Tag: autumn

September 5th – Ah, Autumn. Or is it? I guess we’re on the cusp, really. It’s cold; it was very chilly out today, and the hedgerows and copses of Hammerwich, Wall and Stonnall were full of large, juicy blackberries and other fruits. The elderberries and sloes are blackening up. There’s hints of brown and yellow in the leaves. The light is soft.

In a spot I know in the backlanes, apples hang off the branches of wild trees. Pippins and russets have done well this year – sweet and crunchy, when I took a look, they were falling to the ground and being eaten by wasps.

Good to see them.

September 4th – And then, there are the oaks I was concerned were lost. All the galls and nasties seem to have appeared long before the acorn crop I thought would not appear – there is now a stunning crop of tiny acorns growing well all along the canal at Clayhanger.

It’s good to see, and when they start to fall, I’ll gather them and spread the acorn love.

Never lose faith.

September 3rd – I took to the canal on the way home, and observed that red appears to be the colour of choice for the season – a whole host of red berries, from honeysuckle, to ripening blackberries, to haws and hips are all doing well. I did wonder, however, what the very glossy red berries were – the ones with the very leathery leaves. There’s about twice the size of a pea, and look like haws but are too large, glossy and red. Any ideas?

I’m also wondering about the hop-like fruit of the broad leaved tree, centre. Something is telling me white birch, but I’m not sure.

Looks like there will be a good crop of helicopter seeds from the sycamores this year, too.

Any help welcome, thanks!

August 26th – I think I was a bit previous on the acorn thing.

I think acorns affected by galls fruit sooner. Perhaps there’s a naturally selective advantage in this. It’s fascinating me.

In the last couple of weeks, a huge crop of acorns has developed, even on the blighted trees. They came later than the acorn galls, and are plump and where unaffected, a great looking crop.

I’d say now less than 5% are galls.

Is there a guide or information anywhere about this? It’s fascinating me.

August 24th – Fruits of all kinds from berries, to nuts to pears. All in a short section of canal from Clayhanger to Brownhills on a dull, airless journey home. Nature is bountiful at the moment, and I was pleased to find the untouched windfall hazels, as here don’t seem to be many around this year. I note also the pears did quite well at Clayhanger, and the blackberries are delivering a huge crop this year.

It’s feeling a lot like autumn now.

August 21st – It was a grey, damp Friday afternoon, and it felt more like October than August, and after a few grey, wet days I noticed the little meadow near the new pond at Clayhanger had lost all of it’s summer colour suddenly, like switching off a light.

All was not lost, though, as there are still wildflowers nearby – toadflax and honeysuckle are still showing well, and damsons and apples are adding autumn colour. Even a confused lupin was bright in the gloom.

Autumn can wait just a little while, can’t it?

August 18th – The poor acorns are really hampered this year – the gall wasps really seem to have affected them. These seem very like knopper galls, which are caused by the wasp injecting a chemical encased egg into the acorn bud when it’s forming. The chemical causes the acorn to mutate, and inside, the wasp larvae hates and feeds.

There are now a good few healthy acorns, though, so perhaps it’s not as bad as I feared, but I do wonder why it just seems to be oaks that are tortured so.

August 16th – Feeling better, I pottered off to Aldridge to do some shopping on Sunday afternoon. On the canal near Northwood Bridge, an unusual sight; a dense, thick patch of what looks like miniature buddleia, but is in fact wild mint.

It smells gorgeous, and the bees are loving it. I never knew mint had such gorgeous flowers.

Meanwhile, near Clayhanger, another reminder of Autumn: Haws ripening well. They look plum and will see many songbirds though winter, with luck.

August 15th – Returning by train because I was short of time, I cycled from Blake Street through the backlanes of Footherley and Stonnall on a beautiful, slightly chilly evening. My energy reserves were very low, and the ride was hard going, which can only have been due to the recent ill-health.

Still, the sun set fire a glorious golden hour and the fields were rendered beautiful. Even the horse chestnuts hit by leaf miners were gorgeous in the late sunlight.

Is that autumn’s breath I can feel on my shoulder?