale district and forms a part of the Stoke Hammond civil parish, although the village of Stoke Hammond is situated on the other side of the A4146
Simpson and Ashland is a civil parish in the south of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England.
The Bletchley Flyover was originally a reinforced concrete railway viaduct that carried the former Varsity line between Oxford and Cambridge over the West Coast Main Line (WCML) at Bletchley railway station in Milton Keynes, England. It was retained but largely unused when the line closed until it was demolished in late 2020 and early 2021. As of May 2021, a new structure is being built for use by East West Rail, in the form of a box tunnel around the WCML.