Month: July 2016

July 16th – I know the deer have been on Home Farm at Sandhills for a while – I accidentally photographed a lone stag there last autumn – but I’ve never seen a large group. Until today.

A grouo of red deer females, with three fawns, were loafing in a field margin but the canal, at the conjunction between the oilseed rape crop and some wheat. They were not nervous and seemed comfortable.

I think they’re getting here from CLayhanger Common, as previously I’ve seen footprints on Catshill Junction Bridge, and there seems to be a lot of trampling in the hedge-gaps.

The local deer population really is ubiquitous now.

June 15th – Noticed on a grass verge in Wednesbury, this fine crop of toadstools.I think they’re roundheads, but I didn’t have time to study them closely. But you know you’re advancing through summer when the shrooms are out.

I love to see fungus – such a fascinating, misunderstood part of the ecosystem.

July 15th – As a good pal said to me a few days ago, some plants would be really cherished if they were harder to grow, and I believe this to be the case with ragwort. Deep yellow and orange, this dweller of scrubs, verges, hedgerows and fallow ground flowers profusely throughout the summer, largely ignored because it’s so common.

Scourge of horse-owners due to the toxic effect on their steeds, it’s not a well liked plant.

Which is a shame, because when you stop to look at it, it’s rather beautiful.

June 14th – Spotted on the way to work in Place, this pair of characters. They seemed friendly enough. They mewed at me softly. I assume they’re siblings, or if not, they’re close pals. 

One of the very best things about summer communities on a sunny day is observing the cat population taking the air and enjoying it.

July 13th – Running an errand at dusk, a beautiful sunset, and just after a heavy rain shower, very nearly a surface air inversion with small patches of mist drifting off the canal, but just a little too breezy for it to develop into anything.

The weather has been atrocious lately, but evenings like this – cool, clear and peaceful – make you remember what summer’s about.

July 13th – I wasn’t on my bike, but I can’t let this pass: a chance to overview the start of the demolition of the Adrian Boult Hall, part of the demolition of Birmingham Central Library and Paradise Circus.

Prehistoric looking machines are ripping, tearing and crushing masonry and concrete, shearing and cutting steel. Skilled engineers, operators and surveyors move over the site, where the modern age is almost universally high-visibility orange.

It’s interesting to see new vistas evolve, which themselves will be lost again. I’m lost the horror of the demolition now, and an grimly fascinated, like I’m watching some post mortem or investigation into some misadventurous occurrence.

July 12th – Meanwhile, at Jockey Meadows, the coos are getting stuck in, browsing the scrub and spreading the cowpat love. I’m fascinated in their behaviour; they tend to operate in a loose group, and move to different parts of the pasture at different times of day. It’s almost as if they know they have a job to do, and are carefully, conscientiously doing it.

I love these gentle, charming beasts.

July 12th – I’ve spotted this apparently elderly lady before in central Walsall, near the college. She has a broken tail and a limp but she seems alert, active and very sharp on her feet. 

She hasn’t previously hung about to have her photo taken, and today, as I pulled up gently on my bike, she gave me 20 seconds before she decided to up sticks and run off, glaring at me.

This is a cat with attitude…