Reprieve for Piddle Brook - Planning Committee Voted 14 Nil to Reject Application

The Chicken Broiler Farm Application by Edward Davies was unanimously Rejected by the Wychavon Planning Committee 14 votes to 0.  The excellent news was greeted by cheers and clapping from a packed chamber.

Mr Pick of Ian Pick Associates and Mr Davies left by the fire exit as soon as the result was announced. One could describe it as a chicken run....!

However, Mr Pick made it quite clear that they would be lodging an appeal and that is what they did as soon as the refusal notice was issued. The full Refusal notice can be read here.  

It will be a Written Representation. This is interesting as this is supposed to be where the case is not contentious. Most of those involved would say this case was.

Here are some of the comments from local newspapers.

The Daily Telegraph also featured an article this week on Planning Applications and Chicken Farms. Presumably the Poultry Council's PR department has been on the case since this was rejected. If only they could distinguish between a Planning Application which was in a reasonable in an appropriate location and this one which wasn't.

Prior to the Meeting - Worcester News - http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/archive/2013/10/11/10729439.Protesters_mass_to_fight____terrible____chicken_farm/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/10375738/Britain-is-running-out-of-space-to-farm-chickens-warns-poultry-industry.html

This was our response to the Editor:

"Sir,

‘Britain is running out of space to farm chickens, warns poultry industry’- The Telegraph, Monday 14 October.

We have recently helped represent our local community in successfully persuading the local planning authority to reject a proposal for a new 80,000 meat-chicken unit in open countryside in rural Worcestershire.

Farmers currently enjoy a more favourable planning environment than any other business sector, so if they fail to achieve success in planning applications it could be that an inappropriate location has been chosen and that there are good planning reasons for rejection.

We accept there is a debate to be had about the location of industrial scale poultry units, but if sites are proposed that are contrary to local policies on landscape impact, risk of pollution to sensitive watercourses and risk to the livelihoods of existing tourism businesses nearby, then it is only right that they fail. In our case, not a single local farmer was in favour of the proposal and the Planning Committee, which also includes a number of active farmers, rejected the application unanimously.

It is not a question of needing to speed up the planning process, or that we do not have enough suitable locations. The challenge for the poultry industry is to find those suitable sites, rather than selecting ones that are inherently unsuitable and then be disappointed that planning permission is not granted."


Finally, here are some photos taken from Seaford Lane looking towards Throckmorton where the feed storage units for the chicken broiler units stand out quite significantly against the landscape. We seriously hope that this is not the view in the opposite view toward Upton Snodsbury in a few years time if this appeal is won by the applicant.

Crane Flies - To Live and Die

Better known in the UK as Daddy Long Legs, Crane Flies are everywhere at the moment - providing some swallows with the opportunity for hunting and demonstrating impressive aerial acrobatics. 

Crane flies only live for a short time - maybe up to two weeks. Their main purpose is to mate and then die.  

The swallows are gathering in large flocks of 60-70 in the fields close to Piddle Brook. In the late summer sunlight last weekend there were at least that number on adjacent telephone and power lines swooping down and demonstrating an effortlessness of flight that was impressive. With so many targets maybe it was easy. 

For the swallows this is a pretty critical time for storing energy prior to migrating later this month and October. http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/s/swallow/migration.aspx

Aside from the crane flies and swallows which due to bad light and speed are pretty hard to capture, here are a few of the latest pictures from the Piddle Brook area. 

This Buzzard took off from a tree close by and I just managed to get this shot in before it disappeared. From the Footpath alongside Piddle Brook between Naunton Beauchamp and North Piddle. 

Buzzard 

View towards Upton Snodsbury and the site of the proposed Chicken Farm

Upton Snodsbury Church from Piddle Brook

The sloes are particularly good this year. They only grow on the old wood of the blackthorn bushes which are abundant in the hedgerows around this part of Worcestershire.

Nearly time to make some Sloe Gin!

Traditional Worcestershire Cowboy and Log Cabin with the Malvern Hills in the background

Light shining above Naunton Beauchamp

Aposematism and Chicken Farm at Upton Snodsbury Round Two!

It's that time of year when lots of people are taking holidays. We just came back from being away too and found that the Chicken Farm Proposal at Upton Snodsbury has been re-submitted. Strangely that means that although the original plans haven't changed (the applicant has merely submitted all the documents he should have submitted in the first place) all the original objections no longer stand.  A great way to waste an awful lot of time and ratepayers money in sending out letters to the original objectors....the process is an interesting one. 

So, if you've come across this blog and would like to object to the proposal that would fundamentally change the peace, tranquillity, smell and pollution of this area please OBJECT NOW!  Find out more on the www.no-chicken-farm.org website.


Back to Piddle Brook in a moment but first..towards the ends of the post I'll upload a video of butterflies I took on a small Caribbean Island called Cayman Brac. We decided that the Big Butterfly Count would have had a hard job of counting how many there were - the word "lots" would have done quite well. They are everywhere - something that we probably won't ever see in the UK. They weren't very colourful - mainly white although just after that I'll post the swallowtail I did get a picture of.  Cayman Brac only has a population of 2000 on an island that measures 12 miles by 1 mile with a large bluff running down the middle.

One common theme between Cayman Brac and Piddle Brook (!) is the use of Aposematism in animals which indicates that you shouldn't eat them. The organism is basically saying it is dangerous or unpalatable. I wasn't aware of the word until I read about it on the Amateur Entomologists' Society website.

On my morning walk alongside Piddle Brook towards North Piddle I discovered Ragwort with three Cinnabar moth caterpillars on it. 

