November 4th – These are interesting little brown toadstools. I haven’t a clue what they are, and I’m curious. They are growing on the canal towpath near Bentley Bridge and I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before. Can’t find them in my book of fungi, either.
Anyone got any ideas, please?
August 25th – Although it was a grey, miserable morning, the canal near Bentley Bridge still looked awesome. It’s still very lush and green, in spite of the merciless mowing of the towpath. Today I noted snowberries were coming on to fruit, and the ragwort is still going well.
A little brightness is always nice on dull days. The kingfishers remain elusive…
August 7th – Still, don’t let the recent preoccupation with berries, harvest and fruit fool you; there are still plenty of wildflowers out there, and more to come. As I rode to work today, I spotted this hairy chap busy in the thistles, just doing his thing.
I love bees. Such gentle, busy creatures. They get a bad press sometimes, but they mean no harm and just want to get on with things undisturbed…
May 21st – Laburnum, or golden chain is one of the most beautiful blossoms of the British spring. Vivid yellow green, hanging in strings like some fluorescent downpour, it used to be a lot more prolific than it is today.
There used to be loads of this tree growing in parks, gardens and public spaces – but it hides a deadly secret.
The seeds of this beautiful tree are deadly toxic, and after several accidental child poisoning incidents in the 80s, many of the trees were cut down for reasons of public safety.
Fortunately, some remain, like this example on the canal between the towpath and the cemetery at Bentley Bridge in Walsall.
March 2nd – Fiddling with a next camera. After a brief flirtation with a Canon at Christmas – I hated it – I’ve just acquired the new Panasonic TZ70, the upgrade to last year’s TZ60. I’ll be twiddling with it for a while to find out what’s improved – and low light handheld images have definitely improved.
People often think I must carry a large camera around; I don’t – I just go for a little compact in my pocket, that’s easy to pull out and take spontaneous images with. I’ve tried big stuff in the past and find the size to be a hinderance.
No doubt for a few weeks I’ll be swearing at moved, changed or lost features – but having tried alternatives, I’m still resolutely a Panasonic chap.
As an aside, the works are very intense at Bentley Mill Way under the aqueduct – I won’t look at the plans as I want to gradually see the outcome. But that’s a very big culvert in there, I must say.
January 6th – I’d not noticed this before. On the canal near Darlaston, a high factory wall, and by some twist of nature, soot and the wind, a pair of buddleia plants, slowly and tenaciously taking the brickwork part by the action of gentle and sustained hydraulic pressure alone.
Although it’s destructive, I love to see this; nature reclaiming the constructed. It’s nice to see nature winning occasionally.
December 17th – A better morning – and rather warm, it has to be said. I dropped onto the canal in Walsall to avoid the traffic, and on the James Bridge Aqueduct, stopped to look at the road improvement works below. The road is being widened in a job that will take months. This area is low, and on the Tame flood channel; they certainly aren’t messing about with that storm buffer – it looks to be at least 3m in diameter.
November 25th – Further on, near Bentley Bridge, a narrowboat passed me going a fair lick. Unusually, it was decorated in an eye-catching indian style, replete with Ganesha motif fretted into the hatch door. Equipped with a canoe, this looked like a home as well as a boat; it had that well loved but well used air that comes with such craft.
I love boater dogs. These two are clearly great mates, and I love the way the hound is wrapped, like his boss, against the cold.
A lovely sight.
November 12th – Bentley Mill Way at Bentley Bridge, between Darlaston and Walsall is closed for a major road improvement project, which seems to be starting quite slowly. As I passed today, there were a few groundworks going on and a JCB removing old tree stumps, but not much else. The closed road – that’s a surveyors car judging by the guy that got out of it – is flooded quite deeply now.
It’ll be interesting to watch this project progress: I noted yesterday on Google Maps that it’s already showing Bentley Mill Way as being a dead end. Nifty.
October 29th – On the edge of Darlaston’s industrial area between Bentley Bridge and the town centre, there sit this curious pair of cottages, on the corner of Gladstone Street and Station Street. Under the paint and facing, these are rather old, note the great chimney pots on the cream one.
I get the feeling there’s a story to these places. Wonder what it is?
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