Wom Brook Blog

Despite the unwelcome attention of local dogs, the mallards (as photographed) are back, and seem intent on nesting within the vicinity of the Brook! A male Restart was observed yesterday flying over the central / Wombourne Park area of the Brook, and another local has seen a kingfisher

Easter heralded the onset of Spring-although increased activity amongst birds and squirrels, and the emergence of buds and tree blossom (as illustrated by the Hawthorn blossom above, photographed just outside Wombourne Park on the Railway Walk) have acted as nature_s reminders that a new season was waiting in the wings

Sadly it is inevitable that litter and larger objects such as broken bikes, disused cylinders of gas and more worryingly empty black liquid chemical containers are discarded into the Brook. Before now well-meaning locals have removed plastic petrol cans from the water, but often by then fuel from the containers has already found its way into the Brook, thus polluting the water, and introducing dangerous substances to the water environment that will ultimately affect the wildlife within, often with fatal results.

Nick jokingly mentioned a few days ago that he didn_t believe that anything could survive in the water-in the past this may not have been the case, as I recall children catching small fish. in there some 10 years ago.

Hopefully the planned future survey of the Wom Brook_s local flora and fauna (to be conducted by the South Staffordshire District Council ) will provide an indicator of the _health_ of the Brook.

Apologies for the gap in contributions-I took some offical holiday last week, so no up-to date entries-please look out for one or two over the next week, in order to bring the blog up to date with the seasonal changes now being observed down by our brook!

Returning along the disused railway walk, and seconds from the new swing gate located at the west end of Wombourne Park, I heard a sound of crashing emanating from the bushes ahead, accompanied by voices urging a horse along. Two horse riders then appeared, and rather worryingly, as the metal swing gate had presented an obstacle to them, they had managed to coax their horses to clamber over the wooden edging fencing.

Fortunately neither the horses nor the riders sustained any injuries during the event, and the fencing appears undamaged.

You may well be thinking, ‘hasn’t the writer of this blog got anything better to publish here?’ (Actually I have) The point is that due to regular incidents of motorbike riding on both the railway walk and within the Park, a gate was put in place to restrict access to these areas. The move has generally been a successful one, but perhaps future horse-riders need to be warned at the entrance points to the Park, so avoiding a repeat of such incidents.

During Wednesday’s planning group meeting, reference was made to the ongoing footpath renewal taking place along certain parts of the parkland adjacent to the Wom. Over the years we’ve greatly appreciated this restoration work, which has improved walking surfaces along most of the lengths of the Brook in Wombourne, increasing access for all.

The above photo shows a welcome modification to the path which descends the western side of the disused Kingswinford -Wolverhampton railway embankment, leading onto the Giggety section of the Wombrook Walk. Presumably the path will be finished off in the orange-coloured hardcore top surfacing found elsewhere along the Walk. (Then pigeons will be more clearly visible, unlike the one in this photo!)

the above photo shows some of the environmental group members during a pause in proceedings at Wednesday night’s meeting. A special thanks must go to Howard Medlicott from South Staffordshire District Council who drove straight from a meeting in York, in order to attend our meeting!