Wom Brook Blog

..the above scene was familiar for some months from the centre of Wombourne, and visible from the Wom Brook Walk. Taken in February 2007, it shows the crane used during the building of Wom Brook Court.

Access points which allow walkers to see the Brook from various points along the pathway during the spring and summer have recently been cut along sections of the stream running through the centre of Wombourne.

Certain species of wild flowers and known water vole nesting sites  have deliberately been left uncut.

The photograph above was taken looking downstream (west) from the picnic benches. To the right of the photo, the normal height of the vegetation can be seen (averaging 30 cm in height).

This first ever event for the Friends of Wom Brook was staged in Wombourne Library, located in the Community centre.

The Friends Group would like to thank the  library staff for their support, and amongst others the RSPB, Staffordshire Wildlife Group, Staffordshire Police, Paul Wilkinson (Amphibians group), the BAT Trust, and Birmingham University.

There was also a resident cartoonist, who passed on some of his many talents to all ages.

In particular, the Friends Group would like to thank the younger members who ran an innovative competition to spot the water vole.

If a contributing group to the event have been missed out, please let us know via the comment section below, so that they can be included.

Painters (above) tackling the renovation work planned by the District Council earlier this year.

One of the above gentleman stated that a member of his family recalls the time when the same footbridge was painted yellow!

Harsh as the current view of this once splendid willow is, South Staffordshire Council were faced with the unenviable decision to drastically prune this tree. Expert tree surgeons were engaged to assess its condition, which upon closer examination revealed some dead areas.

The tree had already lost a large branch during one period of gale force winds a few years back. As the tree is located at a popular junction along the Wom Brook Walk, where the footpath crosses the Wom Brook and ascends towards the South Staffordshire Railway Walk, the risk assessment deduced that the willow had become too large to be safe for pedestrians passing beneath it.

Historically, willows were harvested during pre-industrial times, and following the advent of the Industrial Revolution, they were a source of fuel Wombourne villagers would utilise for cooking and heating purposes. Consequently, willows at the turn of the nineteenth and early twentieth century were kept to a manageable size, and did not present as quite a potential hazard to those walking beneath them.

The last two or three weeks along the Wom Brook have seen an upsurge in plant growth. Accompanying this has been a welcome introduction of early flowering plants, following in the footsteps of the hardier snow drops and crocuses. In particular white, yellow and blue flowers have appeared along the banks of the Brook.

Colonies of Forget-me-nots (pictured above) add a distinctive blanket of blue amongst the longer grasses adjacent to the trees.