Story Info

2012 RadJoyBird Copy 3
Jane Smith
Valley Brook, running through Alsager, Cheshire (UK) 
2019

Story & Experience

A small group of us from the local branch of Animal Welfare Party (seven people—five adults and two children—plus three dogs) met at Fanny’s Croft and slowly followed the course of the stream as it runs through our town, Alsager, winding and changing flow and hue as it went. We talked about and looked at some of the abundance of wildlife it still supports, including yellowhammers, foxes (evidenced by the famous oval ‘sunbathing fox’ patches in the grassy banks), badgers (evidenced by silvery hair on the barbed wire), dragonflies, frogs and adders.

The brook passed a few places where it was almost entirely enclosed by barbed wire, and ran next to a railway line at one point and telephone pylons at others. In some places it had a lot of litter, which we picked out of it. Where we couldn’t walk right next to the stream, we followed nearby field paths.

A small group of us from the local branch of Animal Welfare Party (seven people—five adults and two children—plus three dogs) met at Fanny’s Croft and slowly followed the course of the stream as it runs through our town, Alsager, winding and changing flow and hue as it went. We talked about and looked at some of the abundance of wildlife it still supports, including yellowhammers, foxes (evidenced by the famous oval ‘sunbathing fox’ patches in the grassy banks), badgers (evidenced by silvery hair on the barbed wire), dragonflies, frogs and adders.

The brook passed a few places where it was almost entirely enclosed by barbed wire, and ran next to a railway line at one point and telephone pylons at others. In some places it had a lot of litter, which we picked out of it. Where we couldn’t walk right next to the stream, we followed nearby field paths.

Valley Brook, running through Alsager, Cheshire (UK) 

RECENT STORIES

  • 9442542D 86F2 44DB B000 C8EBDAB10152

Ashdown Forest

Ashdown Forest is an area of natural beauty in West Sussex, England. It is also one of the very few remaining areas of extensive lowland heath left in Europe. This rare and threatened landscape is [...]

  • Clearcut Drawing

Cutting

I have started to feel uncomfortable with this way of highlighting rape—as I see it rape of a forest .. As with victims of abuse selling stories of pain and deep damage seems equally disrespectful [...]

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER

Radical Joy Revealed is a weekly message of inspiration about finding and making beauty in wounded places.