The Bittell Reservoirs () are located in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

between

Barnt Green Barnt Green is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, England, situated south of Birmingham city centre, with a population at the 2011 census of 1,794. History Originating from the development of the railway ...

to the south and the

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

district of

Longbridge Longbridge is an area of Northfield in the south-west of Birmingham, England, located near the border with Worcestershire. Public Transport Longbridge is described as a hub for public transport with a number of bus services run by Kev's Coa ...

to the north. They consist of the Upper (Upper Bittell) and Lower (Lower Bittell) reservoir. They were built to feed the

Worcester and Birmingham Canal The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn (just after the river lock) and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is long. There ar ...

, which was finished in the 1790s, however, the reservoir was not completed until 1837. The 'Upper' reservoir is to ensure that the level of the canal is kept sufficiently high, even in times of drought. The 'Lower' reservoir(s) are compensatory reservoirs to ensure that the local area does not become parched in dry times. The "Upper" reservoir can be seen as a form of

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

. A dried up, i.e. unusable, canal would have been disastrous for the owners of the canal as well as the artisans and tradesmen who relied upon it for a living. The irony of the reservoir is the length of time it took to build: only 6 years after it was finished the Birmingham & Gloucester railway was built alongside, mitigating the economic reasoning behind the large investment. The reservoirs are quite obscure nowadays, however they are used actively. Today one can

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in several places, especially on the lower reservoirs. The upper reservoir is used for

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

and

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

, and is the home of the Barnt Green Sailing Club. The reservoir is also used by 1st Kings Norton

Sea Scout Sea Scouts are a part of the Scout movement, with a particular emphasis on boating and other water-based activities on the sea, rivers or lakes (canoeing, rafting, scuba, sailboarding). Sea Scouts can provide a chance to sail, cruise on boats, ...

Troop who occupy a large boathouse on the south east shore. The Upper reservoir is also used for open water swimming in the summer months by the local triathlon club. One bank of the reservoir is inaccessible because it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). During the early 20th century, the bird life of the reservoirs was regularly recorded by the

West Midland Bird Club The West Midland Bird Club is the UK's largest regional ornithological society. It has been serving birdwatchers and ornithologists in the four English counties of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and (since its separation from the afo ...

, long before such site-monitoring became commonplace. They were also visited regularly by a young

Bill Oddie William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English writer, comedian, songwriter, musician, artist, birder, conservationist, television presenter and actor. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies. A birder since his childhood in Quinton, ...

. The Telegraph (Wednesday 15 November 2017 page 32) reported that during draining of Upper Bittell they found 500 critically endangered European eels. They were rehomed in the canal that the reservoir feeds.

External links

Barnt Green Sailing Club
* * {{Coord, 52.371, -1.974, display=title, region:GB_type:landmark Canal reservoirs in England Worcester and Birmingham Canal Reservoirs in Worcestershire Tourist attractions in Worcestershire Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Worcestershire RBittell

See also

External links