Wom Brook Blog

Last Tuesday the Friends of Wom Brook AGM took place in Wombourne Civic Centre, with the election of executive officers and members of the committee overseen by South Staffordshire Council’s Landscape manager, Howard Medlicott.  The meeting quickly moved on to discuss and plan future work and developments for the coming year.

High on the Group’s agenda is this year’s Green Flag inspection (set for early summer), along with further scheduled work to improve the Wom Brook Walk.

As ever, the Group are grateful for the continued input and support from Howard.

If you live in Wombourne, South Staffordshire, and enjoy the outdoors, and particularly appreciate the local natural landscapes that are within relatively easy reach of most locations in the village, then please consider joining the Friends of Wom Brook on

Tuesday night, 23rd February at 7:30 pm, in the Brook Room of the Civic Centre, Wombourne.

The Friends of Wom Brook work voluntarily in partnership with the South Staffordshire Council to promote the conservation of the Wom Brook and its adjoining land, including the plants and animals found there. In addition to keeping the area tidy, there are monthly activities planned which serve to increase members’ knowledge of this natural habitat.

The combined efforts of both the South Staffordshire Council and the Friends of Wom Brook have received local and national recognition in the form of Local nature Reserve (LNR) status and the Green Flag Award.

The group is small in number,  and would welcome additional members in order to help maintain the high standards of conservation work so far achieved.

If you can spare two hours, usually on the first Saturday morning of each month, then the Friends Group would be delighted to meet you.

Last Saturday, the Friends of Wom Brook used their new high-visibility waistcoats for the first time, during one of the Group’s monthly work parties-which on this occasion focused upon litter collection from not only the Brook itself, but also along the banks and land surrounding the Wom Brook Walk.

The waistcoats will be used for safety purposes-there are sections of the Brook that are obscured by trees and plants, and during previous work parties it has proved difficult to see Group members.

The Friends of Wom Brook are grateful to  South Staffordshire Council for supplying the waistcoats.

January
Thurs 21st      Work Party

February
Sat 6th            Work Party
Thurs 18th     Work Party
Sat 20th          Event: A Winter Walk. Meet 10am Ounsdale Road school lay-by.

March
Sat 6th               Work Party
Thurs 18th        Work Party
Sat 20th              Event:  Close Encounters with Crustaceans. Details to follow-please   check this blog.

April
Sat 3rd               Work Party
Thurs 15th        Work Party
Sat 17th              Event: SPRING WATCH 10am-3pm-at, and in partnership with WOMBOURNE LIBRARY

May
Sat 1st              Work Party
Sat 15th            Event: Anyone at home? A survey of the Wom Brook’s water voles.
Thurs 20th       Work Party

June
Sat 5th               Work Party
Thurs 17th        Work Party
Sat 19th             Event: A hunt for earlier butterflies etc. Quendale-first visited Aug 2009

None members also welcome to join in all activities.

• Work parties involve litter collection and plant/animal habitat management.
• All activities 10am-12 noon.
• Meet at Gravel Hill picnic benches unless otherwise stated. Further details-Anita 01902 892187
• N.B-CHANGE-Work Parties 1st Saturday and 3rd Thursday of each month

A small group of the Friends of Wom Brook met at Wombourne Methodist Church last Saturday to share a variety of presentations about local wildlife and the work of the Friends of Wom Brook.

Particularly outstanding were the presentations made by the younger members of the group-there was evidence of considerable effort by all who took part-from poster presentations (to the left of the photo), to some very professional videos of the Brook’s water voles, and slightly further afield, video footage of the butterfly and bird life found at Baggeridge Country Park.(’Wildlife Videos’ displayed on DVD in the right-hand photo above.)

At the end of September, South Staffordshire Council hosted a Friends’ Groups meeting, bringing together voluntary environmental and community groups from the South Staffordshire Council district. The event provided an opportunity for the Friends Groups to share their successes, network and support one another.

Graham Peak from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust provided an interesting overview of the concept associated with Friends groups.

There were presentations by both the Friends of Wom Brook and the Friends of Essington.

Our thanks go to Howard Medlicott (Landscape Manager, South Staffordshire Council), Clodagh Peterson (South Staffordshire Council, Policy & Partnerships) and colleagues from South Staffordshire Council for their hospitality.

Links:

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust

South Staffordshire Council-Architectural & Landscape Services

South Staffordshire Council-Policy & Partnerships

As mentioned in the last blog entry, a working party from the Friends of Wom Brook spent a productive morning last Saturday (5/9/09) removing Ragwort (see above photo) from the uncut triangle of ground leading from the Wom Brook up to the South Staffordshire Railway Walk.

Once the yellow flowers disappear from the Ragwort and are replaced by airborne seeds, it is time to remove the plants, otherwise the plant spreads fairly prolifically, and a patch of ground can soon be overrun with the plant. Care needs to be taken by those engaged in such work as any sap from the plant is toxic, and can easily pass into the bloodstream via the skin.

The picture above shows some of the Friends group pulling the Ragwort from the ground.

A number of Wombourne villagers have asked about the brief appearance of black plastic bin sacks at the start of most months, usually by the Gravel Hill entrance to the Wom Brook Walk.

These are usually full of discarded rubbish-empty drinks cans, plastic bottles and discarded paper etc. They will have been filled by the small group of volunteers known as the Friends of Wom Brook, from the rubbish deposited in and around the Wom Brook and its adjoining walk.

However, this month the black bin bags have been filled with a ‘rogue’ species of plant-Himalayan Balsam. Left unattended, this plant can quickly overgrow other plants.

The Friends of Wom Brook  undertake these voluntary duties on the first Thursday and Saturday in each month, usually throughout the year. Further volunteers who could spare from 10 a.m.-midday would be most welcome to join the group. They meet at the picnic benches.

South Staffordshire Council’s Landscape Department kindly remove the bags.

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Due to the ravages of time and weather, bricks from the retaining wall on the Rookery Road side of the Wom Brook have gradually been dislodged and have found their way into the water. (Wombourne residents will recognise this part of the Brook - just below the Pool Dam Bridge, connecting the Guide Hut with Rookery Road, close to the vet’s)

Today a working party from the Friends of Wom Brook brought wheelbarrows in order to carry away surplus bricks and slabs to be collected later by South Staffordshire Council.

The aim of today’s project was not just to improve the appearance of the Wom Brook at that point-but also to restore the original  flow of water thus limiting an increase in the water weed coverage.

The bricks are just visible in the foreground of the photograph.