June 21st – A pleasant ride out to Blithfield Reservoir on a more settled, but no less windy afternoon. I hadn’t been this way for a couple of years and the villages, hamlets and countryside are beautiful.
Blithfield was created in the 1950s to supply water to Stafford. It’s a lovely haven for birds – an the ice cream van at the north end of the causeway still serves the best cones!
June 20th – At Chasewater, the dam is still a wonderful carpet of ox-eye daisies. It’s a gorgeous, wonderful spectacle and I recommend you go take a look while you can.
They are extraordinarily beautiful.
June 20th – A ride out on a bright, sunny but windy afternoon, punctuated by very heavy, thundery rainstorms. I went to Chasewater to see what I could find, and the range of wildflowers did not disappoint. I’m particularly pleased with the marsh orchid i found on the canal embankment at Newtown.
Such beauty on an afternoon when many would have stayed indoors…
June 19th – Scooting late through Walsall Wood, I caught the sunset.
I haven’t caught a good one for ages – I’m just not usually about when they happen at the moment, which is sad.
I was glad to see this one. I must make more of an effort – some of the recent ones have been spectacular.
June19th – I must admit, I’m fascinated by the landfill at Highfields South, between Walsall Wood and Shelfield on the Lichfield Road. It looks and seems haphazard, but is being operated in an engineered manner. At the moment, the eastern side of the void is filled, now to about 6-8 metres above ground level with a marl cap on top. Gas bulkheads sit atop harvesting tubes inserted deep into the mound. As the pile sinks under it’s own weight and that of the cap, it evolves gas, which is harvested and powers a generating set, feeding energy into the National Grid.
Meanwhile, to the west of the void, the hole is being prepared for the next stack of waste. Systematic. Methodical.
The void existed due to marl quarrying for bricks, and the landscape is favourable for this type of thing. It may not be pleasant, and we should reduce our waste as a society, but the process is very interesting.
June 18th – The other end of a long day, Walsall Wood’s Oak Park bathes in a glorious golden hour.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
June 18th – One sunny morning ride to work along the canal; a short stretch through Bentley Bridge and it’s teeming with wildlife.
The white water lilies are out, competing with themore profuse yellows. The Pleck swan family – now down to two cygnets from four initially, are clearly doing fine. And always, the ever present heron.
We’re so lucky to have all this on the doorstep.
June 17th – This is joyous.On the banks of the new pond at Clayhanger, what I believe to be northern marsh orchids growing in profusion. The grass is not cut here, and there must be 40 or so of these beautiful purple flowers. They are doing well, and they’re just gorgeous.
The whole bank running down from the towpath is a carpet of wildflowers, and alive with bugs and bees.
There are usually a few marsh orchids on the towpath up towards Aldridge, but the Canal and River Trust’s ferocious and inflexible mowing schedule means that all the best specimens have this year been shredded to pulp in the name of tidiness.
Let’s hope the mowing zealots don’t spot these…
June 17th – I cycled past the coos of Jockey Meadows at half six. It was clearly knocking off time. It had been raining and everywhere was grey and dismal. But something about these gentle, inquisitive beasts always cheers me up.
Here’s to the coos.
June 17th – So help me god, I’ve been asked how you know if your bottom bracket needs replacing (see last entry, 16th June) – so I made a quick video. The old part is held in a vice over white paper for clarity. I’m wobbling the other end, out of shot. There should be no wobble at all.
Hope that helps!
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