The Aston Cil Nature Reserve, was started in 2018 and completed in 2023. It runs parallel to the Montgomery Canal, and there are several large lakes, some of which are unavailable to the general public. The whole area was created by the Canal and Rivers Trust, and work, including 2 bird hides and various pieces of artwork, was done by a group of paid workers/artists and also school children.

We walk around here fairly regularly, and until this year there seems to have been very little to find as far as birds are concerned. This time we spotted 2 egrets, a pair of swans, a grebe, ducks, and a moorhen. In the past we have seen a heron and coot too. Now that the birds have arrived we assume that the lakes provide enough food.

This art fence is right by one of the hides, and conceals one of the ponds. The plaque shows a quote by Henry David Thoreau, "In wildness is the preservation of the world." His idea focuses on the human need for freedom in the beauty of ordinary places.