Burnt Oak Brook is a one-mile-long stream between

Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross. Mill Hill was in the historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it became part of Greater London. Its population counted 18, ...

and

Burnt Oak Burnt Oak is a suburb of London, England, located northwest of Charing Cross. It lies to the west of the M1 motorway between Edgware and Colindale, located predominantly in the London Borough of Barnet, with parts comprising the London Boroughs ...

in the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...

. It is a tributary of the

Silk Stream The Silk Stream is a brook just over long in the London Borough of Barnet. It is one of the major components of the Blue Ribbon Network. The Silk Stream is a tributary of the River Brent, which it joins at Brent Reservoir. It has several trib ...

, which is a tributary of the

River Brent The River Brent is a river in west and northwest London, England, and a tributary of the River Thames. in length, it rises in the Borough of Barnet and flows in a generally south-west direction before joining the Tideway stretch of the Thame ...

, which is a tributary of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

The stream's course

A minor spring in

The Mill Field The Mill Field is a Site of Nature Conservation Interest, Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a public open space which slopes steeply down from the road called The Ri ...

in Mill Hill is probably a source of a tributary of Burnt Oak Brook, but the brook itself is first visible in Simmonds Mead Open Space, a small green open space at the junction of Watford Way and Lawrence Street. The stream then again passes through an underground pipe to re-emerge in the north-west corner of Lyndhurst Park. It goes along The Meads and under Deansbrook Road to pass through Abbots Road Allotments into

Watling Park Watling Park is a public park in Burnt Oak in the London Borough of Barnet. It is one of Barnet's sixteen premier parks. It is a hilly open area with mown grassland, a children's playground, a football pitch, a basketball pitch and a small rose gar ...

. On exiting from the park it goes underground to join the Silk Stream near Silkstream Park.

Ecological value

The section of the brook between Lyndhurst Park and Watling Park is part of the ''Silk Stream and Burnt Oak Brook'' Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II. Downstream of Lyndhurst Park, it passes through a narrow belt of mown grass which is left wild close to the brook, with scattered trees and common wild flowers on the banks. In Watling Park the stream mainly follows a natural course and crack-willows, hawthorn and alder form a woodland corridor for wildlife. Grey wagtails often forage among the pebbles of the brook.

References

{{authority control Rivers of London Nature reserves in the London Borough of Barnet 2BurntOak

The stream's course

Ecological value

See also

References