What Lies Beneath Rattlechain Lagoon?

He has been in hiding at Rattlechain lagoon for 72 years. But ‘the special forces of swan rescue’ managed to smoke him out of his hole. Read next week our world exclusive interview.

I thought that may grab the attention, as it was supposed to.

There are a range of birds as well as animals that have turned up at rattlechain over the years, and certainly I have noted plenty of both four and certainly two legged pussies walking through those ominous turquoise gates.

On this occasion there appears to be a missing cat in the Rattlechain/Tividale area and its environs. I’m posting this in the hope that Eilene may be returned safe and well.

A fly appears to have photobombed the picture as I was taking this.

What’s in a single word? It can have very different meanings, and in the case of the 1940’s in Europe it had a very specific meaning that ended in the deaths of innocent beings.

Recently as last year a “relocation” appears to have taken place at Victoria Park Tipton, a green flag park in Sandwell. In summer months Canada geese moult and move to larger areas of water, then disperse out. They may be noticeable, so too are the discarded feathers and “mess” though in truth this mixes with the dung of other “native” birds making it fairly indistinguishable- but the blame always appears to be with the geese from a certain type of person- blue rinse, over 60 , with an overdeveloped OCD for rats and cleanliness- perhaps something happened to them as a wee kiddy? And white don’t forget that- always white.

Last year I took some footage of a rather peculiar “relocation” from this park involving a pest control company called “PESTEX”. Their website boasts of “controlling and managing” Canada geese- though these words are in themselves circumlocutions for culling. The first thing I noted was the vehicles parked outside and some of the information contained on the logos.

Then on the park near the lake I saw a group of individuals with a harris fence set up cordoned off with tape- I certainly started to smell a rat. It was at this point that I started to wonder what the hell was going on and if Sandwell council has crossed a line in terms of culling healthy birds in this park. Then one of them, the obvious CEO of operations  made the mistake of asking me to encourage the geese over with bread toward the enclosure. He had no idea who I was, and I asked him what they were doing and for what purpose.

LIE NO 1

“We’re, er putting some special powder on their feet to stop them having pests.”

LIE NO 2

“Er we’re putting rings on their feet mate.”

LIE NO 3

“We don’t kill birds mate. We’re relocating them to the Sandwell Valley.”

TRUTH NO 1

“I’m just doing my job mate”, before pointing me in the direction of the parks manager’s house who lives in the park- whom it appears had authorised the entire operation in his wonderful green flag park himself. The guy in the combat trousers was just obeying orders.

All three of the lies are total bullshit. Looking at this lot, none are BTO ringers and rings do not go on “feet”. Powder- never heard that one before except in 40’s Poland etc. “Relocation”- that word again evoking a similar theme.

This operation was cruel and unprofessional, causing unnecessary suffering to these flightless birds in moult. Why would such a company spokesman give out such bullshit to the public if only to throw them off course for what they were actually there to do?

Transported in a horsebox for “relocation”

They look like they’ve been lamped

the round up

The entrapment

The distress

The “relocation” to certain death

These birds over 50 were not restrained in any way whatsoever. I know from 17 years experience of having to catch geese that they are incredibly distressed when handled and fight like hell to escape. Imagine this number in small enclosure and you get the picture of what would be going on in this cheap trailer trash box.

That was that- they said they were being “relocated” and I have no way of verifying it- but ha ha I do. Watch this space, because Sandwell have dropped an almighty clanger.

Then today, low and behold to the week, I noticed around 70 birds missing from the lake- including a group that had been on rattlechain with distinctive markings. This lot wouldn’t know about such things and neither would John Satchwell– the Senior parks manager who lives in the park, whom it appears has ordered the same “relocation” again. I wonder when the green flag is being judged? Perhaps the geese intimidate him or his wife when grazing outside his house.

Fence in the compound

Needless to say that I have now asked questions about this sorry affair, to which I know that these birds never arrived at Sandwell Valley- the staff there know nothing.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/relocation_of_canada_geese#incoming-540534

Needless also to say that I will get to the truth of this matter because it is what I do, like rescuing injured birds that wildlife criminals try to kill or injure.

Where have Tipton’s geese gone?

What has “the party of animal welfare” done with them?

“What is there to say? They are my friends. I would do it again, over and over — for I hate cruelty and intolerance. ” Oskar Shindler

What a joke this news story is, buried beneath the radar of a Tory reshuffle.

“The UK has taken delivery of more than 200 tonnes of toxic chemicals from Syria….. It comprised “precursor chemicals” that “are handled and destroyed by industry  on a routine basis”, a spokesman said.”

