Three pieces of good news!

I've reported a fair bit of bad news for Earlswood wildlife on here this year. On top of this, I neglected to mention such things as the clearance of the scrubby field beside the railway in-between Clowes Wood and Earlswood station during the breeding season, the continuing gradual cutting of trees in the copse adjoining the northernmost side of Terry's Pool, and most recently the bund of earth with leylandii conifers planted on top that is now at Rose Farm. Apparently the landowner of Rose Farm is also not allowing Earlswood Wildlife Partnership to replace the dilapidated owl box that's there, which was formerly used regularly by Stock Doves. :-(

Anyway, I have three pieces of good news to pass on:

Housing development

There was concern about 10 sites in the Earlswood recording area being considered for suitability for development, after they were included in a "Call for sites" document published by Solihull Council earlier this year. However, the council have now published their Draft Local Plan for the borough, to guide housing development up to the year 2033, and I'm pleased to see that none of the sites proposed to be developed lie within the Earlswood area. Having said that, a few sites are fairly close and an increase in the human population locally will still impact Earlswood, most notably through increased visitor numbers to the area. The Draft Local Plan document and maps of proposed development sites are available at:
http://www.cgra.org.uk/documents/draft_local_plan_nov2016.pdf
http://www.cgra.org.uk/documents/draft_local_plan_site_allocations.pdf

Terry's Pool fishing

Another concern was the proposals submitted to Canal and River Trust regarding expansion of fishing at Terry's Pool. Fortunately, thanks to everyone who sent in objections, the proposals will not be considered further, though I suspect they'll be pushed for again in the future. The following email contains some further potentially exciting news:
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Dear All

Thank you, on behalf of Earlswood Stakeholders Group, for your contribution to the consultation regarding fishing on Terry’s Pool Earlswood. Ian Lane, The Canal and River Trust’s Waterways Manager for the West Midlands, has considered all the correspondence  regarding the issue and made the following statement: -

I have now informed Mr Verney that I will not be changing my stance on fishing around Terry’s pool and it will continue to be used as a place for nature with no increase in fishing. We want to raise its profile and introduce more educational visits to it, including pond dipping etc. I also want to try and regain the old SSSI status it once had as well as using it for spawning of fish (if possible) and other water based creatures. Please pass on my thanks to those that helped in the consultation process.

I am sure you will all be as pleased with the result as we were.

Kind Regards

Len Cresswell

Member of Earlswood Lakes Stakeholders Group representing CRT, West Midlands Waterways Partnership 

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If anyone knows anything about the SSSI designation which Terry's Pool formerly had, please get in touch with me as I can't find anything on it.

Terry's Pool, 17/11/2016

Earlswood Springwatch

Thirdly, Earlswood Springwatch 2017 is happening, and the date has been confirmed as Saturday May 13th. I should be free to attend this and I'm currently considering doing a "Birds of Earlswood" display! Perhaps in conjunction with the West Midland Bird Club. I kind of struggle with talking to people, especially groups, so I'm looking for at least one other Earlswood regular to join me on the day for a bit of moral support and to help talk to the public about our patch. No doubt the WMBC folk will also help but it would be good to have someone who can talk about recent sightings, etc. Anyone interested?

Matt