Leats in meadows leading to Bond's Mill

The presence of sunshine took me out to the canal today with the possibility of seeing kingfishers again. Sadly that was not to be but I had an enjoyable walk. I noticed that recent clearing work on and around the banks of the canal had lead to parts of the fencing being replaced. The southern towpath edges onto a steep embankment running down from the elevated canal to the nearby River Frome. It is an area where the river has left the tight confines of the Stroud Valley and has had the ‘freedom’ to spread out and form a flood plain, meandering across the flatter land.

Finding a gap in the fencing I boldly ventured down the bank and after about fifty yards I walked up and over a small bridge over the river marking the point where it flows out of a tunnel under the main Bristol to Birmingham railway line. No-one walks here normally, including me, so this was actually a new area of exploration. When I stood on the parapet of the bridge I looked directly west as the river flowed towards its meeting with the River Severn about five miles away. 

Before the railway was built the river was allowed to flow across the meadows and special water courses called leats would have been constructed to modulate the flow of water to the Bond’s Mill seen here a few hundred yards away. I was interested to see this landscape, as the use of water power has ceased at the mill, but the infrastructure remains.

As I stood enjoying the view I saw an egret flying over the meadows and then landing in the distant stream this side of the mill buildings. A huge white gull stood on the grass near to the stream not far from me. It felt very peaceful.

I’ve added an ‘Extra’ showing the view along the canal towards the small bridge which is the only vehicle access to Bond’s Mill. The view is virtually parallel with the the main picture separated by about seventy yards and shows how the vegetation of reeds, bushes and trees has been severely affected by the recent clearance works. I fear that now it is a lot less attractive to kingfishers who would formerly use the low hanging branches of trees and bullrushes as vantage points for their fishing. But it will all grow again. Hopefully in a few years this canal will have been rejoined to the national waterways network and boats will once again be a common sight as they visit Stroud about three miles further east.