Wildlife along 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.
- 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 <.
Along the canal you will see all sorts of waterfowl and wildlife, such as:
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Packwood House »
Address: Packwood House, Solihull, Warwickshire B94 6AT
Tel: 01564 783294
Services: Garden | Historic building
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