Wom Brook Blog

The next meeting will take place at the Civic Centre, Wombourne, at 7:30.

The group hope to make progress with regard to formalising a constitution..

Anyone wishing to contribute to the group would be most welcome!

A technique of selectively cutting back the lush growth of plants alongside the walkway on the southern bank of the Wom has been recently employed along the central stretch of the brook in Wombourne.

The above red markings were visible alongside stretches of the brook last week, indicating to contractors where they should cut back plant growth.

These plants were predominantly grasses and nettles, of which an abundance remain! Visually, the brook can now be seen again!

An observation:
The occasional past occurrence of what appeared to resemble salt-foam (similar to that observed on sandy storm beaches when high winds cause foam to be generated when high waves crash to shore) on the surface of the brook close to the lower footbridge in Wombourne Park, now seems to have disappeared thankfully. Does this perhaps coincide with the closure of the Staffordshire County Council_s Highways department_s yard on Walk Lane?

Unfortunately, detergent-like bubbles stillregularly appear along this same section of the Wombrook. There may well be considerable substance to Kate_s theory (Staffordshire Wildlife Trust ) that a kitchen sink waste pipe from an adjacent property along Common Road has been mistakenly connected to a storm-drain, and is hence discharging into the brook.

2 members of the Friends of Wombrook volunteer conservation group battle with the Himalayan Balsam , from within the Brook, last Saturday morning.

Anita and Margaret were photographed from above on the southern bank of the Brook, at the picnic area. You could be easily forgiven for mistaking this location to that of a tropical rainforest jungle, such is the density of the floral growth in this part of the Brook, made worse by the presence of the Himalayan Balsam..

Conservation volunteers will be meeting at 10:00 am on both of the above dates, at the Gravel Hill Picnic area, where South Staffordshire District Council have temporarily located a skip (see above picture) .

The skip will be used to collect accumulations of litter, and particularly the prolific amounts of Himalayan Balsam plants growing in the vicinity of the Wombrook. The Himalayan Balsam was introduced to the area some years ago, but it is rapidly threatening to choke the native vegetation.

If you can spare an hour or two on either of these two days, you’d be helping to make a significant contribution to the maintenance of one of our village’s most unique and picturesque features-the Brook!

Although at first glance a colourful plant, this species is classified as a pest by the UK Government - check this out at the following link by clicking HERE