rudloescene.co.uk - Jan-Feb-Mar-Apr 2026

Welcome to the Rudloe and environs website.

Here you will find news, articles and photos of an area that straddles the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in north-west Wiltshire.

Contributions in the form of articles or photos are welcome. Even those with completely contrary views to mine!

Thanks to the website builder 1&1 and Rob Brown for the original idea.

Rudloescene now, in January 2014, has a sister, academic rather than anarchic, website about Box history here: http://www.boxpeopleandplaces.co.uk/

It contains thoroughly professional, well-researched articles about Box and its people.

Contact rudloescene through the 'Contact' page.

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Another 1st of the month litter pick - 1st March 2026, St David's Day, and there were many daffodils to be found, in the Bradford Road and Leafy Lane. The title picture shows Madeleine at the entrance to Rudloe Firs.

The March stalwarts - Rod, Jane, Lorraine, Dave, Bernard, Madeleine, Gordon and Derrick. Mike has just departed and Iain and Jane(2) have yet to arrive (see next pic)

We have two pictures of the pre-pick gathering this month - Iain and Jane have arrived giving us two Janes

And then, of course, we have Sian who has walked from Corsham and litter-picked on the way (bag already deposited on the pile)

Lorraine in the Bradford Road opposite the Toghill Crescent bus stop. She's missing her 'oppo' John this month.

'We' should be up in arms about Chump and his tariffs - imposing tariffs when American companies purposely avoid paying UK tax. Take this from an AI response:

Tax Avoidance Practices

Many American fast food chains engage in practices such as profit-shifting, where profits are moved to lower-tax jurisdictions. This can significantly reduce the amount of tax they pay in the UK. For example:

McDonald's has been reported to have avoided paying approximately £295 million in UK taxes through various strategies, including using tax havens and complex financial transactions.
Other large American fast food companies may also employ similar tactics, leading to substantial tax avoidance.

Estimated Tax Contributions

While specific figures for all American fast food companies are not readily available, it is estimated that several large tech and fast food companies collectively avoided around £2 billion in UK taxes in recent years.

And who pays the price for these predatory American companies? Amongst others, we do in having to pick up their detritus every month - see gallery below and all previous months/years.

Talking of Chump, I was reminded that this gallery should follow. It's been said before many times (in these webpages) that a million years of human evolution brings souls who think (or perhaps they don't think) that wrapping dog crap in plastic and chucking it on the verge or into hedgerows is acceptable behaviour. In this case, all these bags were adjacent to the Krap Place (Park Place) footpath; presumably, given their uniformity, they were the work of one individual.

Something positive now - the St David's Day daffodils and new growth of alkanet - these in the Bradford Road:

Sex in the Countryside - I guess these items might be discarded so as not to be discovered at home? The dildo, along with testicles and a pump, is the biggest yet found - see January 2026 and May 2018 for discussion (and a picture) of others. The unopened durex packs were in the A4 verge - clearly not the spot where they were intended to be used. The bag of wine bottles was found adjacent to the dildo - maybe this provided lubrication at the other end.

Not litter I appreciate but another sort of disfigurement of the countryside. The fine avenue of trees in Boxfields Road, reminiscent of such avenues in France, has been felled. 'We' seem to be past masters of despoiling the countryside (see the 24th January 2025 article here: 24th January 2025 article). The first gallery below shows one photo of the avenue as it was and the others as it is now. The second gallery shows pictures of the avenue taken over previous years.

Now again, something more postive - Queen Square, Bath eat your heart out. Tis not only in Bath that we have the elegant mimosa (Acacia dealbata or silver wattle) but also at Rudloe - in the green triangle at the southern end of Springfield Close.

After gathering this month's pickings together at the usual spot (the junction of Leafy Lane and Boxfields Road) - see first picture below, a number of corvids (couldn't see if they were rooks or crows) got to work on them and produced a right old mess (see subsequent pictures). I thought this a bit odd as rarely is any food collected but maybe through past experience they 'thought' that the bags could contain food waste. The final picture shows the re-bagged bags.

1st February 2026 brings the Candlemas Eve litter pick. The cold spell of early January has gone and it has been raining for weeks (with floods on the Somerset Levels as usual). Luckily, we hit a dry, misty patch on this Sunday morning - the rain started just as we finished. Thie pick coincided with the annual Chippenham Harriers 'Slaughterford 9', a 9-mile cross-country run in the By Brook Valley, starting and finishing at the brow of Box Hill. Hundreds of runners take part and Rudloe is awash with vehicles - in the 'official' parking in Boxfields Road, Leafy Lane, the brow of Box Hill (Corsham side)... in fact anywhere a free spot can be found. The title picture shows Madeleine, Gordon (posing), Derrick and local/Wiltshire councillor Peter Wragg about to set off.

Stalwarts braving the weather for the Candlemas Eve litter pick were: Rod, Lorraine, Madeleine, Meg, John, Gordon and Derrick. Mike had already set off, Peter and Sian were late-arrivals (see title picture of Peter and photo below of Sian)

Sian had litter-picked from Corsham through Potley/Pockeridge and Westwells so certainly needed her trolley. One of two (very) large bags from her efforts may be seen in the pile behind her. She is about to continue picking around Rudloe.

Pre-pick, on a walk, John found 13 bottles and 4 cans in White Ennox Lane and a little while later found a further half-dozen. This is deja-vu all over again as 27 cider bottles were found here last February (take a look at the Feb 25 webpage).

A million years of human evolution brings this aberrant, perverted behaviour...

John and Lorraine in the Bradford Road

And again...

A Krap Place (Park Place) miscellany...

Thatchers country, McDonald's country and the Green Hand Gang at large

The 2026 Slaughterford 9 finish at the brow of Box Hill

The February 2026 tally which will be collected by Wiltshire Council's French contractor tomorrow (Monday)

4th January 2026 and the first litter pick of the new year finds Lorraine and John in Toghill Crescent on this bright, cold day. The cold spell has been with us for a week now and is forecast to continue throughout the coming week. John regularly does some pre-pick picking in the lane twixt Chapel Plaister and the A365 (the lane leads to Old Jockey or Horse & Jockey). John related a tale from his latest pick when he found two 'unusual' objects. The first was a package wrapped in Sainsbury's plastic bags and sealed tightly with tape. Clearly, he had to find out what this package contained - on unwrapping, two engineering bricks were discovered. The second object was a dildo. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken of the objects but this is not the first dildo discovery - a picture (with commentary) of the first may be found here: 6th May 2018 article in the 10th photograph (scroll down).

Preparing for the off, beanies much in evidence, we have: John, Meg, Rod, Kate, Iain, Lorraine, Derrick and Bernard; Sian is yet to arrive so, along with yours truly, that makes ten of us.

The backdrop for the first litter pick of the new year