Saturday Morning Walk 8th June 2013

It would be too easy to take it all for granted...a short walk from home, stunning Wildflower Meadows, a brook meandering through, birdsong.  But I don't take it for granted. Not anymore.

Ever since the Planning Application was put in for an 80,000 Broiler Chicken Units at Upton Snodsbury on land just 1km away from Naunton Beauchamp and  close to the Public Footpath which runs towards North Piddle I haven't taken it for granted. I realise just how transient these sites could be. Just a few years after Worcestershire Wildlife Trust bought these sites with the aim of improving it and providing stewardship for future generations this new Proposed Development of a Chicken Broiler Unit could have a devastating impact on the wildlife that lives in the areas around Piddle Brook.  

So, while it hasn't been built and we fight to get the Proposal rejected by Wychavon Council we continue to enjoy and walk in a beautiful area with stunning flora and fauna. For more information on our progress on Objecting to the Chicken Broiler Units please visit our residents' website - Wychavon Parishes Action Group - www.no-chicken-farm.org

So, it was a bit dull early today but aside from the speedy birds that are too quick for me to get pictures or even identify them, here are the pictures I did manage to capture.

Green Damselfly

Piddle Brook taken from footpath  heading towards North Piddle

View towards Naunton Beauchamp

Banded Demoiselle Piddle Brook Meadows June 2013

A Few Years In the Life Of....A May Fly. Carpe Diem et al.

Getting pictures of small aphids and insects is never easy but last weekend I was walking along the hedgerow near Piddle Brook when  I spotted a small insect with large wings on a piece of grass. Stalking it as if it were a big cat I got to within a few metres with my ridiculously large lens with a fast speed and high ISO in case it fled and took some pictures, thinking that at any moment it would fly away. It didn't move. I got closer and closer...it didn't take long for me to realise why.  It was dead...

May Fly

A day in the life of a May Fly...thanks to Bug Life for this..what an amazing story...

The common name ‘Mayfly’ is quite misleading because this group of insects can appear throughout the year. In fact, at one point they were called dayflies due to some of the species having an adult life of a single day. The common name comes from the habit of one species, Ephemera danica, which emerge as adults when the Mayflower or Hawthorn is in bloom.

Mayflies start life as an egg on the bed of the river, before hatching into a nymph. The nymphs feed on algae and other vegetable matter on the bed for up to two years in some species, before emerging from the surface of the water as an adult.

Mayflies are unique as insects in having two winged adult stages. After emerging from the water they fly to the bank where they shelter on the underside of leaves or in the grass. They then moult again, leaving behind their drab ‘dun’ skin to reveal their shiny ‘spinner’ skin. Following this moult they fly back to the water and form mating swarms dancing above the surface.

Marvellous mayflies
Mayflies were one of the first winged insects, with fossils dating back over 300 million years – long before the dinosaurs! There are 51 species of mayfly known from the British Isles today and they range in size from less than 5mm to over 20mm.

Mayfly larvae, and the mayfly adults emerging from the water, are a vital source of food for many other freshwater creatures, especially fish such as trout and salmon. Mayflies, and other riverflies, help ensure that our rivers, lakes and streams are home to a rich variety of wildlife.

Populations of mayflies and other riverflies are declining in the UK. As a member of the Riverfly Partnership Buglife is working with other organisations to try and understand the cause of these declines. Once the causes are known action can be taken to reverse the declines and protect beautiful mayflies. For more information on riverflies and their decline please click here.

So, this May Fly was probably in Piddle Brook as a nymph for two whole years and had just emerged for one day. Talk about Carpe Diem. 

A few days later my husband was walking alongside the Meadows and spotted the same insect. He thought at first that it was a juvenile version of a Banded Demoiselle which are quite common around Piddle Brook meadows but realised it was a May Fly when he researched it a bit further.

He also has a stunning picture of a Banded Demoiselle from Piddle Brook Meadows.

Banded Demoiselle

Don't miss the small stuff..it tells us a lot about the big stuff.

Flight Sightings Around Piddle Brook June 2013

I'm not exactly a bird expert (ornithologist even) but over the past few years I've gradually added more birds from sightings and callings to my repertoire. Here are a just a few (the ones that stayed still long enough to be photographed!). This is a selection from the past week on my daily walks alongside Piddle Brook through the Wildlife Meadows towards North Piddle.

Great Tit

Buzzards Circling

Willow Warbler

Chaffinch

Yellowhammer

Prince Charles Leads Project to Revive Wildlife Meadows

How appropriate it is that Prince Charles has announced plans to revive the fortunes of Wildlife Meadows just as our beautiful Worcestershire Local Nature Reserves at Piddle Brook Meadows and Naunton Court Fields as well as Piddle Brook itself are under threat of pollution and contamination from a Chicken Broiler Farm Development.

