It floods - this high!

For some time I've been meaning to get a picture of the hay bale in the tree by the side of Piddle Brook just below Naunton Court. It's been there for several years but it does give you an idea of how the flood waters go - it got stuck and hasn't moved since!

Hay Bale in tree alongside Piddle Brook

It gives some idea of the level of flooding in the field. It is probably a good 2 metres high in the tree above the level of the bank of Piddle Brook. The Piddle normally flows quite a bit below the bank - it's high today because of the rain we've had in the past 24 hours.

The other photo below is of the drain that flows from Naunton Beauchamp into the Piddle Brook at the bridge. It has a cover on it to prevent backflows into the village but it also means that when Piddle Brook is flooded - only a bit more than it is today which is not that significant a level, none of the water from the village can get into Piddle Brook because it shuts off. This is what makes Naunton Beauchamp flood in areas which are distant from the brook. 

Shades of Autumn

It's the beautiful time of year when the colours are changing and the misty starts signify the cooling from the warmer weather that we've been used to this year. Sudden bursts of rain, the intensity of which seems so different from what rain used to be like! Thankfully by using Will It Rain Today website I can dodge the showers! 

Here are some photos from today's walks along Piddle Brook - towards North Piddle and this afternoon on Seaford Land to the picnic site at Piddle Brook Ford.

Sloe Gin Ingredients!

Goldfinches and a Blue Tit

Goldfinches

Gun Fight at the NB Coral

Crab apples

Not a Sloe, Not a Damson...it's a Bullace!

Crataegus otherwise known as Hawthorn

Blue Tits - lots of them but only managed to get one on camera

Quinces

Late season Dandelions

A robin looking slightly unreal

After the rain had gone

Towards the Seaford Lane Picnic Site

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