Local Wildlife Site

Wildlife

This large and popular park, close to the centre of Wembley, has a variety of interesting features. Barham Park originated as an 18th century house and grounds, but by the 1840s a house known as Sudbury Lodge had been built in the grounds. It became the home of George Titus Barham, managing director of the Express Dairy Company, which his father had founded. When George Titus Barham died in 1937, he left the mansion and grounds to the Borough. The mansion, Sudbury Lodge, has gone, but the foundations show through the turf, and the gardens survive. A Georgian house in the park serves as a public library. On first reaching the park, whether from the east or west, the first impression is of acres of closely-mown grass. The main wildlife habitat to be seen from the park is not actually part of it. This is the Chiltern Line railway embankment along the northern edge, which grades from dense scrub to grassland as you move from east to west. This provides a useful reservoir for plants and animals, including birds, which then appear in the park. Elsewhere in Barham Park are scattered single specimens and avenues of trees, including hybrid black-poplar (Populus x canadensis), London plane (Platanus x hispanica) and oak (Quercus robur). Near the railway are some very old white poplars (Populus alba); these gnarled specimens have a variety of nooks and crannies in which birds can breed or search for insects to eat. Near the southern side of the park is the attractive, formal walled garden. Alongside is a small marshy pool where bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) and variegated reed canary-grass (Phalaris arundinacea var. picta) grow. To the north of this is the 'Maple Garden' which again is a fairly formal area and includes a pergola made up of a greenhouse where the glass has been taken away. To the north of this again is a fine line of fairly old hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) trees. A grassy path between these and the railway fence links up the eastern and western ends of the park.