Flood plain Wildflower meadow next to Proposed Chicken Broiler Unit

This beautiful wildflower meadow lies next to Piddle Brook in the field adjacent to the planned Chicken Broiler Units near Upton Snodsbury, Worcestershire. 
In the distance is Upton Snodsbury Church. 

Objections to the proposal need to be submitted by the 14th June. Click this link to go to the Wychavon website which shows the Proposal, Objections and Correspondence.

Green Woodpecker

Hare running in the long grass 100m from the Proposed Site

When we visited the Proposed Site adjacent to Froghall Bungalow we saw willow warblers (and heard them - a beautiful sound), a hare took off from the long grass  which can just be seen in the field picture above. In the fields just beyond the meadows,  high in the sky, two buzzards were circling in the thermals. 

Peacock Butterfly in the long grass of the wildlife meadows

Banded Demoiselle found along the banks of Piddle Brook

Nearby to a tree plantation just four hundred metres from the site a green woodpecker flew past. These are just some examples of the huge range of flora and fauna that can be found in this area which is defined as Bishampton Claylands.  The young Banded Demoiselles are just emerging all along the banks of Piddle Brook.

Proposed site of Chicken Broiler Unit

The proposed site of the 80,000 Broiler Chickens has no buildings on it currently and is defined as Grade 3 Agricultural Land.  

At least a thousand years of people inhabiting this area and there are no buildings on this site. Perhaps the Applicant of the Chicken Broiler Unit should take note - this area floods and it drains into Piddle Brook. 

So, any ammonia, nitrates, dust containing contaminants like salmonella and campylobacter could easily be spread into the local area during flooding.  With Climate Change this is a key concern of local residents.

If you read this blog and want to find out more about the Proposed Chicken Broiler Unit at Upton Snodsbury, Worcestershire please visit our website to find out more - www.no-chicken-farm.org.  We are a group of concerned residents who do not want to lose more of what Prince Charles has clearly recognised is a cause worth fighting for.

Flooding of Piddle Brook, Worcestershire

Flooding of Piddle Brook and Environs

Why are we worried about flooding of Piddle Brook and the proposed Chicken Broiler Unit on land adjacent to Frog Hall Bungalow?

Although the Environment Agency maps show the river flooding they are not necessarily an accurate picture of what happens on the ground.

In 1997, 2007 and 2012 flooding of Piddle Brook has been severe. Where once these would have been 1 in 100 to a 1000 year events they are occurring much more frequently.  According to the Environment Agency the effects of Climate Change need to be factored in to planning applications with an uplift of 20% for Commercial projects and 30% for residential.

One Resident's Experience of Piddle Brook Floods in 1997

On one evening during the 1997 flooding a resident of Naunton Beauchamp followed his normal route home along the A422 towards Worcester. Outside the Red Hart at Dormston his car was overwhelmed by the flood water and had to be abandoned. After drying out in the Red Hart (there is always a silver lining) he and a new found friend heading in the same direction tried to get to Naunton Beauchamp. The main road the A422 was impassable along that section. They managed to get through to Upton Snodsbury from a series of back roads from the north. The Moor End Road at the Libbery turn was totally impassable. The B4082 was flooded but passable. 

The Naunton Beauchamp resident was dropped off at the end of Main Street/B4082 to walk through to the village. In the dark he waded through the two and a half feet deep water, briefcase on head along the pavement trying to keep to the highest point of the road. The height of the flood was just below the parapet of the bridge. In the picture here it is shown in 2007 and is around two feet six inches less than the depth it was that night in 1997. 

Pictures of Flooding from 2007

Cottage closest to Piddle Brook Main Street Naunton Beauchamp

 A number of properties were flooded in 2007. Any additional arable land given up to buildings can have an effect on the flood plain. The concern of residents is that the already serious problem of localised flooding downstream of Froghall Farm is going to be exacerbated by developments that involve putting in concrete bases, particularly if planning approval is given for two units (possibly extending to 8 or 10 units) each measuring 122m x 25m.

Piddle Brook meadows by Naunton Beauchamp in flood 2007

The video link below is critical to understanding the issue of localised non-water course flooding from Cowsden and Upton Snodsbury over the fields at the Proposed Site. The field on the right shown in this footage is actually 5 metres higher than the Proposed Chicken Broiler Unit site!

This flooding is not shown on the Environment Agency maps. 

Important - watch this video! 
Link to Flickr Page of Video Footage of Flooding at Cowsden Road turning with B4082. 

