Tributaries of the River Tame

Seasons, senses & self:

Birmingham, Black Country – plenty of canals, and even more streams: all flowing into the Tame, all heading for the North Sea. East of Brum, Solihull’s Blythe joins too – and the Cole (after Sarehole Mill, Kingfisher Park). Tame flows north through Tamworth to join River Trent. So many wildlife corridors, woodland patches, places to walk, life… Our city began at a ford over the Rea. A bridge near the Central Mosque commemorates this: so many landmarks and local nature reserves – Sandwell Valley, Yorks Wood, Moseley Bog… Rea’s source in Waseley Hills… Bourn Brook, Woodgate Valley… Sustrans Route 5… Sutton Park. Biome.

Seasons, Senses & Self: a daily series

Tributaries of the River Tame
Image by © Tracey Anne Hartley: Tame/Cole/Blythe river confluence at Hams Hall
(Creative Commons 2.0: some rights reserved)

The confluence of Tame, Cole and Blythe lies just to the east of Birmingham, next to the site of the huge coal-fired Hams Hall power station, now demolished. This photo was taken in 1989, I think.

There’s nothing poetic about my 100-word offering today. I’m just fascinated by the way most of the streams in the West Midlands conurbation all flow towards the North Sea – west of Turner’s Hill and south of the Lickeys, the streams all flow to the Bristol Channel. I bought a laminated copy of the Birmingham Greenways map in 2023, to replace the paper which had fallen apart on my travels: it’s a guide for walkers and cyclists, and covers the whole conurbation. I wrote about my enjoyment of these greenways here.

If you’re interested in the structure of the piece (1+2+3+…+9+10+9+…+3+2+1 = 100 words) there’s another example here, with notes: Who on earth am I?. (Today’s example uses extra space rather than a full stop between the phrases.)