July 25th – The Catshill swan family seem to spend a lot of time at Anglesey Basin, and tonight they were group-preening and loafing by the waterside, totally relaxed. The parents let me get quite close, but sadly, the movement of the cygnets – still numbering seven – combined with low light made for terrible photos.
July 13th – TheMadOldBaggage is right: I’m being unduly pessimistic about autumn and the passage of summer. It’s still gorgeous, and there’s loads of stuff still to come into flower.
Today, I was delighted to spot these gorgeous wild sweat peas. Just how lovely are they? You can’t fail to see these and not be lifted.
Autumn? Not yet you don’t, matey.
May 11th – I came back to Brownhills through Chasewater. At Anglesey Basin, I noticed that someone has fitted a guard plank to stop narrowboats – often moored here – banging into the weir edge. It’s a rough old job; the wood isn’t treated, so won’t last long, and the grouting into the sides of the basin is very rough. I suppose it’ll do the job, though. Wonder if this has been prompted by a general concern or a specific incident?
March 22nd – It was sunshine and showers on the way home, and often at the same time. This gave rise to a great rainbow – but sadly, it was too fleeting to capture at it’s best. Still, it was rather beautiful, all the same…
March 22nd – There’s been a death locally. The victim will not be mourned, although being viciously cut down by a diamond blade. Cyclists, pushchair wranglers and normal-width people throughout the area who walk this way will know what I’m talking about.
The post that had for years pointlessly stopped even the narrowest bikes and people getting though the gap at the foot of Anglesey Basin without a struggle, has finally been cut down.
It served no purpose – access to motorbikes either side of it was always possible. It just existed as a royal pain in the arse, and I was hugely irritated that the metre high steel post filled with concrete survived the dam works.
Someone, somewhere has finally cut the bloody thing down. I’ve vowed to do so many a time, but never been quite motivated enough.
My thanks to the executioner, you have done the community a great service.
January 24th – Chasewater is still in overflow. This fascinates me – there has clearly been a deliberate decision to let the lake overtop the spillway rather than open the valve and let it flow into the canal. This is interesting, as had the water gone into the canal, the canal would have overflowed into the same culvert system, which feeds the Crane Brook. I must take a look at the crane brook when I can to see how it’s affected.
The flow from the breakwater is moving along the floor of the spillway, and into the new culvert system under the Victorian outfall. I guess that’s helping to irrigate the marsh there (as if it needed it, but you never know).
Exactly the same happened this time last year. Perhaps it’s some kind of stress test. It does mean however, that the two narrowboats moored in Anglesey Basin remain quiet on the relatively still canal…
October 27th – The fungus, on the whole, is great this year, but the fly agaric remain elusive. My usual best spots for finding this most fairytale of toadstools – up on the canal behind the Terrace at Newtown, on the common opposite Birch Coppice and at Chasewater just by the bypass have all shown poor examples this season. These few decent ones were spotted on the canal bank at Anglesey Basin.
The puffballs – a fine crop – were all growing near Fly Pool on the North Heath at Chasewater. In a few weeks that green gunk inside will be dry, powdery spores, and the fungus will pop open on contact and scatter them on the wind.
The mystery large toadstool was on the canal embankment near Lichfield Road. I have no idea what it was, but it was very large and alive with bugs.
April 21st – This is momentous – the canal feeder sluice from Chasewater to Anglesey Basin has been opened again. This has caused a drop in lake water level of about an inch. It’s been a few years since that valve was properly opened. It was good to see.
January 11th – Today didn’t work out so well. A failed trip at work, then a mad panic dash to get home. When I did, I hit the canal and headed up to Chasewater, as a decent sunset was threatening. At Anglesey Basin it was quiet, and deathly still. This is the kind of chilly weather I’ve been longing for; the air was clear and hard, but a shallow mist was forming over the canal. The only thing that caused ripples was the birdlife.
Peace, blessed peace. Just what you need after a chaotic day.
29th September – A evening spin to Chasewater, and the golden hour was beautiful. Autumn’s coming on apace, now. Great sunset views at Anglesey Basin, Chasewater and, of all places, Tesco car park. Maybe the season isn’t so bad, after all.
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