The Aller Brook is a stream that flows for through

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England. It is a primary tributary of the

River Teign The River Teign is a river in the county of Devon, England. It is long and rises on Dartmoor, becomes an estuary just below Newton Abbot and reaches the English Channel at Teignmouth. Toponymy The river-name 'Teign' is first attested in an An ...

, which it joins near

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the Sou ...

Course

The brook rises to the south of Daccombe, near Coffinswell, and initially flows due west, until it reaches the village of

Kingskerswell Kingskerswell (formerly Kings Carswell, or Kings Kerswell) is a village and civil parish within Teignbridge local government district in the south of Devon, England. The village grew up where an ancient track took the narrowest point across a m ...

, where it turns north to flow through the Aller vale. It is joined by a stream on the left which drains

Abbotskerswell Abbotskerswell is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon. The village is in the north part of the parish and is located two miles (3 km) south of the town of Newton Abbot, from the seaside resort of Torquay and from th ...

and Compton. The brook continues north, passing to the west of

Milber Milber is a housing estate at considered part of the town of Newton Abbot in south Devon. It is on the opposite side of the A380 road from the town centre. Milber contains mainly houses, but also a trading estate and some shops. The estate is pa ...

, before it reaches Newton Abbot. Originally the brook took a meandering course through this marshy area, but in the 1980s it was forced to run alongside the

A380 road A38 or A-38 may refer to: * A38 (dairy product), a fermented dairy product sold in Denmark * A38 (ship), a party boat on the Danube in Budapest, Hungary * A38 motorway (Netherlands) * A38 road (England) * A38 (Sydney), an arterial route in Sydne ...

in a straight channel. The area is now a local nature reserve, situated between the town and the Buckland estate. At the end of the reserve the brook enters the

Teign Estuary The River Teign is a river in the county of Devon, England. It is long and rises on Dartmoor, becomes an estuary just below Newton Abbot and reaches the English Channel at Teignmouth. Toponymy The river-name 'Teign' is first attested in an An ...

at the Templer Way footbridge. The water level of the stream has been measured in Kingskerswell since 2004, normal levels are between and . The maximum recorded level was in November 2012.

Ecology

Bee orchid, Aller Brook Local Nature Reserve - geograph

The brook has been classed as having both good ecological and chemical quality under the

Water Framework Directive The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC is an EU directive which commits European Union member states to achieve good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies (including marine waters up to one nautical mile from shore) by 2015. ...

. This is in the upper band in the five-part framework scale, which ranges from high, good, and moderate, through to poor and finally bad. Wildlife including dragonflies, kingfishers and otters have been identified within the nature reserve. There is also a notable cluster of Bee Orchids (''Ophrys apifera'') within the reserve. The recent construction of the Kingskerswell bypass along the Aller valley, required various environmental measures to be included due to the local wildlife. This included the construction of a specially designed tunnel for otters, which will help them navigate beneath the new carriageway when their normal routes, such as culverts are flooded and inaccessible due to high brook levels.

References

External links

Aller Brook water levels at Kingskerswell
{{authority control Tributaries of the Teign Rivers of Devon Local Nature Reserves in Devon 1Aller