River Great Ouse
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Image:GreatOuse-StNeots.jpg Image:DSCN1566-goba-mooring-after-brownshill-staunch 1200x900.jpg Image:River Great Ouse at Little Paxton.jpg The River Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. It is 150 miles (240 km) long which makes it the major navigation in East Anglia, and the fifth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The lower reaches of the Great Ouse are also known as "Old West River" and "the Ely Ouse".
The river has several sources close to the villages of Syresham and Sulgrave in Northamptonshire. It flows through Brackley, Buckingham, Milton Keynes at Stony Stratford, Newport Pagnell, Olney, Bedford, St Neots, Godmanchester, Huntingdon, St Ives, the cathedral city of Ely, Littleport, Downham Market and enters The Wash at King's Lynn.
The Environment Agency is the navigation authority and it attempts to attract more boaters to the river.
Tributaries of the River Great Ouse: (upstream to downstream by confluence)
- Padbury Brook
- River Lovat
- Ravensden Brook
- Gadsey Brook
- River Kym
- Hen Brook
- Duloe Brook
- Begwary Brook
- River Ivel
- River Cam
- River Lark
- River Little Ouse
- Wissey
- Old Bedford River
- New Bedford River (also known as Hundred Foot Drain)
The Ouse Washes are an internationally important area for wildlife.
In 1944 the annual boat race between the Oxford and Cambridge universities took place on this river; it was won by Oxford.
See also
- The Ouse Valley Way (Long distance footpath along the Ouse)
- RSPB Ouse Washes (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserve)
- WWT Welney (Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve)
- Rivers of the United Kingdom
- The Boat Race