You have to wonder whether the Western chemical industry sold them this crap in the first place (the precursors) and this is just a return to sender job. A French company in the UK handling toxic waste linked to military conflicts of the past…… now where have I heard that one before?

Rattlechain has a big brother! Barnett’s brickworks had other brickwork sites; one of them being in the Aldridge area known as “Barnett and Beddowes.”  To gauge what it may have looked like before Albright and Wilson, (along with their Ministry of Supply conspirators), started to dump toxic waste I had a little expedition. There’s nothing more satisfying than hunting for some old quarry, though this one is still extracting marl for brickmaking, unlike the shambles operation that transpired at Rattlechain into the 1960’s.

Of course it’s fenced off and there are the usual warning notices, but from certain angles with the help of a great big tall person, it is possible to see the large crater in the ground. Forget the nonsense that Rhodia have tried to peddle about the Rattlechain pit being only around 22 metres deep, this is more like the depth that Albright and Wilson took on in the 1940’s.

I’m not going to pretend to be a brilliant local historian- I just like looking at old papers and connecting jigsaw puzzles, as the only way that history could be accurately recorded from the period would be with a time machine. There’s not really much on the internet that I’ve been able to find about this site but if anyone knows any more about the origins and ownership of it then  I would be interested to hear from you. I don’t know if it was the original one armed bandit Samuel who owned the rattlechain pit that was responsible for this site, or one of his brothers, but obviously the Barnett name continued in brickmaking elsewhere.

Today it appears the process of marl extraction has moved on quite a bit. Of the two major operators in the area, Ibstock and Weinerberger, the latter still extracts marl from the old Barnett pit.

All I can say to people who live in this area is thank your lucky, lucky stars that  a dirty great polluting chemical company did not decide to build a factory in your area- else you may well be starring at a toxic waste lagoon by now. What the future holds for this pit when extraction finally finishes is down to the planners as usual. Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself……

I’m always on the lookout for “suspicious activity” on the homefront at Rattlechain lagoon. I keep the Rhodia/Solvay lobby HQ number handy at all times should any German paratroopers or weasely stoats should turn up unannounced.

Last week however there were some Mafioso type shade wearing dudes cruising around by the canal. There were no gondalas in site, but Tipton has more miles of canal than Venice anyhow. The air felt Mediterranean, sticky and hot- perspiration poured from every orifice and when the mobiles came out it appeared to signal that something was about to go down.  It had to be the Solvay mob.

Welcome to the Solvay family

I was convinced that a hit was going down in the joint and the wrinkly stockings would come out , but enough about the geotextile membrane already. Was this a carefully planned recky about the next big job and who would be getting the offer to buy the site for a price that they couldn’t refuse?

Pictures were being taken, though the only one missing from this one were a couple of feisty broads and Luigi and his ice cream van. I was particularly worried about  Jack “the flash” Di gestive – a regular Luca Brasi if ever there was one, and for the stallion that was tethered on the Birmingham canal at Dudley Port- but where was big Al?

Still pondering what lies beneath rattlechain lagoon

The original “Godphosser”

Undeterred, I witnessed the scene as the guys hit the trail, but not wishing to sleep with the two-headed fishes in the lagoon anytime soon, withdrew to a safer position. But as the Sicilian shaded glasses came off, I realised that it was just a summer daydream and this was not Don Corleone and his consiglieres I was watching but a “Rhodia Ltd” Director and the consultants doing another round the mulberry bush site walkover and no doubt planning another batty scheme in the pipeline. Things keep going round in circles here- or should that be pronounced “soycals”?

LIFE

Most swans hatch their cygnets in May, though there are some early birds that appear at the end of April. One particular pair that were being watched by us had had their original attempt wrecked by thugs after making a nest in a particularly vulnerable spot. It was with some surprise that they attempted again which I have rarely seen or heard of before.

With some effort a fence was erected and the result was obtained this last week when 4 new faces appeared.

water result!

DEATH

Swans that have attempted to nest at rattlechain lagoon over the years have predictably ended in disaster, to what we now know to be poisoning by white phosphorus.

This swan’s mate had died at the lagoon and was then chased off by the Rhodia boat squad. No doubt at some point in the future if vegetation is allowed to return around the edge of the lake, another attempt by a different pair- perhaps even those  cygnets shown above will be made- but the test will be in the survival.

At the lagoon this week a dead lesser black backed gull appeared freshly dead on the causeway path- somehow I do not share the optimism of the phosphorus producing pygmalions about the newly sculpted success of the “remediation” of rattlechain lagoon.

Cause of death?

Flaming June already and the sun is out! Even the ducks are taking the plunge to get out of the heat.

