‘phones, switchboards and associated components, and played a significant role in the development of the Colossus computer used to read encrypted German messages in World War II. In the 1960s, the HANDEL Nuclear Attack Warning equipment, known as the four minute warning was manufactured in Bordesley Green, along with equipment for regional seats of government, which were part of Britain's civil defence preparations for nuclear war. Blitz Bordesley Green was targeted during the Blitzkrieg with five raids hitting the area. The last German bomb to hit Birmingham landed on 24 April 1943 and hit Bordesley Green. The GPO factory was also hit by German bombing raids in 1940. Geography Wildlife Tumbling Pigeons In the 1920s a Bordesley Green bus driver and pigeon fancier, William Penson, noticed one of his birds perform a backflip while in flight, and through selective breeding produced the Roller and Tumbler breed of pigeon. This breed is noted for its unique acrobatics while in flight and is used in ‘parlour rolling’ contests. Today there are hundreds of Birmingham Roller clubs around the world and fiercely fought competitions to pick the birds that perform the most dramatic tumbling. Geology The bedrock geology of the area consists predominantly of Sidmouth Mudstone Formation. Sedimentary Bedrock formed approximately 228 to 250 million years ago in the Triassic Period. The local environment was previously dominated by hot deserts. The types of sedimentary rocks in the Bordesley area are fluvial, lacustrine and marine in origin. They would have been detrital, deposited in lagoons or shallow seas, where a hot, arid climate would have led to the precipitation of beds of evaporites. The superficial deposits tend to be glaciofluvial in origin, Mid Pleistocene - Sand And Gravel. Superficial Deposits in area were formed up to 2 million years ago in the Quaternary Period. The Bordesley environment would have been dominated by ice age conditions. The deposits are detrital, generally coarse-grained, forming beds, channels, plains and fans associated with meltwater. Lost brook of Bordesley Green Early maps of the area show a brook which extended from Shaw Hill down to Bordesley Green Road, which is now mostly submerged, with the exception of a small section which emerges from a culvert in Bordesley Green. It is called Washbrook. It starts up near Garrison Lane, then flows through the South African Estate, on through the allotments. It is open in Ward End Park then on into