Tag: Bentley

April 12th – On the Walsall Canal where the Anson Brach used to spur off between Bentley Bridge and Bentley Mill Way Aqueduct, the swans who I think nested in the abandoned basin last year are nesting anew. 

Sadly, the nest isn’t well protected this year and I think an enterprising fox or heron – who fish here regularly – may end up with cygnet tea.

That’s if the phantom bread-flinger does’t chock the wee ones – sadly, the message that bread isn’t good for waterfowl doesn’t seem to be reaching all quarters. I know these folk mean well, but it’s not good for them. 

Please, if you feed them, seed or greens instead.

February 2nd – I had to leave work and pop to Walsall mid morning, so I hopped on the canal. Passing through James Bridge, I noticed a works compound had been set up, and butties and a utility boat were blocking the canal under the old IMI bridge. From the contents of the compound, it seems a particularly daft folly is about to commence: the tearing up and resurfacing of one of the best canal towpaths in Walsall.

The stretch from here to Walsall is being relaid by the Canal & River Trust, apparently as a cycle route, for reasons I’ve been unable to discern; but one thing I’ll guarantee is the person who decided it was needed was not a cyclist.

The towpaths here are wide, smooth and well made, in contrast to those from Aldridge to Rushall Junction, which are unusable in winter, or those through Pelsall to Goscote. The money spend here will be an unneeded waste.

Breathtaking folly.

September 24th – For the first time this week, a really decent day with lots of sunshine, but the cold is creeping in – it barely crept over 16 degrees all day. 

The birds on the local canals didn’t mind, though – the Walsall swan family were, as usual, hustling for treats, but the herons – a twtchy young gun in the morning and a more relaxed, slightly mad looking elder hand in the evening – were stubbornly self-sufficient, as ever.

I love to see these guys. They fair made my day.

June 9th – Further up the canal at Bentley Bridge, another yellow wonder of the season: the water lilies are just coming out. These yellow ones are first, then later come the pink-wihite variety.

These seem good for bugs, and add an interesting shock of colour to the waterways. Seeing them is always the sign of an advancing season.

April 29th – Bentley Bridge near Darlaston is the scene of a huge roads project at the moment. For a week or so, huge and fascinating plant has been involved in erecting deep and sturdy H section piles along the roadside.

It’s an impressive bit of engineering with some fascinating machinery. The webs on those girders are about 50mm thick.

March 17th – Heading to work on a misty, smoggy morning, the sun trying desperately to break through the murk and light up the day, but not quite managing it.

Spinning down the canal over Bentley Aqueduct, the twin sisters of Wednesbury on the skyline were as beautiful as ever. This view fascinates me.

February 24th – Little firsts are the art of getting through winter. Little, tiny victories that mark the passage from darkness to light, and tonight, on my way home from work, it was my first normal-time commute in something approximating daylight, rather than darkness.

OK, it was wet, windy, murky, verging on the brink daylight, but it was perceptibly not dark. A little victory.

The joy of this almost totally took my mind off what an unutterably foul ride it was…

February16th – The greyness continued, and hung over the morning commute like a portent. Wet, dark and with a building wind, I edged into Darlaston over the River Tame at Bentley Bridge. The flood channel here has never been pretty, but on this awful Monday morning, it had something about it.

Maybe, somewhere downstream, there was a brighter day.