September 7th – The weather is fine and warm at the moment, with little wind. Commenting this week has been a joy, and nowhere better to enjoy it than Kings Hill Park in Darlaston.

I took a detour just to see it – from the wonderful view of the twin sisters of Wednesbury to the lovely sculpture and tree-shaded, sun dappled walkways it’s a lovely calm oasis on the border of two great Black Country towns – Darlaston and Wednesbury.

Sad it’s not better known, really.

September 6th – At Clayhanger Common, I’m pleased to see the Japanese Parasols coming up again this year. Also known as the pleated ink cap, these tiny, delicate toadstools open into a pleated parasol and are beautifully delicate, but also short lived, being gone within 48 hours or so.

Must check if the orange peel fungus and rosy earthstars are back this year, too.

September 6th – The breath of autumn on my shoulder, as the song says. Cycling along the canal in Place on a beautiful, sunny day, it’s hard not to notice the subtly changing colours, the slight chill in the air, and the first few fallen leaves.

Technically we’re still in summer, but Autumn is now limbering up. I find this time of year so hard.

Ah well, nothing to do but ride on…

September 5th – Always worth noting that Redditch, despite the stick it gets (often from me), has some surprisingly beautiful corners and is actually very interesting.

Running the north-south length of central Redditch is the Arrow Valley park, a green vein with cycleways, horse trails, a large Watersport lake and other attractions. About two thirds of the way south is the tiny, preserved hamlet of Ipsley.

This is a sign of what was here before the new town grew; but it’s a peaceful, beautiful and bucolic island, not more than a few hundred yards from factories, housing estates and highways.

It’s a remarkable thing and worth a visit.

September 5th – For the first time in ages, I had to visit Redditch, and passing through a wet, very grey Arrow Valley Park I came across a mystery: two five-foot long, narrow but heavy wooden boxes with hinged lids. Well made, they were just lying on the grass under a ticket. The boxes were sturdily constructed, with an internal lengthways divider and strong hinges.

The boxes were covered in what seemed like cement or masonry marks.

Then I spotted how they got here: a freshly disturbed patch of soil in the grass suggested someone had been drilling or undertaking some similar operation here. The cases would be tool or sleeve holders, their contents used, but forgotten by their owners.

I returned 3 houses later and they’d gone; I’d imagine these are quite costly items, so maybe their owner recovered them.

September 4th – This is an interesting find. I’m fascinated by insect galls – the aberrations caused mainly to oak trees by parasitic insects who lay their eggs in leaf and acorn buds and cause them to mutate into safe enclosures for their larvae to hatch and grow.

We mostly know oak apples, the round globes top right – often, like these, with a little hole bored in their surface where the wasp that grew within emerged. Also, I’ve featured a few pictures in the past of the gnarly, fascinating knapper and marble galls. But these are new to me.

This tree at the new pond in Clayhanger was covered in fruits that looked like hops, or alder fruit, as well as healthy, plump acorns. I’ve never seen anything like it, and so asked twitter. My old mate Posh Dave, @tringonometry came to my aid.

These are artichoke galls, yet another variety of insect parasitisation on oaks. You can read about them here.

Both nature, and the usefulness of social media are astounding. Thanks, Dave.

September 4th – A short run out on a day that didn’t go well and on which I felt groggy and ill with a bad stomach, with the exertions of the previous days taking their toll.

So just a spin on an errand to Walsall Wood, but I did finally get to meet the Chandler’s Keep eyebrow cat, who was sat on the bridge embankment and came to say hello.

I was also interested in the dozing grey and white tabby in a canal garden in Walsall Wood. He looked very inscrutable.

Any day in which you see cats at leisure is a good day.

September 3rd – Shooting through Weeford on my return, expecting the rain to start again, I noticed these mushrooms growing on a verge. They were huge, and their presence reminded me that now we’re coming on Autumn, watching out for the fungus could be productive.

Wondering in the rosy earthstars and orange peel fungus will be back on Clayhanger Common this year?

September 3rd – A very wet morning washed out the Whittington Country Fair, which was very sad as it was a lovely, quintessentially English event with plenty of food, interesting stalls and animals.

There were a whole range of good food stalls, things to buy and see, and it was all bracketed by. that wonderful British stoicism that we were going to have a good time despite the mud and weather.

Some of it was so wonderfully Wallace and Grommit it was beautiful. A great day, and I bet on a dry year this fair is buzzing.

September 2nd – Pleased to see the vegetation has been cut back, restoring the fascinating view of Cloud Quarry from the Cloud Trail, near Worthingdon on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border.

It seems like a well run quarry, mining limestone for a variety of industry. Everywhere you look machines are busy moving, breaking or grading stone, and some of the driving on the shelves and roads is very impressive.

I could watch this for hours.