Sunday February 14th 2021 – The snowdrops are shaping up excellently this spring, I must say. I had thought the cold weather might stunt or harm them, but that’s not the case.
Coming up a very windswept and damp Barracks Lane, these delicate little flowers growing beside the vet’s paddock at Warrenhouse were just the beautiful thing I needed to see on a grey, late winter Sunday.
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#365daysofbiking I trip through your wires:
September 29th – At Crestacre, on the top of Springhill overlooking Sandhills and Brownhills, the sky was a gorgeous combination of red, orange and blue, and set off the skyline of Brownhills beautifully, even if that did pretty much just consist of Humphries House.
I was intrigued by the medium voltage electric lines in the foreground, and the set of jumper insulators on the pole’s left. I’ve never noticed them before, and wonder why they’re there?
June 19th – I swung past the island on the Warrenhouse at 221 Hay, where the Lichfield Road meets Barracks Lane. I was heading to Stonall, but the display of flowers on the verge caught my eye.
I’m not sure who plants the verge here, whether it’s the garden centre or vets – both nearby – but it’s always beautiful, no matter what time of year you look.
At the moment, poppies are the order of the day. Huge poppies, of several different colours. But other flowers are in the mix too, and it’s just a wonderful, chaotic riot of colour.
I’m sure many drivers pass this by unnoticed; I commend you not to. It’s a fantastic thing, so why not take a look next time you’re in the area?
January 1st – New Years Day 2016, and the weather is so unseasonably temperate that calendula are flowering on the verge in Barracks Lane, just at the Warrenhouse, near Brownhills. And they aren’t the only thing.
I welcome the colour and cheerfulness, but this can’t be right, can it?
August 21st – A grey and depressing day with a heavy, punishing wind. On my way home, for a change, I rode over Springhill and Barracks Lane down to the Lichfield Road, and came into Brownhills that way.
On the crossroads of Barracks Lane and Lichfield Road, what I think must be one of the oldest buildings in Ogley Hay and wider Brownhills; Warrenhouse Farm’s barn.
Now converted into a dwelling, I’m sure parts of this stone and brick structure are very old indeed; the farm here was where the Warren Keeper lived, who kept the rabbits on Ogley Hay for hunting – hence the Warrener’s Arms pub. Another noted resident was William Roberts, who tried to retire here, but found it too quiet and he soon returned to the bright lights and bustle of Brownhills.
These days, Warrenhouse is no longer a farm; it is private houses and a noted veterinary surgery, but this was the closest building to the location of the Staffordshire Hoard, found only a couple of hundred metres away, and is therefore evidence of a much earlier time, before Brownhills itself.
The converted barn has some lovely flowerbeds running around it too; such a delight on a grey day.
December 19th – I headed out mid afternoon on the annual pre-Christmas pilgrimage to Packington Moor farm shop near Whittington. On the way, I spun down Barracks Lane, and the bright colour of some fungus on a tree stump snagged my eye. I stopped to take a look.
A big old tree – I think an Ash – has been cut down here in recent weeks, leaving a hollowed out bole to rot away. The cavity in the stump itself contains an odd, purple mildew, and although clearly only weeks since being cut, the fungus is working to recycle the wood, and growing in slimy, glossy bright orange clumps. I’ve no idea what they are, but they’re beautiful.
Nature reclaims most things, and is wonderful and mysterious in her processes.
As an aside, it’s clear that this tree was suffering a dreadful disease from the hollow core. To the untrained eye, there appear to have been no signs on the outside of the malady within. How do arborists know this stuff?
March 24th – Another bitterly cold day, and the worst snows since the early 1980s continued overnight, only ceasing late afternoon. Oddly, though, the sun tried to break through most of the day.
I slipped out mid afternoon. The main roads again, were clear, and some of the more minor ones like Coppice Lane were very clear, too, although standing water was everywhere. I spun around Brownhills, getting a feel for the evil east wind that was blowing powder-dry snow in clouds. At the old level crossing at the top, a lovely little robin caught my eye, flitting about amongst the laurels at the side of the road. As I passed the common, I noticed one of the best ice-castles I’ve ever seen, with it’s proud constructor playing nearby.
Up at Chasewater, the waterfowl were quiet following the daily visit from the Swan Lady, who drove past me on Pool Road; but there were plenty of other interesting birds about defying the positively evil wind. I fought it up the A5, to the Barracks Lane junction, where the sheep weren’t minding the snow too much. The drifts in Barracks Lane were sobering.
It’s getting on to the end of March. British Summer Time starts in a week. Can I have some spring, please?
March 1st – Returning from Burntwood along the canal, I stopped to take a long exposure shot of the A5/Barracks Lane junction at night. I’ve been meaning to try this one for a while. Hammerwich Church looks imperious on the hilltop, and the traffic looks every bit as mad as it usually is at rush hour.
Hard to think that down there, a little to the right, the Staffordshire Hoard lay for centuries, undiscovered. Such an unlikely spot, really.
April 27th – Returning from work, I was caught in yet another rainstorm. I had to go to Brownhills, and it was grim. Traffic was backed up, the wind was gusting and I was sodden and sullen. As I came from Lichfield along Barracks Lane, though, a sight of summer caught my eye; anonymous, usually unnoticed, a gateway. Today, even in the pouring rain, it was green, verdant. Purple flowers speckled the long grass, bursting out around it. I marvelled at it for a least ten minutes. I’m beginning to think I may have a screw loose.
February 18th – Down at the junction of Barracks Lane and Lichfield Road, in Brownhills, not far from where the Staffordshire Hoard was found, there’s a filed of horses, which I think belong to nearby Warrenhouse Farm. At the entrance to this field, I spotted this two delightful patches of snowdrops in the hedgerow. Beautiful and delicate, yet somehow hardy, they are a marker, a signal. THeir appearance means that spring cannot be far away…
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