This small reservoir lies close to the Thames and sometimes you can count up to twelve herons as you walk around it. It is quite hidden from the main towpath and you can be quite alone in your ramble. stopping from time to time to look at birds and surprise the occasional water rat. This time we met a man – twice – he was walking twice as fast ! – and he told us he did this most days.
Besides the herons on the water, there is also a mass of their large, untidy nests in a giant tree, which overhangs the reservoir.
In Autumn, some hardy souls come and manoeuvre the old Victorian machinery that lets more water from the Thames fill up the reservoir after the summer. There’s a mossy wheel, a bit rusty, which presumably connects to an underground pipe from the river. The reservoir would no doubt act as a useful receptacle for excess water during a flood.
This Autumn the leaves are particularly colourful.