Tag: Chasewater

March 18th – I thought Saturday had been grim. I had no idea just how unpleasantly bitter the wind – for that’s all it can be – would make a short ride on Sunday.

I pottered up to Chasewater again. Setting out in a partial thaw, I was surprised that within 30 minutes, package was hardening on roads and tracks and everything was freezing again. We’d had a fair old snowfall and Chasewater was beautiful for it – but it was very hard going. 

Trees at the lake edge on the causeway wore jackets of pure ice and the boardwalk over Fly Creek was flooded, as it always does when the main lake is full. Coming back i had to leave the canal towpath due to the deep drifts.

I haven’t known a winter this combative and protracted for years. When I got in the cold was physically painful. I’ve had enough now. 

March 17th – I’ll be honest here, I can only fit ten pictures in a post so I include two more shots of the deer. But the other two are of the spillway at Chasewater, fulfilling it’s purpose. With the main reservoir overflowing with rain and meltwater, the surplus has formed a stead river along the spillway and ins flowing into the 1980s era storm drain under the Victorian brick-lined overflow. The new system conducts the flow into the crane brook, a tributary of the Footherley/Black/Bourne Brook, itself a feeder of the Tame. 

The storm system is documented in this post on my main blog here.

It will be interesting to see how long this situation is allowed to continue, as the reservoir owners Staffordshire County Council are currently at odds with the Canal and River Trust, who expect access to the water it contains for maintaining the level of the local canals. 

I must try and get to the Crane Brook downstream and see what the flow is like before it stops.

March 17t – Up at Chasewater on a bitterly cold late March afternoon, snow was periodically falling, but my discomfort was sidelined by the antics of two groups of red deer.

I first saw a small group of five coming from the gorse scrub by Anglesey Basin, from where they trotted along the towpath to the dam cottage garden. Here I left them, but something spooked four and they ran back to the scrub, leaving just the one stag contentedly eating plants in the cottage garden.

As I explored the spillway, I noticed the rest of the herd loafing at the north end of the dam, so I ambled up. They drilled over Pool Road, leaping the fece and mooched over to the scrub around the derelict house.

Not once did they appear nervous of me, more curious as to my behaviour. These deer – I’m sure it’s the group that have been around this spot for weeks. now – seem to be regarding me as a familiar now.

A splendid, cheering sight on an otherwise grim afternoon.

March 16th – I had to nip up to Burntwood after an early return from work, and I took a muddy, wet canal towpath up to Chasewater.

My favourite tree at Home Farm, Sandhills seems to be getting into a spring jacket ever so slightly, and the greens were just a bit brighter than a week ago.

Ogley Junction bridge is now finished, and it looks great. The metalwork and bridge deck have been superbly refurbished, but it’s sad the brickwork didn’t get any love. Maybe that’ll be a separate job. 

At Chasewater, I was surprised to see the reservoir overflowing. It’s normally allowed to fill and overflow at this time of year, but the valves are still closed and the spillway is flowing with water. In light of the dispute ongoing between Staffordshire County Council, the owners of Chasewater and the Canal and River Trust who use the water it contains, it’ll be interesting to see how long the lake continues to overflow.

March 4th – The thing about an inversion is it’s transient. This one came and went in about 15 minutes, and it’s ever changing. As it drifted away, it left clear skies, a very noisy gull roost and beautiful colour.

Even the coos looked impressive with their clouds of steam

That’s how you fix a bad mood, and that is exactly why I ride a bike.

March 4th – I was going stir crazy. A bad day – the internet was getting me down, the thaw had set in and the world outside had the slimy, grey, filthy wet feel you only get with melting, heavy snow.

I slipped out on an errand at sunset and something magical happened. I caught a surface-air temperature inversion. I saw it start on The Parade in Brownhills, as it was gathering over the common. I raced to Chasewater. It was stunning.

An inversion occurs when the ground is colder than the air above and mist forms is very low, isolated pockets. I’ve not seen on this strong since I was a kid. Mist drifted around and almost deserted Chasewater, and I was in the middle of it, like a kid in a sweet shop.

March 3rd – One thing it has been nice to see of late is the new house at Highfield, south of Chasewater. Once an active farm, the site fell into decline and most of the original farm was demolished. Permission was applied for a replacement house several years ago and has now been build, and it’s a handsome, four-square place. I wish the new residents well.

In the field nest door, the coos remain as nosy and inscrutable as cows always are. I’m not sure if they’re connected with the house, or just there to manage the heath nearby, but they are lovely. They don’t seem to mind the cold.

March 3rd – I found a herd of 19 fit-looking red deer in the scrub near the outdoor education centre. They were relaxed, browsing the heather and not at all skittish. A fine sight.

I love how thick and woolly their coats seemed, and the occasional snow on the nose. It’s good to know these fine creatures are faring well in the snow.

March 3rd – A mixed-mode day following some of the heaviest, driest falls of snow I’ve ever seen. Like 2013, snow was drifting deeply, but unlike then, the snow was powered and mobile, and it was very cold.

I cycled and walked. Desperate to get out, the canal to Chasewater from Catshill Junction was very nearly impassible on foot, but wonderfully dramatic. Chasewater itself was beautiful and stark, and spotting the lapwing in a colourless landscape was wonderful.

I say colourless, but the gorse was at least trying hard.

March 1st – Allegedly the first day of spring, but a better one insomuch as I was better prepared for the cold. I wrapped up better, and rode a more sensible bike. It was just as cold, with more persistent, more powdery snow – but on leaving work early, I did a loop of Brownhills before nightfall to enjoy the spectacle.

Enjoy it I did, although again, the wind and cold were punitive and pugilistic. The powder drifted in clouds like dust devils over canal ice and bone-dry roads. Snow depths went from nothing at all to 150mm. At 4:30pm it was already minus 5 degrees C. When my hair started to develop lumps of ice, I decided to go home.

I noted the gritting operation at the council depot was in full swing, and the grit barn looks very depleted. The coos up at Highfields Farm, Chasewater looked peaceful and unconcerned, and the fox I scared into woodland across the common near Watling Street was as usual for foxes in snow, apparently apologetic for his higher than usual visibility.

These have been remarkable days to be on a bike. They have been very hard, but I wouldn’t have missed them for the world.

It’ll be interesting to see what the weekend brings.