Month: June 2015

June 29th – Intrigued and saddened to see the Four Crosses pub in Shelfield – the last pub in the area, closed a few months ago – now up for sale as a ‘residential development site’.

Planning permission was granted some time ago to build a care home behind the pub and adjoining it; the developer recently tried to get the admission criteria loosened to allow those needing care additional to senior citizens to be admitted. Combined with the pub’s closure, there was a furore in the community and false rumours it was to be a drug, alcohol, mental health or bail hostel.

I would imagine that permission has been denied, or is not looking positive, despite rewording to exclude contentious groups, and the developer has decided to cut their losses and sell.

The building was granted meaningless Asset of Community Value status and a petition raised, too. Both have proven now to be pointless. From a development that looked like it may retain the pub, it now looks likely the building might be lost altogether under more housing.

At the heart of this is a basic truth nobody seems prepared to face: you cannot force people to keep running a business they don’t want to. It’s the huge elephant in the room that sits unspoken in many debates about the future of once-great pubs like this one.

A cautionary tale hangs here, I think. I shall watch with interest.

June 29th – I’m loving the orchids this year – they seem to have been becoming steadily more profuse over the past few years. I make no apology for repeatedly featuring them, for they are remarkable flowers, and this year they face a herculean struggle to avoid the rigid, inflexible Canal & River Trust mowing schedule, which has seen many fine blooms wiped out.

They’re only here for a short few weeks. Keep your eye out for that flash of vivid purple in the grass – there are several different varieties locally. This one is near Pier Street Bridge in Brownhills.

faz0la:

I saw this friendly chap in the garden of a cottage I was renting, he often came to sit by my wife and I as we enjoyed tea and cakes in the sun. I have no interest in bird watching and I have no idea what kind of bird he is but I will admit I did enjoy photographing him and he I’m sure enjoyed our company. He was there every day and he gave me plenty of opportunity to get the hang of the zoom on my camera. He was rewarded with plenty of cake crumbs which he seemed fond of. Taken in Betws-y-Coed, Wales, United Kingdom.

June 28th – Later in the day, I had to run into Aldridge on an errand. The flowers and trees are coming along well as the season ticks away; at Clayhanger, a pear tree I’d not noticed before looks set to deliver a healthy crop, but nowhere near as prodigious as the blackberries in Walsall Wood if the bees get to it and pollinate that wonderful showing of flowers. 

Again, at Clayhanger, a mystery yellow flower I really should know, but don’t; it looks almost prehistoric. Any help gratefully accepted…

June 28th – Feeling better, and a trundle to Brownhills Canalside Festival, where there was a Bird of Prey display by Armitage Bird of Prey Centre. It’s a rare and wonderful chance to get close up photographs of some stunning birds. The range of facial expression Jono the Eagle Owl can make, whilst not really having a mouth is astounding.

I love these birds.

June 27th – I was suffering with both a dodgy stomach and bad hay fever when I set out late afternoon for a gentle spin around the canals in Brownhills. They didn’t disappoint, they were glorious.

At Silver Street, the narrowboats were in for the canal festival taking place next day, and everywhere else was bathed in so sunlight.

I wish I’d felt a bit better, and I’d have been able to ride further, but never mind, there will be other days.

June 26th – Back near Lower Stonnal, a noxious assault of a different kind…

I was riding back down the lanes and I realised there was a strong farmyard smell, which is unusual there. I travelled some way further and discovered I had been downwind of this: it’s a crop sprinkler spraying liquid slurry on the grass to improve it (I assume the pump is elsewhere).

This is a dairy farm, and they’re using one of the cattle’s most copious products to restore the growth to the pasture.

Nicely circular, but very smelly.

June 26 – I’ve not had to go to Telford for ages, and was looking forward to my trip there today to check out the flowers growing on the cycleways, which are always a bit different to the ones I’m used to. They didn’t disappoint.

In the short run from the Station to Hortonwood, I spotted an interesting orchid, cornflowers and this spectacular, but dangerous giant hogweed.

The hogweed, a good two feet taller than me, is a plant containing a sap which burns human skin by neutralising natural UV protection, causing prolonged, and  slow to heal burns – effectively very severe sunburn. It’s very easy to get hurt by it, so I steered well clear (and will notify the council of it’s presence). It’s an imported plant that’s been gaining a strong foothold here.

Beware. It may not be an actual triffid, but it’s pretty nasty.

Telford. Never a dull moment.