September 9th – In Darlaston, trapped in land I can see but never reach between two factory yards, the most splendid crop of rosy red apples.
They will windfall, and be eaten mostly by the local foxes and birds, every year the same.
I always wonder if they taste nice. I guess I’ll never know.
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#365daysofbiking Fruitless endeavours:
December 3rd – Spotted in the rain from the canal at Bentley Bridge: Ripe, delicious-looking eating apples rotting off the branches of the tree that fruited them, which is on a piece of edge land between two factory yards on the far side of the canal, both sites derelict.
The tree and the ground out stands on appears unreachable to all except maybe those in a canoe or boat.
Which is a shame, as I bet the crop is lovely.
#365daysofbiking How do you like those apples?
September 24th – Interesting to see this year the large crop of healthy, plump fruit, which has turned my understanding on its head: I always thought that in hot, dry summers fruit harvests suffered.
This autumn, the hedgerows, commons and woods are populated by trees laden with fruit – from hazelnuts to apples, beech nuts to pears, it’s been a fine harvest.
These apples growing by the canal at Darlaston actually look delicious, but sadly, well out of passing reach…
July 31st – One thing I am noticing this year is the huge fruit harvest. From blackberries to pears, from rowan berries to crab apples the hedgerows and woods this year are offering a wonderful bounty.
This crab apple tree near Clayhanger is burdened with a massive amount of apples that will sadly rot on the ground – not enough people making hedgerow jelly or wine these days I guess.
October 2nd – And then, still chasing my delivery notes, another wonder I’ve not spotted before: an apple tree growing beautiful, edible looking apples just out of reach on scrub between two factory yards.
Birds are loving the fruit, which are ripe now and falling to the ground untouched. They looked beautiful against the blue sky with the turning leaves like that.
Wonder if they’re as tasty as they look? They’re quite large.
September 5th – A washout commute home, too. The traffic was murderous, I was tired and I wasn’t feeling the love. I took to the canals and cycleways, and wound my way back to sanctuary carefully and slowly.
In Goscote, I spotted a lovely apple tree, laden with rosy red fruit, glistening and dripping with fresh rain.
For a moment, I was spellbound by the sound and beauty.
Then I realised how wet I was, got back on the bike and rode home.
August 12th – One local treat I look forward to in late summer is local growing wild apples.
I don’t know who planted the row of fruit trees of different varieties which I discovered in a remote spot 10 years ago, but they tend to fruit copiously and the delicious apples, ungathered, rot on the ground. Every year for a decade, I’ve made a point of passing, checking the crop and gathering a pocketful. This year the russets are a little hard and tart, but the cox’s are delicious.
A lovely little local secret.
August 2nd – Travelling to work on a miserable morning in steady rain, it was nice to continue the fruit-spotting with these glistening, deep red crabapples near Bughole Bridge in Darlaston.
Crabapples – bitter, hard miniature versions of the more palatable dessert fruit – come in many varieties from green through russet to deep, deep red like these. These fruits seem uninviting to almost everything and these will remain on the tree until well into the new year, and rot on the ground untouched by birds or squirrels.
They must be awfully acid, but they are so very handsome when new.
July 28th – A sunny morning, but dreadfully wet return from work made for an odd day. I’m increasingly aware now of summer and time marching on and this shows in the shift from flowering to fruiting.
The apples near the scrapyard at Bentley Bridge are looking wonderful again this year. Such a shame nobody can get close enough to pick them!
Looks like it’ll be another fruitful autumn…
November 23rd -Noticed in light drizzle just by the far side of the canal, on the edgelands of a scrapyard near Bentley Bridge in Walsall: apples, so far out of human reach, they’re rotting off the tree – food only for birds, squirrels and foxes.
Dripping with winter rain, I guess they’ll stay until the next really heavy wind.
Sad to see. I wonder if they’re tasty at all?
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 