BrownhillsBob

#365daysofbiking Just nuts

October 19th – The sweet chestnuts have had a good year. In this country wild or urban trees rarely get the conditions to produce edible fruit, but on a journey to Tipton I found these near Brunswick Park, Wednesbury – still very thin but some of a size that contained a thin, edible nut.

I’ve not seen that before.

The boughs are laden and the windfallen fruit litters the footpath, the spiny husks looking like debris from some dinosaur shedding its skin. The nuts, however, are proving a delight for the squirrel population who are busily engaged in eating and planting the next generation of sweet chestnut saplings.

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#365daysofbiking Daisy, daisy

October 19th – A puzzle. I found this flower growing from the brickwork at the canal edge in Walsall. It’s clearly day-like, but not a daisy. But it’s delicate and very, very lovely.

My curiosity was piqued by the colour. In the soft autumnal sunlight it appeared to be a very, very light purple or pink. But I can’t actually tell for sure.

Any ideas?

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#365daysofbiking Always restful

October 17th – On the way to work, I stopped for a break in Victoria Park, Darlaston – the park curiously formed from a railway cutting abandoned in the 1930s.

It’s always beautiful here in Autumn and today, the trees were just shrugging on their seasonal jackets of gold.

Victoria park is a great example of how urban edge land with a peculiar topology can be repurposed into a beautiful and well loved place, that’s always restful and a real oasis in the heart of a busy town.

I’ll never tire of this place.

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#365daysofbiking Completing the circle

October 17th – One of the things that makes me happy in autumn is the parting of ways of that year’s cygnets and their parents. Gradually, as winter closes in, that year’s clutch are gradually pushed away by the parents who still keep a loose family group but won’t tolerate the young too close.

This gradual transition into adulthood is visible about now as you meet lone cygnets like this one, hustling for treats on the canal in walsall, a few hundred yards from its parents.

For once I had some corn and it ate like they always do, like tit had never had food before.

Soon, it’ll join the main local flocks and will spend a few years socialising before pairing off and the family cycle continuing.

Another successful year for the local swans.

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#365daysofbiking Station to station

October 16th – I didn’t use Bloxwich station for years, as the Chase Line trains that shuttle this line between Birmingham and Rugeley tended to be horrendously crowded into city, and a similar nightmare in the evenings, but since the line has been electrified with longer trains, it’s been a lot more convenient.

The station itself is little more than a suburban halt, but welcoming enough and I love the lighting at night. Where it does win for me is it’s a nicer ride home than Walsall, Blake Street or Shenstone, and about the same distance.

The train times don’t often work for me and this service, so I’m unlikely to be a regular user but I’m growing to like it. The Chase Line upgrade has been good for me and once the service wrinkles are ironed out it could be very useful indeed.

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#365daysofbiking Proudly hanging on

October 16th – It’s not all grey and darkness, though – if you look carefully some flowers are still proudly hanging on on the edge lands and verges – the odd ragwort, bindweed, persistent daisies and oddly enough, plenty of purple clover.

There’s always something positive to be found if you look hard enough.

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#365daysofbiking Sliding into darkness

October 15th – Returning in the evening at the usual time is now crossing into the night: My commute now often starts in twilight and just about ends in darkness.

As I passed Catshill Junction on my way to the High Street on a sodden canal towpath, I just caught the last of the light.

Oh how I hate this gradual, inexorable slide into darkness.

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#365daysofbiking Turn, turn, turn

October 15th – Near Brownhills Common, the colours are changing fast now with the full autumn gamut – from the bright yellow-green of shedding birches to the crimson reds and deep golds of more… Exotic shrubs and trees.

On a wet, grey morning they can really perk you up. A delight to the soul.

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#365daysofbiking A fascinating kingdom

October 14th – A damp morning showed a remarkable range of fungi on the way to work. From what I thought was going to be a very disappointing season, there have been some remarkable displays of this remarkable kingdom.

These specimens were all in one short stretch of cycleway in Goscote and were absolutely fascinating.

One of the few redeeming features of autumn for me is definitely the fungi…

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#365daysofbiking The united colours of autumn

October 13th – A low, tired recovery day, still wrecked from the last week’s intense work schedule and a cold that just wouldn’t lift.

A late, slow bimble to Chasewater rewarded me with more amethyst deceivers – the little purple toadstools I found on the common last week – mingled with fly agaric in their usual spot on the sandy bank near Wharf Lane Bridge.

I note the feels near Meerash oil Hammerwich are still yellow with some blooming crop. Must go take a closer look.

Plenty of other fungi abounded: After an unpromising start, we really are getting some stunning specimens.

Chasewater was wind-blasted and stark, but host to an absolutely huge gull roost. The noise was astounding and impressive.

Returning on the Back Path I was reminded abruptly of an autumn hazard: Slippery leaves. Watch out folks, they can steel your wheels from under you. Thankfully I stayed upright.

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