August 10th – I know I shouldn’t, but I love anthropomorphising animals. Herons in particular remind me of eccentric old men, stood loafing, slightly absent mindedly fixing you with a gimlet eye.

This one was in Pleck, right at the back of the factories, stood on an overhanging bough, looking for breakfast. I love the expressiveness of his eyes.

Later, at James Bridge, the aggressive beggars – honking at me for food, hissing and swimming away in disgust when I presented them with no tasty morsel.

I honestly think to local wildlife is becoming more outspoken and opinionated.

August 9th – Id been to a function near Burntwood returned at dusk. I thought it was a good chance to try the Nikon in low light.

It takes great pictures, but the image stabilisation is not as good as the Panasonic. You need a tripod. But I do like the images.

Not often I get chance to practice night photography in summer…

August 9th – I was riding along The Sportway in Burntwood, the access road to the Rugby Club, that runs alongside the Chasewater Railway. Just on the bend before Chasewater Heaths, a group of four red deer – three adults and a fawn – had heard an approaching train, and were making a sharp exit into the thicket.

They needn’t have worried. The trains here don’t go fast, being a preserved line…

August 8th – From Seven Springs I headed down onto the canal at Weetmans Bridge near Little Haywood, as far as Breretonhill, then back through Upper Longdon and Stoneywell. The canal was glorious on a golden evening, and I drifted lazily past narrowboats, clumps of Himalayan balsam and waterside gardens that were enchanting. At Longdon, I see the refurbishment of the windmill continues well, after seemingly being stalked for ages.
As I came through Stoneywell the dying sun caught the have step fields and rendered them precious.

August 8th – I saw a single deer, who was too quick to be captured by camera, but in the languid warmth, the rabbits on the canal weren’t too bothered as long as I keep still and didn’t make any noise.
I really liked the wooden carved badger on a canal boat near Wolseley Bridge, though. I guess that classes as wildlife. Of a sort.

August 8th – Up on Cannock Chase late afternoon, my love affair with this place continues. The heather is splendid at the moment, as is the thick brush of verdant bracken. The forest tracks around Wolseley Plain and Foxhunter’s Valley were as superb as ever.
After a hectic period at work and some ill health, this is just the tonic I needed.

August 7th – This oak tree was spotted by the cycle way in Pelsall, and seems to be afflicted by the same ills befalling similar trees everywhere I go. The poor oaks this year seem to have few acorns, leaves dying off early and tiny, deformed acorns.
I hope this is an aberrant year and in seasons to come are better.

August 7th – Still, don’t let the recent preoccupation with berries, harvest and fruit fool you; there are still plenty of wildflowers out there, and more to come. As I rode to work today, I spotted this hairy chap busy in the thistles, just doing his thing.

I love bees. Such gentle, busy creatures. They get a bad press sometimes, but they mean no harm and just want to get on with things undisturbed…

August 6th – Another fruit of the season, but this time doing well, are honeysuckle berries. Sticky, poisonous and sugary they would upset human digestion but not that of the local birds, who will strip the shrubs on the south side of the Black Cock Bridge clear of berries as soon as they’re ripe.

Their sticky coating leads to them acquiring a patina of dust and road film, and I often wonder what effect that has on the wildlife that dines upon it.

August 6th – Whilst it’s always a good year for something, it’s also always a bad year for something else. So far this year I’ve yet to see a single hazelnut, and horse chestnuts don’t seem terribly profuse. Acorns too, seem in short supply.

Likewise, cotoneasters – beloved of blackbirds and other berry-eaters for their high sugar content seem to be having a thing year. There are plenty of ripening fruits on the branches, but they’re thin and small, caused by the lack of heavy rain I guess.

They also seem to be ripening rather earlier than usual, too. Maybe they’ll fill out in time.