Dowdeswell Reservoir

It is currently owned and managed by the Environment Agency and is managed as a 'balancing pond' for the water catchment from the east end of the valley. Severn Trent closed the water treatment works with the commissioning of the Mythe Treatment Works on the river Severn, and the reservoir itself became a flood storage reservoir for the River Chelt in an attempt to protect the town of Cheltenham from flooding from the east. The town nonetheless suffered flooding in the July 2007 floods though this was not only from the river Chelt at Dowdeswell, but from all the streams which join the Chelt within the town and its outskirts. The Dowdeswell 'balancing pond' only deals with the Chelt (really…

These areas (Reservoir, Residuum, Scobb's Grove) () were established as a 9.3 ha nature reserve with the Gloucestershire Trust for Nature Conservation (now the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust) in 1973 under agreement with the North-West Gloucestershire Water Board originally. The main body of water supports many resident and wintering wildfowl including Moorhen, Coot, Mallard and Little Grebe and Great Crested Grebes while the surrounding habits provide nesting sites. There is a significant aquatic and grassland flora including grassland supporting Common Spotted Orchid, Pyramidal Orchid and Cowslip. The reservoir is a major spawning ground for the Common Toad and there are signs which are…