July 11th – A beautiful summer’s day and the grass of Victoria Park – up until the 1930s a railway cutting – is looking scorched and brown; but no matter. This little gem of a green space right in the heart of industrial Darlaston still looks superb.
August 15th – Last spring, every time I came to Redditch, the state of the River Arrow worried me. It had been such a dry year that I feared for the ecology and hydroecology of this little-noticed waterway. The flow slowed to a lazy trickle, the waterfowl and kingfishers vanished. Conditions were bad.
What a difference a bad summer makes. Now, the Arrow is flowing through it’s valley park beautifully, and the sound of flowing water has returned, as have the kingfishers. A remarkable, and most welcome recovery. If you want to know why I was late, it wasn’t the train. I stood for 5 minutes watching the birds and enjoying the spirit of the water.
May 7th – The pools and ponds around Clayhanger and it’s commons are healthy again. They had been in a very poor state, particularly the one by the pedestrian bridge. It’s water level had been very low indeed since last summer. Since the recent rains, all have been topped up. It was typical rainy, dull and cold bank holiday weather when I came this way at lunchtime. On the new pool at Clayhanger, the waterfowl were enjoying the soft drizzle and honking loudly.
October 23rd -This is a remarkably dry season, yet not many people – least of all the media – seem to be mentioning the fact, which is causing me some concern. Blithfield Reservoir, north of Rugeley, is only 50% full, and ponds, lakes and streams are drying to a trickle. As a cyclist is pains me, but we really do need a good spell of rain, otherwise we’re in for serious trouble.
October 7th – After the dry summer, lots of bodies of water locally seem to be very low. Last week,end, I noticed Blithfield reservoir was a good few metres short of it’s usual level, and today, I noticed that the new pool near Clayhanger was low, too. When this pond was created25 years ago, there were stepping stones to a central island, which later became submerged. I wonder if the water level will get low enough to expose them again?
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 