September 29th – I escaped mid afternoon, and didn’t have long. The sun was out, but there was a keen wind, so I headed up to Cannock Chase. The colours were brilliant, with a hint of a beautiful autumn promised. I saw 3 muntjac deer at Stonepit Green, and a herd of 30-40 fallows crossing the road at Penkridge Bank. There were a few folk about, but off the main trails, the forest was beautiful and deserted. Rainbow Hill, Wolseley Plain, Abraham’s Valley and Moor’s Gorse were all gorgeous, and topping it off, a clump of wild cyclamen at Upper Longdon. Autumn ain’t so bad when it gets going…

September 29th – He was annoyed that I spotted him, but this ginger and white lad was thirsty and there’s nothing like fresh canal water. He’s a lovely chap and I spotted him at the rear of the houses in Sadler Road, Catshill. Those two front feet – this is a practiced manoeuvre…

September 28th – I haven’t seen any sloes this year. There are usually some growing in the hedgerows around Engine Lane in Brownhills, near the old Carver building, but they seem barren this year. What I have found, though, is damsons. Similar in colouring and texture, sloes are rounder and form clumps on the bush. Damsons hang individually, on a short stalk, and are vaguely egg-shaped. Sloes can be used in a number of drinks – sloe gin being one, where as damsons are more versatile and tasty enough to be eaten as a fruit, make jam with and so on.

However, growing on Engine Lane as they are, next to a notorious landfill and on former industrial land, it’s no wonder they are rotting on the ground. I certainly wouldn’t eat them, but nice to see.

September 28th – Conservationists and birders in particular keep banging on about helium balloons, balloon releases and Chinese lanterns. These are serious issues, and here’s why. At Chasewater, balloons have escaped from somewhere, and been blown into this scrub at the side of the lake, well out of reach. They will gradually deflate, and the remaining material will either be blown off and drop in the lake, or hang there waiting to be collected by birds. Birds will choke on balloon remnants, as will fish. Being synthetic, they won’t biodegrade, and will continue to foul the ecology for years if uncollected. I see lots trapped in this way in country hedgerows and on urban commons and greenspaces.

Balloon releases are sponsored littering. Nothing more, nothing less.

September 27th – Out at sunset for a spin around town, and the sky was incredible. My grandfather used to call this a ‘mackerel sky’, and if one was observed, it meant ’24hours dry.’ I’m not sure about Grandad’s hypothesis but such skies are thoroughly beautiful. I’m glad I got to enjoy this one tonight.

September 27th – Returning to Birmingham from the somewhat disappointing Cycle Show at the NEC, I was reminded whilst walking a relatively short distance through the city centre that there really is a cycling boom going on; you’d never have seen cycles in such numbers around the place as you do now. And these are real machines, as opposed to the pristine new stuff that I’d seen that morning. Bikes of all ages, types and sizes, from BMX to fixies, all carrying the patina of their owners – the stickers, modifications, adjustments and dirt that go to making a bike your very own.

It’s good to see. 

September 26th – Further up the canal at Pelsall Road, I noticed what appeared to be oil on the surface of the canal. I was quite concerned as I approached, but I realised as I got closer that the scum is in fact a mixture of leaf-litter and other seed debris that had fallen onto the surface of the water. There must be physical reasons why it all seems to clump in one place…

September 26th – Winging back along the canal to Brownhills, I took another scout along the fringes of Clayhanger Common. Locals will know that 40 years ago, the was a benighted site of contaminated land used as a refuse tip. Careful and brave reclamation in the early 1980s saw the lad reclaimed and planted, and this is the result. Even with autumn on their heels, still the thistle, bindweed and meadow cranesbill are flowering strongly, teasels stand tall and ripe, and the shiny black gloss of elderberries hang heavy on the boughs. This is such a long way from how this land was, and something everyone in Brownhills should cherish and be proud of.

September 25th – Autumn is here now. I hate the interregnum between summer and autumn, neither one thing nor the other. I like Autumn – or at least, come to like it – when the leaves turn and the colours turn from green to gold. Despite the oddly warm weather right now, it’s starting to happen. A creeper in the hedgerow near the Black Cock Bridge has gone a deep, dark red, and along the canal to Brownhills, yellow and brown are starting to insinuate themselves into the trees and thickets. It’ll soon be time to get up into Abraham’s Valley on Cannock Chase, and capture the glory of the pines turning for another year.

September 25th – If you’re connected with ‘A Licence 2 Drive’ driving school, you may want to have a word with the people driving your vehicles.

One of your cars this morning was driven in such a poor way that I feared for my life, and then a passenger in the vehicle went on to shout and gesture abuse. Is this really the road behaviour competent driving instructors should espouse?

The above video stills are from a video filmed whilst I rode down the Chester Road, Stonnall, this morning. It was raining, and visibility was poor. I had full lights on and high-viz. As I approached the pinch point at the junction with Main Street, Stonnall and the Chester Road, one of your cars – a black BMW mini, BV61AUR – aggressively and unnecessarily cut through the narrow gap dangerously close to me. This was terrifying.

Having done this, a passenger in the vehicle shouted unintelligible abuse and gestured from the vehicle window, then pointed to the footpath.

This behaviour is shocking enough from any vehicle, more so from a car branded with driving school advertising. 

As a cyclist, in compliance with the Highway Code, I have a right to space and respect. I don’t expect either to be compromised by those charged with educating new drivers.