June 4th – I’m seeing a lot of this plant at the moment – there’s loads on Clayhanger Common, where these photos were taken – but also lots along the canal banks around Tamworth and around the moat at Middleton Hall.
Please put me out of my misery – what is it?
June 4th – I have absolutely no idea. All I can assume is they’re planning to prune the trees on the Silver Street Marina. Not what I’d call a forrest. Mind you, it’s not what I’d call a marina, either.
Clearly the Brownhills reality distortion field in full effect.
June 4th – A spin around Brownhills in the rain. I had errands to run, and I took a shortcut under the loading bay of the old Tesco at Ravens Court. There, no doubt pushed off the back of a truck under the cover of the fences and scrub, the carcasses of two scrap fridges.
The plague continues. The old appliances have been stripped of any metal with commercial value, and that will be kept by the tatters and weighed in for cash. The remnants are just flytipped anywhere they can offload them.
There is no defence of this; it’s what happens when recycling legislation is thoughtlessly altered, but the people doing this are scum. They don’t care for anything but the cash, and everyone who leaves old appliances out for the scrap men to collect is as guilty as those who dump the remains.
Stop leaving stuff for tatters and get your waste disposed of properly, because we all up up paying if you don’t.
June 3rd – I headed back to Brownhills along the canal, avoiding the rain-maddened traffic. Rounding Catshill Junction, I noticed that the sculpture here ‘Cycle of Life’ by Ron Thompson & Julie Edwards, is again being consumed by the scrub. This sculpture – of which I’m not a fan, to be honest – was unveiled in 2005 as part of the canal refurbishment; the position of the artwork is so far from the towpaths that the detail of it can barely be appreciated, and it’s always felt a bit of an afterthought to me.
Now, there’s a new development of flats and houses being constructed on the other side of the fence and the sculpture is more isolated than ever. I do hope the plans for the newbuild have taken this into account.
Ideally, it would be nice it the piece could be moved to somewhere nearby where the public can actually see the detail in the metalwork. A bit of a missed opportunity, really.
June 3rd – I’ve often thought that one of the most attractive things in a person – male or female – is if they don’t realise just how attractive they are. As I’ve got older, I’ve begun to realise this applies to places too.
One of the reasons Walsall is such a gem architecturally – and it is, despite the abuse of it’s more conventional historic assets – is that it doesn’t realise just what a wealth of diverse riches it has. Stop in any suburb or part of town. Look around. Somewhere, close by, there will be something remarkable – not necessarily beautiful, but always engaging. And the town as a whole doesn’t really know.
I came into Walsall from Aldridge and took a route through Highgate. This house caught my eye while I waited for a reversing driver to complete their manoeuvre – just study it; take it in. Possibly not at it’s best, but from the chimney pots down to the front wall the detail is incredible. A fantastic roofline and gables, and the detail in the window arches.
There are treats like this all over this town, and Walsall just doesn’t know about them.
June 2nd – Growing steadily, the swan family of mum, dad and 8 cygnets seem happy and contented, and the little ones are larger every time I see them.`Today I spotted them under the pedestrian bridge in Brownhills, and were clearly hoping I had some titbits for them.
This is a large brood and I’m surprised they’ve all survived. The proud parents have clearly been doing an excellent job, and I notice the locals have really taken this family to their hearts.
A fantastic thing to see.
June 2nd – Coming home on a pleasant summer afternoon, I came around the new pond then cut over Clayhanger Common. I don’t normally go that way, but it’s beautifully verdant at the moment, so it’s worth putting up with the anti-vehicle gates that are so irritating here. In the three decades since it was created, this place has matured beautifully, and it’s a real asset for the local area, and a testament to a period when local authorities were allowed space to take on large environmental projects – a period that has sadly now passed.
It does suffer a degree of antisocial behaviour, but is generally peaceful and well looked after. I know deer like to come around here, and was hoping to spot some but sadly, they were elsewhere today…
June 1st – I nipped home, then off out for a longer ride. I hadn’t been down to Blithfield Reservoir for a year of so, and thought I’d check it out. It’s still gorgeous. Stockwell Heath, with the lovely village pond was ace too. It was a day for head-down stoking the miles in, and I got a good sixty or so in and blew the cobwebs away.
The heron was loafing about all day, and I finally got a pic on my way home. He seems to have decided the canal by the winding hole at Catshill is his territory. He’s a fine bird.
June 1st – I took a mosey up to Chasewater to check out the second Craft and Farmers Market. It was larger than last time, and better spread out, but I was disappointed with the lack of produce. As a craft market it was OK, I guess, but I got a lot of feedback on social media after advertising the event on my main blog that this wasn’t a Farmer’s Market. I concur, and unless they get some produce, I don’t really think it should be called that.
It’s a fine effort, but it’s sad not to see more food there. Hopefully, things may improve as it establishes.
May 31st – These are very long-range photos, as I only spotted them from across the valley at Camp Road in Canwell.
Few things in life look as ridiculous as a freshly sheared alpaca. Poor things.
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