Reed bed

I cant remember the last time I took the track through the reed bed between Stanpit Marsh and the River Avon. It must be over 20 years. Even though you're on the edge of a sprawling conurbation once surrounded by the reeds it feels wild and isolated.

Stag Break Reeds

Since the instigation of the bog woodland restoration program, affected areas of the forest have become wetter, one of the purposes of the program was to hold water in the forest to encourage species diversity and now some areas remain waterlogged all year round. Phragmites Reed communities are beginning to colonize pools in the wetland hollows of the heath. I wonder how widespread this species was prior to the draining of the forest for forestry.  It's easy to forget that the forest we see today is in no way natural, and is all the result of human interventions over 5000 years. The forest must have been a wild place once and must have looked very different.