Hednesford Hills

This is how Hednesford Hills should look – colourful, green and fresh.  Too often we are greeted by rubbish, in this case an end of term ‘party’ from a nearby school:Not content with just leaving the rubbish, they also feel the need to break their bottles:A dog walker’s nightmare!   As well as leaving  rubbish, they decide that it’s fun to set fires – in spite of warnings:Without a thought for nesting birds, bushes have been burnt all over the Hills:Now it seems to be getting even worse – the bushes close to where the cattle graze are being torched – how long before these most gentle of cattle run away from the flames and maybe trample someone?For God’s sake, think what you are doing!Let’s keep Hednesford Hills looking as they should be!

Life on Hednesford Hills

Just a bit about something other than railway stuff, for a change!

Life on Hednesford Hills

Out with ‘Hopalong Ellie’ (still nowhere near 100% yet, but enjoying her walks) this morning by Gaskin’s Wood when I heard a fluttering behind me and there was what I took to be a fledgling Blue Tit. It was fluttering about quite happily but couldn’t manage more than half-a-dozen flaps and about three feet in height!  It just makes you think what would happen to it if some idiot came along and started a fire, which they are doing quite a lot of at the moment in the area.

Another bit of life on the Hills for a couple of days – someone had put a couple of carp in one of the pools.  I’m not sure of the names but I think the heron calls them ‘breakfast’!!  Fortunately some teenagers with a pond at home went to get a bucket to save the fish and the heron went hungry!

Hednesford Hills Stuff – for a change!

For a few more weeks our Dobermann, Ellie, will not be able to go for a walk, due to torn tendons, but I still need the exercise so I still have to take a walk most days (I know it should be every day but never mind!) and I seem to be taking more pics on my travels than usual. For those of you who haven’t seen her, this is what she looks like when she is fit.And this is what she is like at the moment.It is true to say that she is getting fed up (although making progress).

Most of these pics were taken on Remembrance Sunday and the day after.I headed to Hednesford Hills and my usual starting point, by the War Memorial, and, being Remembrance Sunday the gates were open.  I decided to go up to the Memorial and take a few pics, so I took the easy waythe block paved path which zig-zags up to the top, making the slope much more gentle for the less fit – like me!!

At the top, everything had been made ready for the laying of wreaths,  all swept and weeded.Looking back down it can be seen how relatively steep the slope is coming straight up the main pathway.I expected to be able to leave the Memorial by way of the rear gate but unfortunately it had been welded closed in the last two or three years, probably to prevent vandalism.  This meant that I had to go back down the hill, out of the gate and back up to continue my walk.The sun was trying to break through, but never really succeeded.  I carried on, taking the reverse direction to the one I normally go, and bumped into the small herd of Dexter cattle now resident on the Hills.  They are quite friendly, if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you!The biggest was quite happy to pose (I actually did say ‘thank you!) and I carried on along the path.I was getting near to the place where I should be meeting up with the friends I usually walk with, and sure enough there they were – ‘Gorillas in the mist’ sprang to mind. (As long as none of them read this I should be safe – but yes, they’ve all got a sense of humour!!)I joined them and retraced my steps. I did a similar thing the following day but the gate to the Memorial was locked when I passed it, so this time I went back, hoping that it had been opened when I passed it later. There was plenty of evidence that the night shift had been busy, and when I got back to the gate the side one was open.Again, I walked the block-paving route to the top to see the wreaths,It was nice to see that the fallen Servicemen and women had been remembered.Time now for home and breakfast, a good and, as usual, slow walk in the morning sunshine which sadly didn’t last!

The only thing missing, given the sightings of the last few weeks, was a photo of some deer.  They’re not there every day but just recently we’ve seen them quite often.  So, in true ‘Blue Peter’ tradition, here’s one I took earlier……

Ellie the Dobermann got me a Sunday off

Ellie the Dobermann

No railways or Chasewater this time, just about Ellie!

Out for our usual walk this morning before going to Chasewater and nearing the end – ‘squirrel alert!’ – Off goes Ellie through the trees, flat out as ever, but this time the branch that she clattered into was as hard as her leg.At first, it was difficult to believe that she hadn’t broken something, she wouldn’t put any weight on it at all.  We got her home in a friend’s car and then it was off to the vet’s.  After much pulling and twisting (if it had been broken, I’m sure it would have fallen off!) he didn’t think that anything was broken but decided on an x-ray, just in case.  She hadn’t given as much as a whimper to tell where it hurt, and he could find no break on the x-ray so fingers crossed, a few quiet days and she should get back to normal.

We have to take her back in a couple of days for a check-up, at the moment she is heavily sedated and it is much too quiet in the house!

If anyone wants to know what she looks like on 4 legs, she is on a few of the photos on my posts ‘Brownhills Walk’ 1 & 2.  I think there are some more on flickr.

I shall put an update on this blog in a couple of days.