This is from the Amateur Entomologists' Society website - "The caterpillars have alternating orange and black bands down their bodies. The ragwort plants on which the caterpillars feed contain alkaloid poisons. As they eat the leaves the caterpillars store the poison and this is passed from caterpillar to pupa and finally to the imago/adult. The caterpillars advertise the fact that they are poisonous if eaten through their aposematic colouration."

While we were on holiday on Cayman Brac we found another caterpillar which had selected one particular Frangipani bush and there must have been around twenty caterpillars on it. It appeared to have the same message! Don't eat me was pretty clear. These caterpillars have a voracious appetite and can eat a leaf in a few minutes. The bush didn't stand much chance! The caterpillars were about the size of my index finger.

Frangipani Caterpillar from Cayman Brac

On my morning walk there were lots of white butterflies - mostly Cabbage whites, Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers

Gatekeeper Butterfly

But a Butterfly that I hadn't seen before and identified was the Small Copper - this is how it is described on the Butterfly Conservation Website - 

"The Small Copper is usually seen in ones and twos, but in some years large numbers may be found at good sites. Males are territorial, often choosing a piece of bare ground or a stone on which to bask and await passing females. They behave aggressively towards any passing insects, returning to the same spot when the chase is over.

Though it remains a common and widespread species, the Small Copper declined throughout its range during the twentieth century. Widespread through Britain and Ireland, and occasionally visits gardens."

Small Copper

Small Copper

It's more agressive behaviour was borne out by its interaction with this bee - most butterflies take off when bees land on a flower from my experience but this guy was having none of it and was quite determined that the bee shouldn't get rid of him too easily!

Bee and Small Copper Butterfly competing for nectar!

Meadowbrown

Peacock

Small White

Bee and Teasel

The trees in the distance are the edge of the field where the Chicken Farm is proposed to be located near to Froghall Bungalow

View towards Chicken Farm proposed site

Bee with damaged wings

Bee with mites on it

Butterflies in Abundance

Biodiversity Says It All

The striking thing about walking through Piddle Brook Meadows isn't that the marketing people got it all wrong and indeed with a name like Piddle Brook you might wonder what possible delights await...it's that these fields epitomise for me what we have lost. 

There are still great example around. Some friends recently went to Highgrove where Prince Charles has been working on establishing his own Wildflower Meadows and with his Coronation Meadows celebrating 60 years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth 2nd rightfully establishes meadows as a key resource that quite frankly has been significantly under-valued.

Yellowhammer

Meadowsweet

I was lucky enough to work for several years as an scuba diving instructor and divemaster. Taking people for tours underwater meant a good working knowledge of the topography of the site but more importantly where you could find the good stuff - the little Spotted Drums, Morays and the feeding stations with little cleaning shrimp that would willingly do a little manicure picking up the loose skin from around your fingernails! These are what the paying customers had come to see.

 What was more fascinating was what happened when you went a bit further than the average diver could easily fin in a dive or did an anchor drop when most operators stuck to the fixed buoys. Suddenly you found even more fish! They had all escaped to a little haven where the divers didn't go. To a certain extent that is what seems to happen in the few places we have left as wildlife reserves but which aren't frequently visited. The less we have the more likely it is that these havens will have more human  visitors than the wildlife are happy to hangout with. I free truly privileged to live somewhere where the biodiversity is quite frankly stunning. Long may it continue.

We heard last week that the application for a chicken farm in close proximity to Piddle Brook Meadows has been withdrawn.  It may only be temporary, in which case, if it is re-submitted we will judge the new application from the same applicant or another on its merits.  However, whatever happens everyone should be aware of just what might be lost if developments that are inappropriate are made in this area. 

Our local biodiversity might be lost forever.

These photos were all taken on a single 35 minute morning walk in July.

Juvenile Goldfinches

Whitethroat?

Closeup of Juvenile Goldfinch

Closeup of Juvenile Goldfinch

Possible Reed Bunting or something else!

Whinchat (Male) 

Whinchat

Yellowhammer

Yellowhammer

Yellowhammer

View of Upton Snodsbury Church from Piddle Meadows

Dappy Hog

Greenfinch

Piddle Brook from the Bridge over the road into Naunton Beauchamp

Whilst planners might be content with a few wildlilfe "corridors" it is possible that for the wildlife itself there needs to be some critical mass to make them effective.  Biodiversity is key.

Summer Is Definitely Here!

The forecast is for the warm temperatures to continue for a while..in the meantime the hay has been cut in more of the fields and the butterflies are coming out in force in the meadows. Lots of Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns.

Lots of birds around and the variety in the fields never ceases to amaze me - even in a small area the biodiversity of Piddle Brook Meadows is excellent. It partly depends on the time of day. Early morning is always good for Yellowhammers, Skylarks, Willow Warblers and various finches and tits.

Here are a few pictures from the last two days...

I spotted a couple of birds hanging onto the barbed wire by the side of Piddle Brook and managed to get quite close. They were eating seeds and moving along the wire. One settled on a Cow Parsley.  They looked like juvenilles of some species I'm not familiar with. One neighbour suggested Siskin but the tail markings are a little different. So, an unidentified bird..more detective work required. 

Posting a few days later: These are Juvenile Goldfinches. There are quite a few around Naunton Beauchamp - they seem to have bred very well this year and can be seen around the gardens as well as in Piddle Brook Meadows - up to 5 at a time.

Two - another one is just to the left of the post.

Juvenile Goldfinch

Juvenile Goldfinch

Chaffinch

A family of six long-tailed tits were flitting around in one of the willow trees.

Long Tailed Tit and One Coming Into Land!

Long Tailed Tit

Long Tailed Tit

Long Tailed Tit - Sunset

A good sized beetle - pretty important things that we don't often take much notice of...