Wom Brook Blog

Above is one of the trees the Friends Group believe has been identified as requiring pruning in order to make it safe. It has a large elongated lower branch. However such large willow branches have been known to break off, especially during high winds.

It is located by the new railings and next to the pedestrian bridge crossing the Wom Brook, close to Glendale Drive. The photo was taken on Sunday after the previous night’s light snow fall, and before the heavier snow fall which occurred during the early hours of Tuesday, causing disruption to traffic on the dual carriageway and along the Penn Road.

Today work had already been carried out on the oak tree next to Gravel Hill, which was reported to South Staffordshire Council for attention, as a large branch was only partially attached to the main tree trunk, and posed a danger to children who played beneath it.

That report featured in an earlier blog entry, which was erroneously reported  as a willow- it is an oak tree. featured here.

South Staffordshire Council’s Landscape Department have commenced pollarding and other related woodland maintenance work this month on several trees along the length of the Wom Brook Walk. Specifically work will be carried out on:

• The Poolhouse Estate,
• Marlburn Way,
• Redhill Avenue (the very long branch overhanging the Brook, close to the footbridge)
• Gravel Hill (pictured above)-the Oak tree in leaf can obscure drivers’ field of vision when attempting to turn out of Common Road onto Gravel Hill.

The photograph above was taken a few days ago, along the first stage of the Wom Brook Walk, adjacent to Rookery Road. It portrays an autumnal scene, with some tree leaves beginning to change colour, prior to dropping from their tree.

There are examples of mosses growing on the willow that overhangs this particular bend in the Brook. The Brook itself is slightly discoloured by mud washed from the banks following the latest rainfall. Depsite the muddy appearance of the Brook, essential nutrients are being washed along the Brook to nourish other plants.

This distinctive fungus is often seen in groups, (referred to by botanists as ‘troops’). This particular specimen was photographed at the beginning of this week in the open cut grass area between the Wom Brook Walk footpath and the brook.

By Tuesday, all specimens had gone. Usually left alone, they blacken and turn to liquid.

Caution! Unless you are well versed in the identification of fungi (mushrooms and toadstools), some species are deadly poisonous, and  it is best to avoid picking and eating them at all costs.

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.

The purpose of this category of the Wom Brook blog is to record some of the different types of plants found in the vicinity of both the Wom Brook and along the Railway Walk.

If you have seen similar examples of the plants featured, please leave a comment - it will assist us in both identifying the different species, and also their locations.

It is believed that the above fungus is a False Chanterelle
(scientific name: Hygrophoropsis Aurantiaca)
Advice-do not eat.
Identification Uncertain

It was found on open grassland, adjacent to the Brook, in an area that is regularly cut by the Council.

Here is a link to a website that identifies fungi:

http://www.mushrooms.org.uk/displaysubcat.asp?action=month&mid=10

Three natural occurrences have stood out along the Brook and the Railway Walk this year:
�_� The abundance of hawthorn blossom during the Spring,
�_� The prolonged period of high temperatures endured by all during July, accompanied by little or no rainfall, with the ensuing serious effect this had on younger trees causing some to shed a proportion of their leaves in order to survive, and
�_� The large numbers of acorns that Oak trees (see photo above) seem to have produced this year.

I have to ask the obvious question- is this abundance of acorns a sign of the kind of winter to come?
In other words, is nature providing a more bountiful harvest of fruits this year, so that our resident wild animals have sufficient food supplies, in preparation for a colder than average winter?

Perhaps this isn�__t entirely speculation on my part. I heard recently that meteorologists were beginning to revise their original long-term forecast for the coming winter 2006-2007, which had originally predicted a milder than normal one. This is no longer the case apparently from a recent discussion I heard on BBC Radio 4 which seemed to cast doubt on that preliminary forecast.

Despite our northerly latitude (in other words the distance of our country from the Equator), our weather benefits year round from the effects of mild, moist south-westerly winds blowing from the Atlantic, with the result that colder, icier weather often experienced in central Europe is kept at bay by these warmer winds.

Weathermen refer to this as the �__Gulf-Stream effect�__, which is a warm stream of water, some 50 miles wide which travels slowly from the Gulf of Mexico in a north-easterly direction towards western Europe and the UK. The section of the Gulf Stream that particularly affects us is called the North Atlantic Drift.

However, a report in the press last December seemed to suggest that the North Atlantic Drift was now 30% cooler than it was 12 years ago.
See that report by clicking here

Perhaps we�__ll just have to wait and see what this winter brings!

An essential constituent in any healthy stream has to be a good supply of plant life. Not only do these provide a source of food for plant-eating aquatic animal life that can also be found co-habiting in the Wom Brook, but due to the plants�__ efforts to produce their own food supply (startch), a bi-product of that process is oxygen.

Most aquatic animal life must extract oxygen from the water in order to live-and so the delicate balance of life in the Wom Brook can be maintained. Any accidental discharges of chemicals into the stream (which regrettably has occurred in previous years) can adversely affect this balance, by making the water either too acidic or conversely too alkalinic, thus decreasing the oxygen levels in the water, and at the same time these highly toxic chemicals can kill the plants.

A recent survey by the Friends of Wom Brook group found the above aquatic plant-Canadian Pondweed, (elodia Canadensis) growing in the Brook.

More information about Canadian Pondweed available HERE

A week ago, a large branch-like section of one of the trees growing close to the Brook by the Red Hill footbridge crashed down blocking the footpath.

Yesterday it was cut into moveable sections. Daniel wondered what the age of the tree was-I’ve included a photo of cross-section through the shorter of the two main branches, that shows two interesting things-
a) The annular rings
b) A couple of wasps feeding on the tree sap.

To attempt to answer Daniel’s question-the larger branch has about 12 annular rings. However, we assume that the tree is much older-as about 12 years ago, the original tree was cut down, as part of it was rotten.

Many would be forgiven for identifying the season depicted in the above photograph, showing leaf litter collecting on part of the old Wombourne Railway Station platform, as Autumn. Not so.

The prolonged period of dry, hot weather has had a severe effect on some of the younger trees growing along the Railway Walk. Unlike the older and taller trees, which have much longer roots that reach further underground to more moist earth, the younger trees are forced to shed some leaves in order to reduce their overall demand for water.

If you know of a tree near to you that is shedding leaves at the moment, and you are able to spare some of your waste vegetable water (not water containing detergents), then please give them some much-needed water.