Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve

The woods on the nature reserve were used predominantly as sources of timber, although the original Sherbourne's Brake copse may have been used as a covert. Webb's Wood particularly supplied coppiced timber and Savage's hornbeam and oak. Savage's Wood was preserved during the 1940s and '50s as a nature reserve by the owner of Little Stoke Farm, Howard Davis, who, as the largest local farmer, owned the land up to and including the wood. Davis was also one of the founders of the Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge. In the same area, Bradley Stoke Way cut a swathe through Savage's Wood when built, leaving a small remnant of the wood on the far side of the road next to Tesco's car park. Much of the…

There are several main access points into the reserve, all with well-surfaced paths. The sign-posted network of cycle paths goes throughout the reserve for people to view the many different habitats. In 2019 over 500m of woodland paths at the northern end of the reserve in Savages and Primrose woods were upgraded. These paths link into existing surfaced paths creating circular walks. The stone dust path improvements used an environmentally friendly no-dig, cell web specification, to provide all year round accessibility, which in turn reduced the trampling impact on ground flora and will also protect the adjacent woodland tree roots from compaction. Behind the Leisure Centre a disabled gate…