Tag: management

#365daysofbiking Deceptive

March 10th – Some days you look at the photos you’ve taken and wonder if the camera experienced the same thing you did. Today was that kind of day.

I slipped out mid afternoon. I had things to check up on. I felt rough, I needed the air. But it was bitterly cold, had periodically been snowing, and there was a very wolfish wind that punished for any open zip or gap in clothing.

The towpaths and trails were muddy and wet, but I headed for the common anyway, and found it looking good. The heathland management is still going on here and the latest effort has been using and excavator to pull pack the grass in small squares all over the common.

This will help small, fragile plants take a hold and also give bugs and other small creatures access to fresh earth.

Looking at the pictures, I notice how blue the sky looks and how serene it appears. It was really rather unpleasant. My camera is lying.

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August 20th – The coos of Jockey Meadows have clearly been here again. But there is no sign of them now.

I’ve been wondering if they’d be here this summer, as the meadow is lush and  full of stuff they’d love to eat – but up to now, no sign of them.

But the feeding troughs are out, the grass is trampled down. But where are they?

I love to see them. I hope they come back soon.

August 12th – I didn’t find the deer, and it started to rain. But these guys really did cheer me up – the Chasewater North Heath coos. They were moving off the low heath up into the scrub for shelter I think, and didn’t give a toss who they held up, which is exactly how it should be. Their nosiness, and gentle inquisition charmed me as it always does, and I cycled on with a smile on my face.

Well done, lads. Mission accomplished.

July 27th – After a good couple of weeks trying to catch them at the gate, the Jockey Meadows coos were finally not too busy to meet me this evening. 

They’ve been released here much later than usual this year, and the meadow is clearly full of tasty stuff as whilst I’ve seen the odd bovine rump above the scrub, they’ve not been loafing much hear the road at all, and have seemed very busy in their work: that of maintaining the meadow by eating the fast growing plants, churning the soil and improving it’s fertility.

I love cows and tonight, they seemed to be convening a union meeting. There are more of them this year, I counted 12 I think, whereas they normally number around 8. It was notable, however, that whilst I was interesting enough to stare at quizzically, I wasn’t interesting enough to expend any effort in walking over to investigate.

It’s good to see these lads back and I look forward to meting them again soon…

July 14th – Well, they’re definitely here at Jockey Meadows at last, my friends the coos; but the lads were far too busy eating to go look at the cyclist calling them from the gate. 

It looks like we’ve got seven as usual, probably Dexters as they’ll eat just about anything.

Oh well, perhaps when they’ve settled in they’ll say hi…

August 21st – I had stuff to do in Aldridge on the way home, and Northgate was solid with traffic, so I cut down past the back of the Vigo landfill to hop on the canal at Brickyard Road. I noticed that the final work seems to be going on with sealing this immense refuse tip. It was capped with a top layer of marl a while ago, and landfill gas is still being abstracted and used to power a large generating set, supplying power to the national grid; but amongst the bulkheads and snaking pipes, a plastic membrane has been laid and it’s being covered in topsoil, prior to final landscaping.

The membrane prevents rainwater from getting through the cap and soaking through the refuse, where it would be extracted and disposed of as a toxic brew called leachate, which is an ongoing, expensive operation.

Reducing leachate production also lowers the future chances of groundwater pollution.

Landfill is quite a high-tech operation these days, if carried out properly.

May 11th – This evening when I passed Jockey Meadows, the cattle were obligingly close to the field gate – and what handsome fellows they are. I think there are ten in total, and it looks like they’e been having a paddle in the mud. The work they do is essential – cropping fast growing species, churning the ground up and spreading the poo love. 

They are collected in the evening, and I wondered if they were waiting for their lift, which raises again my occasionally mused question that they must regard this as work, and knock off at a set time. 

Coos are more intelligent than we give them credit for, I feel.

Meanwhile, at the far side of the meadow, a small group of deer were loafing in the reeds. This place really is alive right now.

March 22nd – I’m a big fan of Middleton Lakes, the former quarry and gravel pit complex handed to the RSPB. Situated on the Tame near Kingsbury, these mixed habitat wetlands and lakes are a haven for birds of all varieties, and are now attracting bird spotters from across the country.

I remember this in the late 2000s and before, when it was an active site, with conveyors and huge machines operating; now it’s a peaceful haven. In the last couple of years though, work has been carried out installing flood defences in the form of walls and an earth dyke, which stop the Tame flowing into the adjacent canal. The work has been sensitive and well executed.

I noticed today, however, the site was a good bit more manicured than formerly; there are gravel paths snaking over the site, and the odd portacabin. What had once been almost wild seems to be being reigned back in, and I think Middleton Lakes are in danger of becoming over-managed, with little distinction between them, and Kingsbury Water Park adjacent.

This is a great place; I hope it isn’t spoiled.

May 28th – A foul commute to and from work, characterised by constant drizzle, wet greasy roads and drivers not concentrating. Nearly wiped out on the way to work, a lady pulled out on me from a factory forecourt so closely her car snapped the reflector off my rear mudguard. Had I been slightly slower, she’d have clipped my wheel and I’d have been off. She didn’t even stop.

Returning on a no less intemperate journey home, I was cheered to see the cows still on Jockey Meadows; a fair-sized herd, there seem to be about 12 or 15, and they were looking wet and fatalistic as only cows can. 

I’m convinced they’re here to maintain the meadow and churn it up, whilst spreading the fertile love in the form of cowpats. They certainly seem to be having a good go. 

They were fascinated by me and my bike. I’m sure they’d all have come to the gate had I waited long enough.

May 13th – Greetings from the West Midlands conurbation. 

This is post industrial land, between Shelfield and Walsall Wood; scarred by mining, marl extraction and years of poor drainage. Now partially a site of Special Scientific Interest, the land here is a beautiful green lung.

The Oilseed Rape on the corner by Grange Farm is nearly over now, but the may is out, and with cowparsley bobbing in the wind, one might be somewhere more rural. 

Cows have been let loose on Jockey Meadows again – I assume it’s part of the rotational heathland management here. They seem in their element in this boggy watermeadow. 

Wen did this space – in my youth a hinterland of desertion and scrubby, polluted bog – get so beautiful?