Crawter’s Brook

The other day, work took me beyond the M25 for the first time this year. Specifically, it took me to an industrial estate just south of Gatwick Airport, not the usual subject for a bird blog but it does provide proof of how nature can find a niche in the most unlikely of places - with a little help from people, of course.

In addition to being a name that is difficult to type when autocorrect is in play, Crawter’s Brook is a once-overlooked narrow patch of waste ground where the titular brook (a tributary of the River Mole, which flows into the Thames near Hampton Court) runs through Crawley’s Manor Royal Business District (which I suppose sounds better than ‘industrial estate’). Thanks to efforts from the local council and a firm of architects, it has in recent years been transformed into a small park, attractive in its own way with some cool sculptures, seating and viewing-platforms where one can come and relax during the working day and briefly be at one with nature while looking out over partially-flooded woodland. Admittedly the birdsong can’t quite drown out the noise of the traffic, but I found it rather relaxing.

Without binoculars (which I hadn’t thought to take with me as I did not think I’d get the chance for a spot of birding, how wrong I was), I saw plenty of Starlings, a male Blackbird, a couple of Robins and Woodpigeons, Magpies and Herring Gulls flying overhead and - best of all - a little Wren flitting in and out of a bush by the concrete river-bank. 

By the entrance I was impressed to see a Green Flag, the sign of a well-managed public park. Crawter’s Brook was awarded this for the first time last year. 

A trip down that way will probably feature in my near future. I’ll take the binoculars next time.