Guards Club Island, also known as Bucks Ait or bucks' eyot is an
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
in the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
connected by footbridge by to
Maidenhead,
Berkshire accommodating a pier adjoining the
Sounding Arch part of the railway bridge which was built in 1838 to designs by
Brunel. The thin small island is connected to Guards Club Park by a low
cast-iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
and wood
footbridge
A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...
which blocks the near channel (backwater) to boat navigation apart from kayaks. The island gets its alternative name from
eel bucks
from which the footbridge was adapted in 1865 to allow access to its Guards Club Boathouse (since demolished).
The island is special status part of Guards Club Park (a
public open space). Access to the island, a
nest
A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...
ing site for
water fowl
The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating ...
, is restricted between December and June.
References
External links
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead parks information
See also
*
Islands in the River Thames
This article lists the islands in the River Thames, or at the mouth of a tributary (marked †), in England. It excludes human-made islands built as part of the building of forty-five two-gate locks which each accompany a weir, and islets subordi ...
*
Ait
An ait (, like ''eight'') or eyot () is a small island. It is especially used to refer to river islands found on the River Thames and its tributaries in England.
Aits are typically formed by the deposit of sediment in the water, which accumu ...
{{coord , 51.5217, -0.7020, type:isle_region:GB, display=title
Islands of Berkshire
Islands of the River Thames