A circuit from the Earlswood Lakes

Earlswood is delightfully situated in the Forest of Arden. The three man-made lakes here, known as Terry’s Pool, Engine Pool and Windmill Pool, were completed in 1821 to supply water to the nearby Birmingham–Stratford-upon-Avon canal. It took five years to build the reservoirs – at a cost of about £300,000, and sometimes using the labour of men captured during the Napoleonic Wars.

Natural by-products

The canal has not been in commercial use since 1936 but, being so close to the sprawling West Midlands conurbation, it has developed into a major leisure facility. This is also true of Earlswood Lakes, where city dwellers can enjoy nature, albeit in a manufactured setting. Visit on a sunny Sunday morning and Windmill Pool will be full of the boats of the Earlswood Lakes Sailing Club, while the banks of the Engine Pool will be covered with anglers. The 10ha (25-acre) reservoir has no fewer than 80 timber platforms for anglers, who are keen to catch one of the huge carp that thrive in these waters. Bream, roach and perch can also be found in the other two pools.

A wildlife haven

Terry’s Pool is a wildlife reserve that is home to a wealth of birds, mammals and plants. Walkers out close to dusk might see bats, muntjac deer and even otters. You need to be both quiet and patient to catch sight of the latter, though – they are notoriously shy. Watch for their prints in the soft mud on the banks of the reservoirs and streams; they have five webbed toes, although it is common for only four to show up in prints. Otters were driven to the brink of extinction in England in the middle of the 20th century, but numbers have recovered significantly in the last couple of decades. During spring and summer Terry’s Pool is a riot of colour, home to the bright flowers of yellow flag iris, great willowherb and betony.

New Fallings Coppice and Clowes Wood contain areas of ancient woodland that are the breeding grounds for an amazing 49 species of bird. These include all three species of woodpecker that are found in England, along with several tit species, warblers, kestrels, tawny owls and even the elusive woodcock – a large, dumpy-looking wading bird with short legs and a long bill.

The walk starts from Terry’s Pool and takes in these woods, as well as farmland, a golf course and country roads, before returning for a lakeside stroll.

From the car park, go through a kissing gate and over a footbridge to cross the embankment between the lakes. After a metal bridge, bear right and then left over a wooden footbridge. Continue to Wood Lane. Go left for 400yds (366m), then left along a campsite driveway. Walk past the log cabin, and at the woodland edge go right over a footbridge and bear left, along the side of New Fallings Coppice.

Cross a stile, turn left and bear right at a fork. After a footbridge, keep straight ahead. Just before the path swings left, leave it by bearing right to join a trail along the coppice boundary to a fence gap. Through this, follow a path across a field. This becomes a hedged path that leads to a road. Turn right along the road for 200yds (183m).

Just before Kidpile Farm, go left through a gap beside a gate. Initially the path is to the left of the hedge, then enters trees via two kissing gates and a footbridge, before continuing on the right. After a kissing gate, bear half right to pass, via another kissing gate, under the railway. Continue up the side of a field, soon joining a hedged path beside Fulford Heath Golf Club.

Go left through a kissing gate and take the waymarked footpath across the golf course. After the maintenance yard, bear right to a kissing gate. Through this, bear left. Reaching a road at the golf club entrance, turn right towards Wythall. After 125yds (114m), go left down Barkers Lane.

In a further 250yds (229m) go left along a driveway signed ‘Forshaw Heath’ and right over a stile. Over the next stile, cross a field to a footbridge. Once over this, bear right. Cross a plank footbridge and walk straight across a large field. Turn right along Forshaw Heath Lane, right at the next junction and then left into Juggins Lane.

In 300yds (274m), turn left through Graves Coppice, exiting via a footbridge. Continue through a field and, after the second stile, turn left to Poolhead Lane. Go left for 100yds (91m), then right over a stile by Lodge Farm. Bear half left after a stile, cross a footbridge and then recross via a second bridge. Go left and then through a kissing gate straight ahead to walk beside Clowes Wood.

After about 0.5 miles (800m), having crossed two gated footbridges, go through a gate and bear right to cross the railway. After a kissing gate, take the footpath ahead to a stile. Go through a kissing gate and over a footbridge, then turn right to emerge beside Terry’s Pool. Continue for 700yds (640m), then go right to return to the car park.