July 6th – I was really pleased yesterday to note that Chasewater’s mini beach, at the northern end of the dam, was back in use after so many years dry. This sand spot on the shore has been like visiting the seaside on sunny days for local kids for generations. It’s nice to know that if Barmouth or Rhyl are too far to go, there’s a little bit of beach life close by.
Beautiful.
June 29th – At Chasewater, I stopped to study something I’d not taken much notice of before – a microwave transceiver antenna between the boating lake and Innovation Centre. Painted brown to blend in, It’s pointing towards Pye Green, but could be anywhere in-between, too, like a telephone exchange or similar. On top is a standard ‘drum’ microwave antenna, with a transceiver amplifier halfway up. The nameplate on that suggests an 8MB link, and is almost certainly a broadband connection for the conference facilities, as I suspect the Innovation Centre was originally too far off the beaten track for a decent phone connection. Together with mobile phone network data backhaul, this is the only widespread use of such links still in use.
June 23rd – An evening spin out to Chasewater, and a surprisingly choppy reservoir put me in ming of childhood trips to Rhyl or Prestatyn. The wind whipped the water into spume-topped fury, and buffeted the pier, breakwater and wakeboard line.
Wakelake seem to be settling in now, but seem to be still erecting gear. They’ve made a much better job of renovating the pier than I originally thought, although it will stay out of bounds to the general public.
It’s so good to see this facility here, and the old wooden jetty come back to life.
June 21st – The north end of Chasewater Dam is currently carpeted in a beautiful display of moon daisies, which not only look delightful, but smell beautiful, too. I love the fact that the rangers stopped mowing the bank and left them to bloom.
In a day riven with toothache, chaos and general bad luck, these cheered me no end.
June 8th -A sunny, but windy summer afternoon. I headed out to Lichfield and the east Staffordshire plains, but on the way, I stopped to take a look around Chasewater. I haven’t seen so many little boats on the water for years, and it was great to see. Both the sailing club and watersports club were busy on the water. So different to this time last year, when there was still very little water in the reservoir. A fine thing indeed.
June 7th – The new wakeboard facility seems to be undergoing testing at Chasewater – at least, the first line is now up and in use. I hope this will bring folk to Chasewater, and it certainly looks like fun. I’m actually surprised at how unobtrusive it is, really, considering the fuss some folk made about it. Had hoped the pier would be in for a bit more TLC than it seems to have received, but it’s still nice to see it in use again.
I wish the operators well in their new venture. Welcome to Chasewater, folks!
May 27th – Today was spent cycling up to Cannock Chase via Chasewater, then over Shugborough and back down the canal to Tuppenhurst and back home over Longdon edge. The wind on my return was horrendous, and very hard work, but the sunlight and greenery of the rest of the day more than compensated for it. From atop the old pit mound at Chasewater, the view is stunning, and very hard to capture in a single image. The Chase has a lovely emerald jacket on, and the dandelion meadow at Shugborough was lush and gorgeous.
I was relieved to note at Hanch that the wild garlic, which seems to have had a fairly bad year, seems very prolific at the roadside. It’s the only spot this year that seems up to usual standards.
May 27th – I noted at Chasewater today, work was ongoing on the new Wakeboard line installation there. Towers have been constructed on land, and look set to be erected soon in the water. The pier has had all of it’s handrails removed, and the steps cropped off. Engineers were also working on a floating pontoon.
I’m really interested in this, and am keen to see how it progresses.
May 21st – An odd day, I was at home until lunchtime, then had to nip out for a meeting. I returned late, and took a spin out along the canal to Chasewaer, and back to Brownhills over the common. The sunset and light were lovely tonight, but not golden. Everything had a soft pink tone, which was rather soft and charming. It looked best over water, whether it was the canal or Chasewater. A splendid evening after a hectic, stressful day.
May 19th – Up on the north heath at Chasewater, something rather great has been happening. From the existing path that runs over the hill from Norton Lakeside halt to Chasewater Heaths, there’s a new one been laid towards the lake. Well finished, it bends to the east, crosses a couple of really nice boardwalks and crosses Fly Creek, whereupon it meets the eastern path from behind the Rugby Club. A lot of work must have gone into it, and it opens up the north eastern heath to walkers beautifully.
For those interested, this is what Brownhills Common should look like: a mixture of heath grassland, deciduous copse and heathers. Not a conifer in sight and the deer absolutely love it, as do the resident maintenance crew, the cows. It varies from being wide open, to dense native woodland, and it’s teeming with life – flora, amphibian, insect, mammal and avian. It’s all here, and a fine work of conservation it is.
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