Getting Out and About

Heritage, Landscape & Wildlife: Blackdown Rings and the Upper Avon Valley

Heritage

Gara Bridge once had its own railway station, during the life of the 'Primrose Line' which opened in 1893 and ran from South Brent to Kingsbridge. Despite still making a profit, the line fell victim to the rail closures which followed Dr Beeching's famous recommendations. The last train ran in 1963.

The land around Gara Bridge was used extensively during the war for ammunition storage prior to the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

During the 1920's a car - a Daimler Laundette - ran off the road near Gara Bridge in mysterious circumstances. Over the years since then, there have been several reported sightings of that very car along this section of the B3207. It is said that a ghostly apparition of the car still appears on the road from time to time.

Landscape

Blackdown Rings was originally an Iron Age hillfort, probably built sometime after 400 BC. It was defended by a massive earth and stone rampart topped with a timber palisade, and a deep outer ditch. Large wooden gates would have guarded the entrance to the fort. Inside, people lived in small thatched roundhouses.

Over a thousand years later, the site attracted new residents. Following their triumph at the battle of Hastings, the Norman invaders moved in during their conquest of the South West in 1068. They built a 'motte and bailey' castle inside the old earthworks - a fortified tower on a raised mound within its own rampart and ditch.

The site later became forgotton and deeply overgrown, but in 1988 was given to the Arundel Trust - a local charity originally founded back in 1591. The Trust has restored the site so that it can be enjoyed by the public.

Wildlife

The banks of the Avon around Gara Bridge are known for the Wild Daffodils that bloom in the spring.

A little later in the same season, many stretches of the Avon Valley here are swathed in Bluebells and Ramsons. The clusters of brilliant white star-shaped flowers of the ramsons make a dazzling display on the woodland floor. The plant is also known as Wild Garlic and the leaves can be added to salads, sandwiches and cooking for their flavour (the taste is milder than the pungent smell).

Brown Trout swim in the river, feeding on insects and crustaceans. Their silvery brown bodies are dappled with ringed reddish, brown or black spots.

The long sinuous forms of an Eel can occasionally be seen in the water. Varying in size, eels will even emerge from the river if necessary, wriggling along the bank to avoid obstacles. Amazingly, eels begin their lives thousands of miles away in the Sargasso Sea. They swim across the ocean as tiny elvers and live out their lives in rivers and streams. Years later, they make the return journey back to their roots across the seas, where they spawn and die.

A small bird with a long tail which it flicks and bobs as it potters about busily along the water's edge is likely to be a Grey Wagtail. Its name is a little misleading as the Grey Wagtail also shows a good deal of yellow around its breast and tail.

The Dipper can be seen flying low over the surface of the river, or standing on a stone in midstream. It has rich brown plumage with a white bib and feeds on larvae and other small creatures found in the river.

Another river feeder is the Kingfisher, which perches on branches overhanging the water. It dives from here for small fish. This tiny, spectacular bird has bright blue and orange plumage, and is most often seen as a brilliant flash whirring by.

Mid summer evenings will bring bats to the river, hawking over the water for insects. The most common, the Pipistrelle, is also the smallest - like a tiny mouse with wings. The larger Daubenton's Bat feeds exclusively near water and often flies very low above the river as it hunts.

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Getting Out and About

Heritage, Landscape & Wildlife: Blackdown Rings and the Upper Avon Valley