Wildlife along the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal

Cruising on the Stratford Upon Avon Canal

Renowned for its attractive scenery, this canal is effectively a 26-mile long nature reserve, from the leafy outskirts of Birmingham through the Forest of Arden to the River Avon. It is a paradise for botanists and birdwatchers, with the added attraction of Earlswood Lakes west of the canal, to the north of the M42.

British Waterways has drawn up a Biodiversity Action Plan to help manage the canals and banks in a sustainable way. This seeks to find a balance between canal operations, safety and the natural environment. Works to protect wildlife include:

  • dredging the canal to maintain water flow and variety of wildlife, taking care to retain the marginal vegetation for nesting and feeding;
  • making sure canals banks have places where voles can dig burrows;
  • maintaining towpaths for visitors, but keeping uncut verges with wildflowers that provide food and shelter for small animals;
  • planting and caring for hedges to provide barriers to livestock, shelter for small animals and berries and homes for nesting birds;
  • and working with farmers to retain field margins that provide food and shelter for insects, song and game birds, hares and harvest mice.
  • Along the canal you will see all sorts of waterfowl and wildlife, such as:

    • On walls, brickwork, bridges and aqueducts: lichen, mosses, liverworts, grasses, ferns, ivy, millipedes, woodlice, snails, slugs, beetles, spiders, flies, mice and bats.
    • In hedgerows: hawthorn, hazel, field maple, sycamore, ash, rowan, holly, elder, oak, blackthorn, alder, willow, brambles, wild rose, wrens, chaffinches, robins, blackbirds, thrushes, butterflies and moths
    • On canal banks: reeds, grasses, damselflies, dragonflies, frogs, toads, voles, herons and kingfishers
    • In towpath verges: ox-eye daisies, buttercups, cow parsley, spiders, flies, butterflies, moths, mice, shrews and hedgehogs
    • In the canal: algae, weed, reeds, waterlilies, watersnails, waterboatmen, damselfly and dragonfly larvae, tadpoles and of course, fish
    • On the canal: ducks, moorhens, coots and swans
    • In trees: tits, owls, kestrels, sparrowhawks, crows and rooks
    • In fields: worms, beetles, spiders, foxes, badgers, moles, cows, sheep, goats and horses
    • <.

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    Address: Packwood House, Solihull, Warwickshire B94 6AT

    Tel: 01564 783294

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