United Kingdom · GB

River Tame

The River Tame is a 95-kilometre waterway that threads through the heart of England's industrial heartland before emerging into the tranquil Staffordshire countryside. Rising in the Black Country as two arms at Oldbury and Willenhall, it flows through Birmingham, past the town that bears its name—Tamworth—and finally joins the River Trent near Alrewas. What makes this river compelling today is its extraordinary story of transformation: once one of Britain's most polluted waterways, it has become a corridor of wetlands, nature reserves and walking trails that surprise visitors who expect only post-industrial landscape. The Tame Valley Wetlands, a 1,000-hectare mosaic of lakes, meadows and woodland along 29 kilometres of the river between Tamworth and Birmingham, has been recognised as one of the Midlands' most significant hidden landscapes. From the RSPB's Middleton Lakes reserve to the flower-rich floodplain of Broad Meadow in Tamworth, the river's banks offer a rich tapestry of wildlife and gentle recreation within easy reach of a million people.