Three Brooks at the tail-end of summer

Back in May, arranging to have our new bathroom fitted during the school summer holidays seemed like an excellent plan, not least since I'd be around all the time to take care of the dog, so she didn't interfere with any of the work going on. In fact, I would take her out on a series of day trips for the duration, to the beach, to the moor, to the hills. Lots of lovely dog walks and clean air, coming home (eventually) to beautiful, if bijou, Palace of Ablutions.  

As it turned out, I failed to reckon with the 34°C+ heatwave that coincided with our planned work, and we soon discovered it wasn't much fun being left without a shower, bath or flushing toilet during two of the hottest weeks this country has ever endured. 

To make matters worse, it was way too hot to take a dark and very hairy little collie out any later than 10.30am, so I got into the habit of driving to Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre first thing in the morning, using their facilities, and then wandering around Three Brooks Nature Reserve for an hour or two. 

I'd been vaguely aware of a nature reserve not that far from where I live for years, but it was only during the first lockdown that it really impinged on my consciousness, and by then it was a) too far away to travel to, and b) rammed with locals trying to get their permitted exercise session in. But the situation has improved somewhat since then, and a nature reserve - even in Tory Toytown - isn't to be sniffed at, unless you're Cwtch.

Coppiced hazel by Patchway Brook

It took five visits to explore all the parts of the reserve, and I was reminded how August is actually a pretty dull month nature-wise, as most of the flowers are over and the birds are all moulting in bushes. Plus, there was the extreme heat, which was an exacerbating factor in this feeling of lifelessness. But the trees - particularly in Webbs Wood, which is designated ancient woodland - were magnificent and I was fascinated by the prospect of somewhere new to explore in all seasons.

Three Brooks Lake

Patchway Brook

Webbs Wood

Oaks and an understorey of hazel ...

... and thorn

Coppiced Oak

Pollarded oak

Blowflies in Savages Wood

Bowsland meadow looking very parched in extreme heat

A venerable ash in Savages Wood

                                           

Chicken of the Woods

Community Orchard

Old farm machinery

Very tall ash trees

Artist's conk

This path leads uphill to a man-made feature called the Tump, which covers what was once Fiddlers Wood Farm and has a fascinating origin story, namely, that it mainly comprises spill from the construction of the new Severn Bridge.

The soils, which aren't typical of the area, have developed as scrubland, providing a different habitat for wildlife, which, even in mid-August, was looking quite autumnal. 

My fifth visit was much more recent, after we'd had some rain, and it was good to see the brooks in a slightly less lethargic state, and a few ducks on the lake. 

Bridge over Bradley Brook

This time we walked along Stoke Brook to Sherbourne's Brake and back. The trees in this part of the reserve are mostly crack willow, black poplar, oak and turkey oak.

Stoke Brook

A gnarly old apple tree

Turkey oak

We will return in the by and by, when a different season is doing its thing. And as for the bathroom, well, it turned out rather nicely, thanks for asking.