Tag: Chasewater

October 8th – Chasewater. It’s all a bit sad. Yesterday, there was a media binge by Staffordshire and Lichfield Councils, who have been working on repairing the 212 year old dam at the currently drained reservoir. Celebrations were afoot because, apparently, the ‘plug’ was going back in and the reservoir would now be allowed to refill naturally. Sadly, the weather has to do the rest and we’re in the driest of dry seasons. The tone of the press releases and media focus was such that whilst stood photographing the unfinished works, several people came up to me and expressed their dismay at the clearly unfinished works. They thought the dam was repaired and the lake full again, which is very far from the truth.

As these images show, although the work on the outlet culvert is now complete, the dam bridge, spillway and other works are still to be finished.

The old outlet culvert is now chambered, and had been built up behind the sectional piling that made up the cofferdam. Slowly, it’s filling up with water.Those square section pipes are what, at the moment, passes for the old bridge, and the dam road is still closed off and impassible. Work here will continue for some months, and a large part of the park will remain inaccessible.

I have real concern for the clubs and businesses that rely on Chasewater for their livelihood. This situation has gone on too long.

September 23rd – Taking a breather round Chasewater late afternoon, I happened upon a small group of wild red deer. These majestic animals are a common sight on the heaths and grasslands of Brownhills. This group consisted of five does, who stood there defiantly watching me as they cropped on the grass.

September 17th – Ducks have a very relaxed attitude to mating. In short, if it looks like a duck, it’ll attempt to start a family with it. This results in a number of curious examples of interbreeding in the wildfowl frequenting the boating lake at Chasewater. On an evening spin around the park, I stopped to study the waterfowl and noted this curious bird. Is this a tufted duck cross? The tufted barnet is actually quite amusing… 

September 9th – on a late afternoon visit to Chasewater to check out the dam works, I was greeted by this small but rowdy group of pure white geese. Aggressive in the usual way, the honked and hissed at me for a while before returning to their previous activity of cropping the grass. I’m not sure what kind of geese they are – they look domestic, but are they snow geese perhaps?

September 3rd – out briefly in the late afternoon, I shot out to Chasewater, but the security fencing from Anglesey Basin had been secured again and there was no way through. Doubling back, I headed off the canal at Wharf Lane and noticed that a new gate had been erected to stop cars getting down by the canal. This is probably a good thing – there’s been a lot of flytipping and some antisocial behaviour there – but I do wonder how long a wooden gate will last before some rogue sets light to it. I wonder who erected it?

August 13th – A spin round Chasewater and a particularly fine, uninterrupted blast on the traffic-free bike route between Chasewater Heaths Station and Pool Road, at the north end of the dam. This is just a fraction of the great, family-freindly cycling to be had at Chasewater. Ideal for the nervous or those just not fancying road cycling, there’s cycle hire available on the south shore. Just watch out for pedestrians, loose dogs and obstinate red deer.

June 21st – After a circuit of Chasewater and a good nosey round the largely stalled dam works (security? What security?) I realised it was nearly dark and I only had a back light, so needed to get home quick. The park was deserted save for the odd dog walker, and I’ve always found the innovation centre oddly creepy at night. This shot was taken on timer after standing the camera on a picnic table.

June 21st – A late run out took me to Chasewater along the canal at dusk. If you’ve never walked or ridden the canal from Brownhills to Chasewater, do so as soon as you can. The canal forms a hard boundary between urbanisation to the south and west, and open countryside to the north and east. It’s rare one can see such sharp division, but the waterway is a quiet, winding route punctuated by gorgeous vistas. I never tire of it.

May 28th – Pottering around Chasewater, from Pool Road, I noticed deer over by the old spoil heap to the rear of the disused Highfield Farm. They were too far away to get a decent picture, so I entered the park, crossed back over the toll road via the footbridge and hopped onto the old railway line at the back of Poole Crescent. I came face to face with the group of red deer – two hinds and two young stags, with antlers still in velvet – just by the marsh at the corner of the heap. 

The were skittish, but curious, and we faced each other down at a distance of 50 yards or so for a good 10 minutes before I spooked them, and they ran off toward the thickets at the edge of the field. A wonderful sight, still shocking to me.