Moseley Bog & Joy’s Wood Local Nature Reserve: The Big Launch

The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country are inviting everyone to join them on Sunday June 26 for The Big Launch in celebration of the recent Improvements to Moseley Bog.

Entrance is FREE and there will be fun for all the family – including woodland craft displays, activities for children, a sweat lodge demonstration and local food stalls

They’ll be showing off Moseley Bog’s fascinating wildlife and history with the help of experts – who will be leading walks around the site.

Moseley Bog comprises wet and dry semi natural woodland with patches of fen vegetation on the site of an old mill pond and secondary woodland.

Thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Natural Assets programme over recent months the Wildlife Trust has been able to make this important and well-loved nature reserve even better with new paths, a boardwalk and signage.

Moseley Bog was the childhood playground of The Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien, who lived nearby on Wake Green Road. Despite the lack of Ents, he stated that the site inspired the ‘old forest’ in his books. A Tolkien Weekend is held every May attracting thousands of fans to Moseley Bog and Sarehole Mill.

The mill pond fed Sarehole Mill from the 16^th century.

From the mid 19th century the mill pond was left to nature and developed into the present habitat. From the late 19th century, urban development surrounded and encroached on the site, as evidenced by the remains of some Victorian gardens on the edge of the Bog.

Most of the Bog and Joy’s Wood, with the exception of the Victorian gardens, were purchased by Birmingham City Council in 1935. Joy’s Wood (The Dell) was used as a tip until the 1970s when it was capped and turned into playing fields. Moseley Bog is currently owned and managed by Birmingham City Council and was declared a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) by them in 1991.

Sunday, 26 June 2011, 11:00am – 4:00pm

Moseley Bog & Joy’s Wood Local Nature Reserve
Yardley Wood Road
Moseley
Birmingham
B13 9YP (nearest)
Grid ref: SP094821