HBM! The 20 hectare Horsbere Brook flood storage area was created in 2010 following a series of flash floods that affected more than 300 homes in Gloucester. The £1.5m project involved creating a huge ‘depression’ capable of accommodating the equivalent of 70 Olympic swimming pools full of water. If there’s torrential rain the water is now diverted into the depression, and it is then slowly released later.

As well as reducing the risk of flooding the storage area was also designed to be a natural looking ‘wetland’ landscape, and, over the last few years, it has become a delightful local nature reserve – attracting many rare birds to the area. Otters have also been spotted in the brook.

Tits, kingfishers, egrets, heron, swans and a wide range of both rare and more common birds are now regularly spotted here.