Moseley Bog

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Moseley bog

Moseley Bog is a nature reserve in the Moseley area of Birmingham in England, at grid reference SP093820.

It was once a secondary reservoir to feed the millpond of Sarehole Mill. Although now drained, the embankment on its eastern side remains. The Coldbath Brook flows from Coldbath Pool through a culvert, through the Bog as an open stream, and is then culverted to the millpond.

It was declared a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) by Birmingham City Council on 17 July 1991. Much of the area comprising Moseley Bog was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1980. However, following its LNR declaration and re-evaluation by English Nature the site was denotified as an SSSI on 21 July 1992, but remains a locally designated Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC).

In 2000 it was formally renamed Joy's Wood and Moseley Bog Local Nature Reserve, in recognition of the work of urban conservation campaigner Joy Fifer to protect the site. Fifer led the successful "Save Our Bog" campaign in 1980 which saved the site from development and helped kick start the Urban Wildlife movement.

There are also burnt mounds in the banks of the Coldbath Brook, which, with their surrounding areas, are Scheduled Ancient Monuments.

The first ever International Dawn Chorus Day event was held there in 1984, by the Urban Wildlife Trust.

J. R. R. Tolkien lived nearby, as a child, and acknowledged the site as inspiration for the ancient forests in his books The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Nearby Sarehole Mill and the surrounding area on the River Cole is said to have been inspiration for Tolkien's writings.

A house adjacent to the reserve (since demolished) was used by reggae band UB40 for their earliest recordings.

[edit] Future plans

The Wildlife Trust has agreed to lease Moseley Bog from Birmingham City Council. In August 2006 a public consultation on proposals to conserve the site, enhance access and encourage a wider audience was launched [1].