July 3rd – Summer ticks on and as I noted a few days ago, we’ve moved from flowing to fruiting.
Lots of berries are now developing on the branches, from haws to rowan berries and even plenty of ripening cherries.
These will bring with them reds, oranges and purples and a whole range of new colour as they and the season mature.
A wonderful time of year.
November 1st – In Telford for a change, I noted that the cotoneaster that grows in profusion here was showing a lovely crop or red, plump berries which will be good for the small song birds that love this colourful fruit – particularly blackbirds.
When I see such a good harvest of berries, I often wonder if nature is providing excess food for a harsh winter in might somehow know is coming…
October 21st – A blustery, showery day, so I restricted myself to a short ride around the patch, washing through the leaves shaken free by the storm. At the new pond at Clayhanger, I noticed a healthy, beautiful holly bush with a dense crop of berries growing in the marsh at the back of the pool. That’s a sign Christmas is coming, for sure.
Autumn has been strange this year. It’s like we fell out of summer with a bump and kept bouncing off winter with no transition…
September 2nd – This year, as usual, I’m charged with foraging fruits and other goodies for the family winemaker, and precious jewels indeed are the sloes.
Thankfully on my ride out to The Roaches, I found a plentiful crop I’m not going to give the location of!
Thes dark red berries with the blue sheen, very similar in appearance to damsons make a lovely warming gin and are much prized.
A great find!
July 10th – Nice to see the rowan, or mountain ash berries ripening well, adding a welcome splash of orange to hedgerows, verges and thickets.
A useful berry, it can be used to make jam or wine, and birds love it.
Can’t help feeling a tinge of sadness hough that this new arrival signals a notch further towards late summer and the fruiting season.
January 14th – We’ve had some foreign visitors in Brownhills. They’ve come before, in other winters when it’s been cold on the continent, and they’re here again. It’s good to seem these somewhat rare, colourful fellows.
Waxwings have come to strip the trees by Silver Court of berries before – working their way west from Eastern Europe, when their traditional feeding grounds aren’t bountiful they venture further afield.
I don’t know if they remember Brownhills somehow, or it’s just chance, but the businesses in Brownhills are getting added trade from twitchers and it’s giving the town something to talk about.
I just adore these birds. Such pretty things.
December 20th – In Shelfield, a reminder of the season. The holly, unlike the cotoneaster, is profuse this year, and every bush I see has the most perfect, shiny, plastic looking leaves.
The bright berries are cheering and a delight on a grey morning.
Only two days to go!
December 15th – The cotoneaster this year seems to have not been doing so well. These bright red berries, beloved of blackbirds, are normal evident in profusion along urban towpaths, footpaths and cycleways, but for some reason are heavily planted on industrial estates.
This huge bed at Moxley is normally a sea of red-orange at this time of year, with a permanent fluster of wings and beaks. But not this year; I’d say the crop is abut 30 percent of it’s normal size.
Whilst my grandfather used to say ‘it’s always a good year for something’ I guess the reverse is true and this just wasn’t the cotoneaster’s year.I hope it’s not cold otherwise the blackbirds may struggle.
November 17th – It felt a long way from Christmas on this sunny but chilly day, but I found something quite festive in Hortonwood: the holly and the ivy. The holly berries are bright red and plump, this year’s crop, and the holly leaves are so shiny and perfect the look at first glance like they might be made of plastic.
The ivy, creeping up the fence in front, is also rather beautiful.
An odd find on a gorgeous day.
November 15th – There seem to be some species of shrub and tree that are unique to commercial and trading estates, in that you only see them in the borders and copses there. These were in Tipton.
One such shrub is this one: laden with a huge quantity of bright red berries that the birds don’t seem to bother with much, I have no idea of it’s name.
Looks like another bumper crop this year, too.
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