Friends of Ravenhurst Playing Fields

First of all I would like to apologise greatly for the mass space of time between this post and my previous post. I have been very busy doing lots of other things so unfortunately I have not been able to post and although I can not make a promise I will try and post more often. I have had some tests recently and since the last post I have been preparing for those. However, I am back now and the tests are over with so you will be hearing a lot more from me.

Besides that I have come back to posting with, well, not the happiest of thing. The Friends of Ravenhurst Playing fields is under threat of houses being built upon the local green-space. This threatens the life of many animals, insects and not only the green-space but also the playing field which is used for sports on a regular basis. An ecologist has inspected the field once more and there were signs of increased badger activity! This is great news for the field and another reason to protect this site. It is vital to many people - not just the people who live on the perimeter or in the area- but also, and I know that they aren't technically people but, the animals. There lives would be ruined if this green-space were to be destroyed. I know it sounds like a cliché but if you were to put yourself into the shoes of a badger a creature living on that green-space or just you living in your own home and somebody with no right to, came along and demolished it for no reason. Then they built there bigger houses on top of yours. It wouldn't be right. It WOULDN'T be fair. So why would it be fair to do the same to the wildlife on that green-space?


I believe the planning committee will meet to make their decision on the 26th of May. Unfortunately I did not know of such a horrible event until about two days ago we only had till the 2nd of May to submit comments. However, comments given after that date but before the decision will still be taken
 into account. Your objections to the planning department can be done on line or by post.

Planning reference is: 2014/06660/PA
To send objections on line use: www.birmingham.gov.uk/planningonline
To send by post:     Birmingham City Council Planning and Regeneration
                                  PO Box 28
                                    Birmingha B1 1TU
I thank you for your support and for your help to give it one last push to defeat the development and save our green sporting land as there is so little of it left in this area and once it is gone, it is gone FOREVER.

A poem

The other day I was feeling poetic and wanted to do something different. So I decided to create a poem about birds. It is not a real life event, and would never occur in real life. However, it rhymes and the audiences I performed it to thought it was a nice and enjoyable poem, so I hope you do enjoy it. Thank-you.

Birds in the garden 

Yesterday I saw a dove,
Big and plump,
Upon a large tree stump,
Then came a pigeon,
And over my head a wigeon,
And, I saw all this, in, my back garden.

The other day I saw a Swan,
Who landed by my pond,
It looked like, in it's mouth, it held a wand,
It then invited it's friend the Canada Goose,
And it;s acquaintance the Moose,
And, I saw all this, in, my back garden.

In the past, I saw a Grey Heron,
Long and thin,
Carrying something shaped like a pin,
Then came a golden plover,
Who saw the bird that set out to hover,
and, I saw all this, in, my back garden

One fine day I saw a Waxwing,
Taking material for it's nest,
Then it went to go west,
Then flew a Swallow,
Competing with a nuthatch to make something hollow,
And, I saw all this, in my back garden.

Some time ago on a winter day I saw a Robin,
Who, was chubby and red,
And not just his breast but his head,
At this point it was hopeless,
To see something as rare as a Diplodocus,
So, that's all I saw, in, my back garden.

But when summer days were back, I saw a Purple Heron,
With vicious claws and a pointy beak,
And I thought, 'I better run. EEK!'
But, untouched, a rock dove flew past,
So, I thought, 'I've seen a rare one at last.'
And, I saw all this, in my back garden.

When winter came, I saw a pigeon,
Who ate too much in summer,
But to adulthood he was a new-comer,
Then, over my head came a Buzzard large,
and his eagle friend named marge,
And, I saw all this, in, my back garden.

One summers day, no birds came,
Maybe my luck ran out,
What a shame,
But as all hope was lost,
One bird gave me some!
Because it's not one to miss fish (a fish-misser)
For that bird is a King-fisher,
I told the shop across from me,
Because I thought I was lucky,
And so I ended my quest,
For the one that had beauty the best,
Of course it was the Kingfisher, who, had left town,
But that did not leave me with a frown.

The final paragraph was about my favourite bird: The Kingfisher. And that is the reason I included it as my final bird, with the most beauty around, and the one that gave me hope. So thank-you for taking just five minutes out of your day to read what I have written. I hope you enjoyed. 

Secret Revealed Early-I need your help

The lovely wildlife at my patch

I know that I have not done many posts yet and these are yet to come. However, something terrible has come upon my secret patch and that is why I shall reveal this secret location much earlier than planned.

The Threat
It has come to my attention that my patch is under serious threat of being taken over and turned from a delightful world of nature, where all of the wildlife can flourish into another horrific part of civilisation- an industrial park! From a peaceful, calm place, it could turn into a noisy, busy, place where all the delightful nature will be ripped from the ground and using these materials become a dreadful eyesore, which will, have a major effect on the wildlife! SO I NEED YOUR HELP TO PROTECT IT.

Effects
Not only will this have effect on the wildlife, there is ruins known as the 'abbey ruins' from the 13th century and they will also be demolished! Not only that but this also environmental, historical and ecological landscape. This is possibly the worst thing that could have happened and without your help IT WILL happen.

Now the bit you've been waiting for. Where my patch is. My patch is 'lapal and Illey brooks' in Halesowen. And although by the road it is one of the most silent places I have ever been too. Now where you can help. Please go to this website and sign the petition to stop this monstrosity from becoming a reality. You can also visit their website, Facebook page and Twitter account with these links. Thank you.