Pictures of Flooding from 2008

It doesn't even have to be an exceptional year to have significant flooding in this area. Because it is so localised and can disperse relatively quickly (within a few days if there is no sustained rain and the land isn't saturated) it is only local residents who would be aware of this problem.  Unfortunately the Applicant of the Chicken Broiler Unit does not know the area and the Environment Agency flood maps only show river flooding.  

Link to pictures of 2008 flooding on Flickr

Video Footage showing Flooding of Piddle Brook at Seaford Lane Ford in November 2012. 

This was taken on Monday 26th November after the peak over the weekend when cars could not get out of Naunton Beauchamp according to residents who were in the village at the time.

Wildlife Diary - An Endangered Species?

Wildlife Diary Background Notes

A keen photographer and walker I've been living in Worcestershire for the past nine years. I count myself fortunate to live in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The names of the villages -  Upton Snodsbury, Flyford Flavell, North Piddle and Naunton Beauchamp sound like the made-up names in an Evelyn Waugh novel. This is an area of mainly sheep and arable farming with a low elevation and meandering watercourses that feed into the River Avon. Pershore is the nearest town of any size. The villages have their own character and identity and there is a strong community spirit. 

Piddle Brook Meadows Local Nature Reserve

St Bartholomew's Church Naunton Beauchamp

Within walking distance from the village where I live in Naunton Beauchamp, Worcestershire are two Local Nature Reserves run by Worcestershire Wildlife Trust  - Piddle Brook Meadows and Naunton Court Fields.

Piddle Brook runs close to the village of Naunton Beauchamp and a bridge crosses the Piddle as you enter the village from the south off the B4082. 

Piddle Brook Meadows Map

Grafton Woods Bluebells

The source of Piddle Brook source is not far away at Grafton Flyford which has a beautiful woodland called Grafton Woods. The woods are stunning when the bluebells are out. It's an important area for rare butterflies such as the Brown Hairstreak Butterfly which lays its eggs in the blackthorn bushes in the old hedgerows around this part of Worcestershire. "The only colony in the West Midlands is centered around Grafton Wood SSSI and is currently spreading in Worcestershire; it’s now found as far west as Droitwich and east into Warwickshire. "

Bluebells at Grafton Wood, Worcestershire

Piddle Brook in Flood

The PR people were really doing it a bit of a dis-service by naming it Piddle Brook. It doesn't have the ring of an idyllic little stream and in fact for some parts of the year, "piddle" definitely doesn't describe it. Flooding is a major problem and on three occasions in the past 14 years that I am aware of the village has been completely cut off by flooding of Piddle Brook. Several properties were flooded in 2007 and more recently with the levels of sustained rainfall in 2012-2013 flooding of the fields was still present with the blue clay saturated for a whole year - well into 2013. 

So, Why a Wildlife Diary?

Sadly, things may change for Piddle Brook and its wildlife. In May 2013 a farmer from Powys put in a planning application for a Chicken Broiler Unit on land adjacent to Froghall Bungalow, Upton Snodsbury. The local parishes have joined together to form an Action Group and hopefully the 80,000 broiler chickens which will be produced seven times a year will not be sited in what is currently a greenfield site. 

Site of Proposed Chicken Broiler Units

For more information on the status of the Planning Application please visit the Action Group website at www.no-chicken-farm.org

The aim of this diary is to show the biodiversity of the area. It has some rare species but more importantly it has a huge range of flora and fauna that can be enjoyed by anyone walking along the Permissive Path of the Nature Reserve or along the footpath that goes along Piddle Brook towards North Piddle.  

If the application does go ahead the farmer has stated that he plans to build a house and extend to another 6 or 8 units with the ability to produce 320,000 broiler chickens or more every 8 weeks. This diary will serve as a reminder of what might be lost if it goes ahead. It is hard to imagine what changes we might see with increased nitrates, ammonia output and the potential for flooding that this proposal brings. 

Peacock Butterfly by Piddle Brook June 2013

My aim is to show the facts through photos and a retrospective of some of the pictures from my album of this area. I would like to  demonstrate why this development is completely inappropriate. I don't want to debate chicken farming, broiler units or the availability of cheap food. Self-sufficiency for the UK in food is a good objective to some degree. 

I would like people to see what might be lost if this beautiful bit of Worcestershire is given over to an industrial type of business which is completely at odds with the local plans and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

Brown Hare by Piddle Brook 2013

On a recent walk I had a close encounter with a hare. I'd seen it earlier in the walk just beyond the Nature Reserve on the Public Footpath. I was messing around with my camera, totally engrossed in why my last shot was completely over-exposed when I felt something touch my foot. I looked down straight into the eyes of a hare.  He took off and I managed to get one shot of him before he disappeared! Wrong settings but you can't win them all! 

You never know what you're going to see on a walk along Piddle Brook.