Avon Water

Avon Water between old Holmsley station and Wooten Bridge is one of the forest's more recent stream restoration projects. I was struck today how successful the project has been, and how quickly the stream and it's environs are being transformed. Done in two sections over a few years, the woodland is hardly recognizable, and all traces of the straight forest drain have been erased. If you ever saw the forest's streams before they were restored to their meandering pre-Victorian courses, you'd remember how sterile many of them were. Straightened to drain the forest more effectively, and regularly cleared, it was difficult, no, more impossible for any plants to secure a foothold, bare gravel beds and barren banks were the order of the day. How fantastic to see it now. The scars of earthmoving machines are healing rapidly, the thinned canopy allows more light through, greening the land below, aquatic plants have established communities in the meanders and wetland plants thrive along the shallow banks. Avon Water's a really interesting stream as it represents a fluid border between two very different groups environments; the drier mixed blocks of woodland with their frequent grassy clearings, and wetter areas of carr woodland, sphagnum bog and phragmites reed beds. They've done a fantastic job on these sections, the transformation to date is remarkable, and the transformation will only deepen as more plant, insect and animal communities become established in this more harmonious and inviting environment.