August 16th – I know I keep banging on about this, but I’ve never seen such a fine and large crop of bramble fruits as this year. Here, on the farm track beside the canal at Tamhorn, near Hopwas, the fruit was heavy on the bushes, and smelled divine.
My Grandfather used to say that bountiful crops indicated a harsh winter to come. I’m not so sure of that, but the birds and squirrels will have a ball.
August 12th – The dewberries are always earlier than the blackberries, but many folk don’t know there’s a difference. Dewberies are hairier, and consist of fewer, larger globes than their sweeter, finer counterparts. It seems to have been a good year for the bramble fruits this year, and hedgerows are spattered red and black with ripening fruits. A positive bounty for birds, squirrels and pie-makers alike.
July 31st – The promised rains came, but during my commutes, they were patchy and drizzly. It was an odd day; I lost something in the morning, and found it in the afternoon on the station platform, still where I dropped it. I sweated in waterproofs. I saw the aftermath of quite a serious road accident. Sometimes, you’re glad to get home in one piece.
The rain was nice; refreshing, warm, not driven by the wind, just gentle, cleansing. I caught the waterlogged backlanes of Stonnall, and looked for the raindrops on willow herb and brambles.
Not all rain is bad.
July 16th – After a brief, two-day respite the rains returned. It was whilst sheltering at Shenstone Station, waiting for the worst of the rain to die down, that I noted this bramble growing through a small aperture in the back of the shelter. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Tenacity, brambles have it…
June 23rd – I braved a very windswept Brownhills Common today, and tore around it. It’s ages since I’ve been up there, and it was fun to throw the bike around the muddy tracks. The plant life is gorgeous there at the moment. So many species, just begging for your attention. This remarkably complex flower is a common bramble. I’m not sure if this is blackberry, or dewberry, and won’t be until it fruits. Brambles like this are incredibly important, as many types of butterfly and moth feed from them. So beautiful, so often overlooked.
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