The meadowsweet is in bloom along the less well mown bits of the towpath.

Popular names of common plants being what they are, it is also known as Bridewort, Meadow Queen, Meadow Wort, Pride of the Meadow, Queen of the Meadow, Lady of the Meadow, Dollof, and Meadsweet. It was used as flavoring for mead, an insect repellent, and a charming addition to bridal bouquets. While it would not guarantee the happiness of the marriage it would at least protect the happy couple from mosquito bites.

Today we made it to the north end of the Coventry canal and turned onto the Trent & Mersey. We only went a couple of locks from Fradley junction, then moored up to do some laundry and visit the local nature reserve.

This is another case of old industrial workings providing a natural habitat. The Coventry Canal and the Trent & Mersey used to be run by different companies, and the T&M did not want any of their precious water leaking into the Coventry, so they cut a ditch to take excess water from above the junction, and store it in a reservoir for later use on the lower reaches of the canal. The reservoir is now the center of a nature reserve, which also boasts a giant dragonfly bench…

… a thatched bird watching hide…

… a place to dip your jam jars to collect pond life…

… and a gate with a battle swan on it.

The woods are pretty…

… but we didn’t see much in the way of bird or animal life apart from a couple of black headed gulls and the usual gang of mallards looking for handouts. There would probably be more wildlife if they hadn’t spent so much money putting in facilities to make it easy for people to come in and look at the wildlife.