Petition: https://www.change.org/p/dudley-metropolitan-borough-council-save-halesowen-s-countryside?recruiter=333271347&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=des-lg-google-no_msg

Website: http://www.halesowenroots.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/halesowenroots/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaveHalesowen

History

This time instead of heading to the patch I decided I could do a little bit about this towns history and well, it was kind of hard to leave out the name but I managed to do it for you. This should probably give you a big clue on what it is, if you have a light-bulb moment and figure it out please feel free to share your thoughts on either twitter or in the comments.

The Tunnel

In this town there was a narrow tunnel, which is now abandoned. This is disused and stretches 3,470 metres this connects our town with another. It was made in 1798 by a man named William Underhill. This tunnel had no towpath  (this is a path beside a river or canal originally used for horses towing canal boats) and was barely wider than the boats that used it, the headroom of the tunnel was 6ft not high at all really.

Scoop wheel ( my drawing.)

When this tunnel was made it would have taken 3 hours to cross through the whole of it, so in 1841 a steam engine was built into our towns side. The engine would power a scoop wheel to load the tunnel with water. Stop gates could be opened on either end to help boats along the tunnel in either direction.

As this tunnel stood there it has suffered quite a few collapses and after a major one in 1917 due to mining it was completely abandoned to this very day, and the tunnel is situated in the east of this town. In this town pretty much all of the houses here were built between 1930 and 1980.

Timeline

This timeline is about a few events that happened in the past, just to give you a bit of an extra clue to where it is and so when I unveil the place you know about the towns history. 

1801- According to the census (the official survey) the population of this town was 3,833 quite a lot if you asked me.

1847- A police station was built to ensure the safety of the people.

1873- The football club for this town was founded. 

1878- The railway arrived when a branch from another place to this town was opened. (This one was really hard to word so I hope it doesn't give it away to easily.)

1883- A rail line connecting the town with Northfields was opened.

1893- And finally in this year the Coombes wood collery was opened.

Rulers

This is quite a long line of rulers, I have done this so you can see really how many rulers there were. Originally the rulers of this town were Anglo Saxons, the name of the ruler was Olwine but after the Normans came and ruled them over this important job was handed to Roger Earl. When Roger passed away the crown (as this place counted as a big one) was forwarded to his two sons, first Hugh who died in 1098 therefore meaning it was given to Robert. However, the crown was taken off him and given to T
he crown in 1102. Now this is where it gets a little tricky. Now Henry II was in power but wanted to give it to his sister who had married David son of Owen Prince of wales in 1174. Then she restored the crown to the family line and next in line was Richard even though her son Owen still had claims over it. 

There is one part where Owen comes into the name of this town, but this is not until the 1270's until this happened. However, this is in fact a crucial part of this towns history but it involves the name to much this is why I can not tell you about it until when I reveal the name and place. 

That's all I have on the history of this town, good luck on trying to figure it out thanks if you've taken a bit of your time out of your day to read this. And happy new year to you all from me I hope you all have a good 2015.  

The Next Trip

I have once again been to The Patch, this time though I took a different route and discovered quite different things. To start off as I was going there I saw some jackdaws on the roof of a house. Then I arrived at The Patch and I saw a Blackbird flying from one tree to another, this one had a Wood Pigeon on it and that flew the other way. I found that this was quite cool because it was like they exchanged paths. As I went in, there was a Dunnock calling in the bushes.

As I was walking up the path there was a single Goldfinch flying on its own This is strange I thought then 5 others came along to join it so that wasn't strange anymore. There is a grass area in the patch and in it a certain type of Fungi/mushroom is growing, they are called fairy rings. Fairy

Fairy rings

rings look very un-realistic, they also form circles and the top part of them are circles hence their name. Later on I saw 19 Golfinch's flying South again. 

 As I was venturing on I saw lot's of Black headed Gulls and Lesser Black Backed Gulls flying over  South-West, I think there might be a reservoir near by. (small clue)
  

lightning-stricken oak tree

  

yellow mushrooms

Fungi on oak tree

 There were 4 Redwing flying South as well. Last time I had a trip to the patch I found that there was moles digging up minuscule mole hills and fresh ones too!!! And once more I found Mole activity in the paddock by the brook. In a bush by the paddock there was a Great Tit alone, another thing I thought was strange, then another Great Tit came along and another! As I journeyed on I saw about 9 Redwing circling the Paddock and entering the dark terrain of the woods. Furthermore I went back to the old lightning-stricken Oak Tree and un-surprisingly there were mushrooms of all sort growing on it. Moreover there was some in the grass too, some were yellow, some orange and some green!!! 

After all of this I saw a MistleThrush flying over the farm nearby the patch. As I got onto the new part of my route I saw a SongThrush in a bush, it then quickly flew into another bush as it heard me slowly approaching. I have heard that the Song-thrush uses a special stone called an Anvil to break open snail shells so that it can then eat the snails. As I came to a new wood I saw about 180 Black Headed Gulls flying South-West! Here I also found another Gun Shell by some empty trees.


Finally I went into the new woods and I found that there was 2 normal sized Badger holes in the ground. 

 

Badger Holes

Here there was also some Fungi which I compared to my hand and it was much

I remembered not to touch it because
 it may be poisonous.

bigger (to the left.) After that I came back onto the path to the exit and saw two small-looking Mallards flying East over the old woods.

I will still be using I-spot to find out some of the wildlife, but if you can identify any of the things I couldn't, please leave a comment on this blog post. Thanks.