Tiddenfoot Waterside Park - Leighton Buzzard

The park can be found next to Cedars School and is directly accessed from the car park on Mentmore Road and by a cycle path beside the Grand Union Canal.

A number of improvements carried out by the council have created alternative access with a cycle route linking Mentmore Gardens to the public footpath network, canal and river. Other enhancements have included a large paddock area and a new dog-free picnic zone.

The beautiful park is an important wildlife haven situated on a former sand quarry that now forms an eight-acre lake. A mosaic of habitats including acid grassland to the north, wild flower meadow to the south and a perimeter woodland belt surrounds the lake. Open to the public at all times the park provides good opportunities for leisure and wildlife watching.

Once naturalized, flooded sand quarries provide important wetland habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife. Now a mature site, Tiddenfoots aquatic environment provides an important local resource for water birds, such as tufted duck, mute swan, great crested grebe, coot and moorhen, as well as for amphibians and invertebrates.

The lake is particularly well known for its stock of wells catfish. The fish are direct descendents of the Duke of Bedfords catfish obtained from the River Danube in 1800 and introduced to the lake from the Dukes lake at Woburn Abbey. The catfish, which reach well over two metres in length, attract anglers from all over the country.

The grassland and areas of scrub surrounding the lake provide excellent habitats for many wildflowers, butterflies and birds. It is a good place to see sand martins, which use the adjacent quarry area as a nesting site. Following their winter holidays at the Sahel region of Africa the birds complete their 6000-mile journey and start to arrive at the site around March before returning to Africa around October. Whilst spring to summer is the best time to see flowers, butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies, October to May is a good time to see a range of birds that migrate to Britain for the winter.

The park is now host to Leighton-Linslade Town Councils annual Canal Festival. Now in its third year the event attracts around 4000 visitors interested in rural crafts, wildlife, folk music, canal boat heritage, and traditional canal art.

Tiddenfoot Waterside Park provides an opportunity to create a better gateway to the Ouzel Valley Park that runs through Leighton Buzzard and Linslade. It plays a prominent role in the development of local strategies for open space recreation, acting as the central resource for environmental education, access and recreation that also fits into plans for population growth in the area. Recent proposals for the site include building a combined Ouzel Valley Park Visitor Centre and facility for the Leighton Buzzard Canoe Club. To improve access opportunities to the surrounding area there are also proposals to create a new canal bridge linking the park to the canal towpath.