August 22nd – Despite the cooler weather and repeated inexplicable attacks by a hedge cutter, the honeysuckle at the southern flank of the Black Cock Bridge embankment continues to flower, fruit and thrive.
Every time I pass this beautifully scented shrub it makes me happy.
June 8th – On a brighter note, the honeysuckle is in flower again – and it smells beautiful. It may be me, but it seems very early this year. I’m noticing it in hedgerows, embankments and scrubs – and it’s divine.
A real sign of summer.
May 31st – A bright spot in an atrocious, wet commute home was spotting that the coos have returned to Jockey Meadow in Walsall Wood – and by the look of the lush meadow there, they have their work cut out.
Not that it seems hard work, browsing the bog for the juiciest grasses and shoots, and generally looking handsome.
I love these guys. So nosey, so proud. Good to have my friends back.
April 8th – Coming through Jockey Meadows in Walsall Wood after a long, hard day at work, I realised that things here were just starting to green up for the new season. Often, this is the last place locally to shake of the drab shades of winter, but this year it seems a little quicker.
This unusual site of special scientific interest that stops Walsall Wood, Pelsall and Shelfield forming one huge sprawl is an odd hinterland, but I do love it so.
Wonder if the coos will be back this year?
December 4th – A better day, at last. It was a bright, warm morning with blue sky, sunlight and a lovely golden winter atmosphere. I sped past Jockey Meadows, then did a double-take, stopped, and got out the camera.
After the weather of the last week or so, a real tonic.
November 24th – Working very late, I returned sapped of mental energy. I got as far as the Black Cock Bridge before realising I’d not taken any photos. So, as an excuse to have a breather probably more than anything, I quickly took this.
It was indeed, a bright moonlit night. But the source of the curious light was a car on the far side of this precarious bridge.
I was glad to be homeward bound.
November 18th – A tough journey to work in a gusty headwind the morning after severe gales blew through. My earlier than usual return home, however was again assisted, so much so that I forgot I had to call in to pick something up in Aldridge. As I trundled up a very wet canal towpath on my errand, it was a very atmospheric sunset. That horse weathervane at Bullings Heath fascinates me.
Also interesting – and now becoming visible due to the leaf-fall – are the industrial yards and excavations near the canal at Stubbers Green, including the brickworks. I still find the scent of firing bricks peculiar.
Getting used to a new camera, too. Quite impressed with this one. Let’s hope the weather settles for a bit now.
September 30th – Sadly, my morning photos came out terrible today, so just the couple. But they show something lovely – I’m assuming this bright climbing plant growing on the hedgerow near the Black Cock Bridge is Virginia Creeper. Unassuming most of the year, in the last couple of weeks it’s come alive; and in these gorgeous Indian summer golden hours it glows in the evening cool.
The whole place looked splendid as I passed. It’s gorgeous.
September 9th – Great sunsets right now, but rarely in a position to catch them. Cresting the Black Cock Bridge in a glorious golden hour, I couldn’t help but notice how wonderful the sky was.
Autumn is really on my heels now.
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