Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve: July 2012

Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve

In January 2012 Cheltenham Borough Council provided funding to carry out work clearing Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve. It sits in a small section of disused railway cutting, approx 1km long. The Railway was de-commissioned when passenger service from Cheltenham to Banbury was withdrawn in 1961. Situated on the South side of Cheltenham, crossing Old Bath Road in Leckhampton, passing Mead Road & Charlton Lane running West to East. Now very over grown with self seeding plants and trees with a small stream. This will in time be cut back to open up the canopy allowing light through in an effort to improve the ecology and produce a more welcoming environment for visitors. Before work starts in earnest, I thought I would try and capture some images of this overgrown world, and at the same time show its development over the coming years.

Charred Remains 29th July 2012

Today i discovered all the hard work, carefully constructing the dam at the Pilley Bridge Nature Reserve Pond, has now been destroyed - smouldering remains of wood, now charcoal, a large pile of ash and a roll of wire, are mostly what remains. It looks as though a coil of wire has been placed on the dam and burnt. The local habitat will have been disturbed; I just hope the young frogs and sticklebacks managed to find some refuge. The tree canopy has also been burnt, so the flames must have been quite high. As the pond is situated in a railway cutting its most likely the fire was not seen from the surrounding area.