Diving duck

Though traditionally a very quiet month for bird rarities, sheepwash turned up a little egret again last week on the wader scrape.

Unfortunately the weather also brings out the crowds and wretched 2.4 children and wet dog in the droves, making visiting such West Midlands  “wildlife havens” a fairly miserable experience. Sandwell Valley- now a poor man’s theme park come bike racing track and Chasewater – destructive water sports R us are two examples of how local authorities are now obsessed with pulling in human crowds. It takes a full day for the poor rangers just to clear up the litter left behind from a weekend- but the councillors and higher managers don’t really see that in “the vision” do they?

It is a strange thing however that with the former site a local dogging Mecca, that the powers that be have never decided to lock up the car parks at night to stop it. “It will just send the problem somewhere else” is the usual excuse for apathy- well  good it will send it away from a wildlife reserve. I prefer to see badgers than a load of perplexed singular blokes stepping out of the undergrowth “looking” for them. If I choose to examine a leaf on a tree I want to know that the slime underneath it has been made by a slug and not something else. Sometimes one has to wonder if the people making the decisions including the police are daytime apathetic observers or really nightime active participants. There’s plenty of room on the council house car parks at night after chucking out time!

Wildlife has always been the poor relation in the local authority leisure department budget- no money to be made there, now with even more of an excuse to do less in this so called recession that we have supposed to have been living in, and so the politician cares more about the Jeremy Kyle crew, so long as they get to their food bank on time and know how to apply for benefits- especially the many available for shagging like rats – that’s where the money goes. In fact how perverse that animals that live amongst us are treated in the same category but lower down the pecking order than libraries and crown green bowling.

But hang in there wildlife lovers, half way there and come mid September the hordes will go back to watching Jezza on ITV2+1 after going to the shops for vodka and fags in their pyjamas, and nature will have to buckle down again to recover in the shivering  grip of Winter.

With corrupt housing developers and their political well paid fixers building on every available patch of green left in the towns as a direct result of politically approved mass immigration without mandate,  this in a perverse way does indeed leave hazardous waste sites as “safe havens.” Some comfort.

Hoorah for Rattlechain lagoon! I might just get my pied pipe out.

Peace and quiet at last.

Roll up, Roll up, the circus has come to town! This circus is in the form of the national grid electric powerline wire replacement works taking place across a large swathe of the Blackcountry area, including the boundary of Rattlechain lagoon.

Footpath diversions have become a regular feature of life for those who live around the affected areas, especially canal towpaths in the area. Although “essential”  it is still irritating nonetheless. 🙄

Signs at John’s Lane indicate that activity is taking place on powerlines VT26  and VT27. For the number nerds VT26 is located at the foot of the canal towpath at the Rose Lane tunnel end.

One has to assume that when these lines were erected that the lagoon area was avoided altogether and instead bypassed it by crossing the Birmingham canal and railway line towards the direction of Great Bridge and Ocker Hill.

Unfortunately the direction they take and the creation of Sheepwash as a nature reserve site led to many fatal bird strikes across the span of this site. A long campaign by us to identify and prove the problem resulted in National grid erecting bird diverters which are brightly coloured steering wheel sized reflectors that can be seen by the birds when in flight. This has greatly reduced the number hitting the lines in the 10 years that they have been up.

There is an interesting dichotomy when looking back on the two campaigns that define the success of our group since the late 90’s when both the rattlechain site and the powerline incidents were occurring at the same time. Both National Grid and Albright and Wilson/Rhodia wanted “evidence” that they were responsible for causing a problem. Both eventually decided to carry out independent post mortems. But this is where the similarities end.

Whereas proving ground impact injuries associated with overhead collision strikes can be routinely found on gross post mortem, (typically broken ribs puncturing vital organs), the Rhodia rattlechain problem was altogether a different case. Proving chemical poisoning in wildlife is virtually impossible when the will is not there, unless it is the sexy species of birds of prey where all the stops appear to be pulled out for some reason.

Whereas National Grid went out of their way to and admit in writing that their apparatus was to blame for the swan deaths at Sheepwash, Rhodia were altogether less willing to accept anything at all about the white phosphorus in the lagoon sediment that was poisoning birds. And still this continues.

Whereas National Grid could not remove the problem, the powerlines, Rhodia could remove the problem but have chosen not to, the harmful sediment.

But whether it is chemicals in the water or powerlines in the air, the amount of suffering caused by putting them there have certainly been recorded by us over the years.

Some pictures of the powerline works in the area are below.

High wire act

VT26 from rattlechain lagoon

Figuring my way around an upgraded computer………back soon. So long as imagination can trump technology everything will be just fine.