It was immortalised in the 1613 poem by John Dennys of Pucklechurch The Secrets of Angling, the earliest English poetical tract on fishing:And thou sweet Boyd that with thy watry sway Dost wash the cliffes of Deington and of Weeke And through their Rockes with crooked winding way Thy mother Avon runnest soft to seeke In whose fayre streames the speckled Trout doth play The Roche the Dace the Gudgin and the Bleeke Teach me the skill with slender Line and Hooke To take each Fish of River Pond and Brooke.

The Feltham Brook joins on the right bank, from the direction of Pucklechurch, near Doynton House and the river then passes under Cleeve Bridge and enters the steep Golden Valley, where a nature reserve has been established.

Passing under Boyd Bridge in Wick, the river turns in a southerly direction, running parallel to the Monarch's Way long distance footpath.

Habitats include calcareous grassland with an alkaline soil type, broadleaved woodland, the river and associated riverbank vegetation.

Species of plants include Common Cow-wheat, Bitter Vetch, Black Spleenwort, Harebell, Nettle-leaved Bellflower, Bluebell and Viper's Bugloss.