Bartley Water

In to uncharted territory, through Rushpole Wood and Busketts Lawn Enclosure (1864),  following the course of Bartley Water, which will eventually flow in to Southampton water.  The section of stream through Busketts Lawn Enclosure is flanked by enormous Douglas Firs.  Bartley Water is fairly narrow in places only about 2m to 3m or so in places, broadening in others to 4m to 5m; it runs fast and deep with rich vibrant green mosses covering the top of the banks and waterside fringe. Amongst the moss fresh  fine water deposited sands are testament to the severity of the winters floods, as to reach theses mosses the water would have had to have risen 2m or 3m; making the total depth of flow over 4m.  The stream meanders wildly, at one point a set of meanders has been truncated, leaving an irregular oxbow lake now fed by much smaller water course.  As I turn a meander a pair of strangely coloured ducks take flight. Looking down at the water is like looking into a gorge, over vertical sides, even concave in places; frequently gullies and small tributaries feed the flow, after one fording place, Bartley Water takes on the guise of a proper small river.  I'll wander this way again.