September 19th – Nice to see the housing project between Deakin Avenue and Watling Street coming along so well. A mixed development of flats and houses by Walsall Housing Group, it’s good that some social housing is being built here to replace at least a few of the huge number of dwellings that were lost in the slum clearance of the mid-2000s. 

These homes overlook the open heath at the top of Holland Park. Whoever gets the flats in the foreground will, in all probability, regularly get red deer visiting. Wouldn’t that be great? 

September 19th – I found myself out and about in the sunshine after rain with an empty camera case – which isn’t good. Rather than whizz home for my camera, I figured I’d have a play with the phone camera. It isn’t too bad, as it happens. The contrast seems a bit harsh, and it seems a little over saturated, but not unpleasant. The panorama mode is really better than the one in my camera.

I’d headed across the common and back down the old rail line and onto the canal. Apart from a few tinges of orange-brown and the obvious crimson hues of hawthorn, rowan and rose hip, you’d think we were still in late summer.

September 18th – Conkers. Every man I know is inexorably drawn to the shiny fruit every autumn, it’s almost an instinct to pick a few up if you see them. This splendid tree is at Festival Gardens in Lichfield, and the conkers are just starting to fall. This year, they’re small – I’m not sure if it’s just this tree, or general, but there are lots to come; the boughs are heavy with the spiny-husked horse chestnuts.

The tree is clearly suffering the ubiquitous leaf miner parasite, but it large and handsome, all the same. I gathered a couple of pocketfuls, and tossed them near Wall Butts on the way back.

September 18th – This grey wagtail and several others have been busy along the canal at Catshill, Brownhills, all summer. Before this year, I’d never seen one in Brownhills, and I’m pleased to note their appearance. A small, yellow and grey bird, it has an erratic, pulsing flight that’s fascinating. All the time he’s on the ground, he’s bobbin up and down in the characteristic way that wagtails do.

A lovely, joyous addition to the local wildlife. Sorry for the grainy pics, but the bird was quite a way off.

September 17th – A spin around Chasewater in the rain. The park was pretty deserted just after lunch. I span round, the drizzle persistent but relatively warm. The cows on the north heath were trying to find shelter in the woods, and looked thoroughly cheesed off. Meanwhile, further down the heath to the north shore, workers were cutting the scrub and burning the waste, resulting in the lake being covered in a low layer of sweet-smelling smoke. 

As I returned down the causeway, I noticed the crews of kids in rowing boats, out from the Outdoor Education Centre.

Life doesn’t stop at Chasewater when the summer goes; it just gets a bit more challenging.

September 16th – I headed back to Brownhills down the canal, and crossed Clayhanger Common for a change. I noticed at the old access driveway, near where the ranger’s hut used to stand a row of sweet chestnuts, with a glorious crop of nuts. I’ve never clocked these before, but they’re in rude health and look beautiful. Considering the history of the land upon which they’re growing, I’d not eat the fruit, but it’s a great thing to see, for sure.

September 16th – The lanes and key-bys of the area (and probably the country) are currently suffering a rash of dumping. The rules have changed, and scrap yards will no longer accept fridges and freezers, so tatters are stripping the metal from them and dumping the remnants anywhere they can.

This discarded shell of a fridge is in Green Lane, Walsall Wood.

I still see discarded appliances left outside houses for the scrap men to take. Don’t do it, because this is where the shit ends up – as far as I’m concerned, anyone who leaves waste out like that is condoning flytipping and should be prosecuted as a flytipper.

September 15th – I headed out late morning hoping to get back before the weather closed in. I misjudged, and as I was pottering over The Swag the rain started. The marsh was great, and deserted, but almost everything was horrid shades of headache grey, the only colour being a curious orange flower growing in the brook. I headed back to Clayhanger and round the new pool, which still looks remarkably verdant for the time of year.

It felt wintry, and I felt down. There’s months of this to come and I don’t feel ready for it at all.

September 15th – My nosiness will one day be my undoing. For months now I’ve been curious about a drain cover I noticed at the top of the rough steps up to the old railway walk, just on the canal by Pelsall Road, Brownhills. It’s puzzled me because, well, there are no services up there, and no drains – certainly no electrics or telephony. But the access cover is new, and probably put there by whoever constructed the steps (and I never did find out who was responsible for those). Today, my curiosity bettered me and I flipped the plastic lid open – there’s a empty, corrugated tube veering to the side. A pebble dropped goes a fair way.

I popped the lid back, and went on my way, none the wiser…