June 9th – Further up the canal at Bentley Bridge, another yellow wonder of the season: the water lilies are just coming out. These yellow ones are first, then later come the pink-wihite variety.

These seem good for bugs, and add an interesting shock of colour to the waterways. Seeing them is always the sign of an advancing season.

June 8th – Green Lane, Shelfied; fly tipping in a field gateway, a spot sadly prone to this activity.

Yet again, fridges; people leave old appliances outside from scrap collectors, who strip the valuable metal and then dump the rest in lanes and quiet spots like this.

Please stop leaving stuff for these people – it may be out of sight, out of mind, but you’re complicit in flytipping and causing this problem.

faz0la:

I saw this friendly chap in the garden of a cottage I was renting, he often came to sit by my wife and I as we enjoyed tea and cakes in the sun. I have no interest in bird watching and I have no idea what kind of bird he is but I will admit I did enjoy photographing him and he I’m sure enjoyed our company. He was there every day and he gave me plenty of opportunity to get the hang of the zoom on my camera. He was rewarded with plenty of cake crumbs which he seemed fond of. Taken in Betws-y-Coed, Wales, United Kingdom.

June 7th – I also called at the Church of St John, MArchington Woodlands, at a place called Woodroffes. It’s a gorgeous church clinging to a hillside in the middle of nowhere. It overlooks the Dove Valley and is the most beautiful, peaceful spot. 

The meadows were dappled yellow with buttercups, the church was bright in the sunlight, and a distant cricket pitch dozed in the warm afternoon.

It doesn’t get much more English than this.

June 7th – I went to the steam fair at Draycott, and came back through Marchington, over Marchington Cliff and back through the Needwood Valley.

I’ve never noticed Marchington Church before – it’s very curious. It looks old, with curious, almost Eastern European influences; maybe even a little bit industrial.

What really struck me was the unusual war memorial over the doorway.