Living landscape

But for the wildlife of our city it provides a home between the busy streets, linking the wild places and green spaces that we have spared from development.

To the mouth of the Boundary Brook the lower reach runs ruler-straight in a concrete channel until it empties into the River Thames by the Salter’s boatyard across from Iffley Meadows. Following the open drain alongside a sports field brought me where the stream flows under the busy Iffley Road. After this the route passes by allotments, under Cowley Road and alongside Cowley Marsh Park. Here was a clue to older times — this would have no doubt been a boggy, wild spot and the name of the nearest pub, the Marsh Harrier, suggested spectacular wildlife.

Around the town golf course, I climbed to a densely wooded stretch of the brook. Here it took twists and turns, with miniature cliffs and stony bars, just like a wild gorge that had been scaled down to train set-size. Leaving the path and jumping down into the stream bed I could look along under fallen trees and Himalayan balsam at the tiny gnats circling endlessly in the shafts of sunlight. The sounds began to assert themselves — wrens and blackbirds singing and the ‘chip, chip’ of a great spotted woodpecker just over my head.

A stone turned over revealed dozens of frantically wriggling freshwater shrimps. Exploring upstream, I emerged from the shady trees to a sunlit glade of reeds hemmed by willows and alder trees. The ground is damp here and timber walkways show the route ahead. A crystal clear pool by the track held sticklebacks and was visited by a blood-red damselfly. The peaty soil holds water like a saturated sponge, feeding it gently into the brook. Some unusual plants are waiting to be discovered: cotton sedge, ragged robin and marsh lousewort. Above this the brook disappears into a pipe and I lost it, although I emerged between houses to a street named Peat Moors. Retracing my steps I followed up a stronger branch of the brook towards Headington. This skirted around vast hospital buildings.

But the search got difficult beyond this. The stream was piped under Old Road and was nowhere to be seen among the houses and gardens on the other side. I wandered around a small park and thought I had lost the trail. Local knowledge was needed and some obliging residents told me that the stream ran behind and even under their houses. I was shown a beautiful glimpse of the clear waters planted around with ferns, bubbling away under a stucco archway between gardens. I was nowhere near the source, they told me. For that I would need to go up to Shotover, a steep hill overlooking Oxford. Here are springs which feed ponds which overflow into a pipe under the ring road and keep our Boundary Brook flowing in dry weather or wet, winter and summer.

BBOWTt aims to recognise and protect wildlife links such as Boundary Brook, creating new connections where possible so that wildlife can continue on its way unhindered by the boundaries we create.

We call this approach Living Landscapes and are working with partners to ensure nature is with us in the future. For information about your local wildlife Trust visit www.bbowt.org.uk or tel 01865 775476.