Tag: Bullings Heath

February 13th – It had been, by any measure, a dreadful day. Work had been a nightmare, the journey home more so. It appeared to be ‘drive like a maniac day’ too, and yet again, I’d not seen the memo. As I came through Bullings Heath on the edge of Walsall Wood, the lights of the Black Cock were like a welcoming beacon. The urge to pull up, lock the bike and have a pint was massive, and compelling. But I was hungry, and needed to eat and unwind at home.

I did the right thing. I took a photo, got back on my bike and rode on. Sometimes, you need to be amongst those you know and love.

November 9th – A strange day. I was at work very, very early and spent the day tired, misplaced and spare. I wrote a little, did some bike mechanics, slept an hour or so. When I emerged, it was after dark and I had a desperate run to Walsall Wood on an errand I left way too late. On the way back, I experimented with the evening townscape. From Hollander’s Bridge, the road that no longer bears the same name looked almost dreamlike, and somnambulant. Binary Wharf, nearby, looked impressive in the street light. Even Bullings Heath, once tiny hamlet but now extension of Walsall Wood seemed villagey again.

What is it about night, the urban landscape and this atmosphere that I love so much? It’s almost addictive to me.

October 18th – Autumn colour abounds along the canal banks, hedgerows and open spaces. The leaves are really falling now, the nights are drawing in and we won’t see a post-6pm sunset for a few months. Amongst the crimsons, golds and yellows of the season, a lone honeysuckle flower, defiantly awaiting the first frost. 

It’s been a great summer, and like the Bullings Heath honeysuckle, I can’t quite accept it’s now passed.

July 2nd – Today, summer faded to grey and the rain returned. I cycled home in steady rain, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Coming down Green Lane, Walsall Wood, I noticed what had been a lush field of beans last year had been left fallow this year. There is is immense pile of manure at one end of the field, and wonder if the growing of legumes and subsequent fallow period are part of a natural ground management system.

No such concern in the water meadow the other side of the road; untroubled by livestock other than deer, the grass there is lush, colourful and a couple of feet high now. It’s absolutely beautiful.

June 19th – It’s honeysuckle time again. On the southwestern flank of the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood, a large scrub of the delightful climber rambles and spreads its velvet red love to passers by. In a few days, this will be alive with bees and insects, and smell divine. It’s actually huge, too, quite the largest, healthiest patch of the plant I’ve ever witnessed. 

If you can, do go check it out. It’s stunning.

June 19th – Jockey Meadows and Bullings Heath, Walsall Wood, are beautiful right now. The water meadows are yellow – not with oilseed rape or dandelions, but millions of buttercups, clearly responding to some favourable condition they found in the dreadful spring. But what reward! Rabbits, hares, deer, all manner of birds and plants vie for attention in this gorgeous landscape, narrowly sandwiched in-between areas of huge urbanisation and industry.

I love this place, this area, my town. This, right here, is why.

June 10th – A day of pottering around on errands and short journeys, during which I spotted these lovely huge poppies growing in the hedgerow in Hall Lane, Walsall Wood. They look too large to be native, and think they must be garden escapees. But whatever their origin, they’re very, very beautiful. A joy to the heart.

March 6th – The guard rails on the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood have been missing awhile. The bridge itself is ageing badly, perilously steep and in poor condition. Following a temporary bodge – cable tying mesh over the missing rails which kept snapping off – locals complained and now, next Tuesday, 12th March 2013, the road will be closed while they are properly repaired. That in itself will be no mean feat, as the supports of heavy angle iron have rusted to dust.

It’s good to see repairs being made, but I can’t help thinking this particular canal crossing can’t be far from the end of it’s useful life.  The problem is, it would be so difficult to engineer a solution complying with modern standards, that I can’t ever see it being sorted, to be honest.