June 4th – A sunny day, warm with little wind and the first shirtsleeve commute of the year. I took the slow way back to Brownhills along the canals and enjoyed every minute. The meadows, towpaths and hedgerows look wonderful right now and summer is waiting in the wings.
Bring it on.
June 3rd – I found myself riding home through Walsall Wood and on through Brownhills in a gorgeous golden hour. The coos of Jockey Meadows were waiting at the gate, and keen to investigate me as I stopped to take their picture.
On the canal, the greens are still magnificent, and something about the light and water interacted and made the evening precious.
June 1st – It may have been the first day of the meteorological summer, but it was cold, wet and blustery. Again.
Cheering me up in the gloom, though: Clayhanger’s latest family: seven Canada goose goslings, clearly very recently hatched. When I spotted them, they were scrambling to hop out of the overflow they’d been paddling in.
Mum and dad were very attentive and impressive parents, it has to be said.
May 29th – A quick run through Walsall Wood on the cut on a wet morning rewarded me with all kinds of life in the dripping wet green. The swan family from the Watermead were near Clayhanger Bridge and had obviously gone past their nap-time. Shame about the litter, sadly left where people were fishing the day before.
If people bring stuff with them, is it really so hard to take it back home?
The Canada Geese goslings are also growing well, and were closer to The Black Cock bridge – but in-between, a stripy fellow was being nonchalant and pretending he’d not seen me.
Life teams this time of year, rain or shine.
May 28th – At Clayhanger, the Mallard family that numbered four on Sunday is down to three; probably picked off by a heron or raptor (or perhaps even a fox), it’s sad to see but natural, I guess. Mum may go on to have another clutch this year, and this is the way of things I guess. But I do hope the missing one didn’t suffer too much.
Meanwhile, just near Clayhanger Bridge, a single Canada goose mum and one gosling. I think there must be a story there too; she looked like she was protecting her fluffy charge with grim determination.
Nature can be so brutal sometimes.
May 27th – He was there again, the cat I notice a lot in the waterside gardens at the back of Barrow Close. Black and white, not very old, he spends hours watching the water.
I wonder what he sees, and how he regards the far side of the water he’ll only ever reach when the canal freezes in winter? It must be like a forbidden paradise to him.
He’s a lovely lad.
May 27th – I guess a lost balloon is a reflection on the sadness of things, and that woeful feeling of loss a child develops when something is gone for good.
But it’s also a symbol of pollution.
I see lots of balloons as I ride around – town or country trapped in hedges, trees, verges, fields and scrub – and also in the canal. Eventually, it will deflate, and lurk, another piece of plastic detritus waiting to choke the wildlife and add to the building polymer poison time bomb.
I know it’s not a popular view but I wish these things we rarer.
May 24th – The wildflowers and blossom are wonderful this year. On my way to Aldridge along the canal, I saw lots of hawthorn, cow parsley and my first flag iris of the year. I think the pink and violet ones are columbine or granny’s bonnet. The lupins are also superb.
Here goes the yearly uncertainty over flower identification. Ah well, down the hatch.
May 24th – The Watermead swan family in Brownhills are doing just fine, after the loss of a single cygnet soon after hatching. The remaining six are looking healthy and growing well when I saw them in the evening. Mum and dad are clearly protective, but aren’t shy to show off their charges, either!
Meanwhile, on the canal towards Aldridge, a small but perfectly formed mallard mum with four cute little ducklings.
A joy to see all these young birds at the moment.
May 21st – Laburnum, or golden chain is one of the most beautiful blossoms of the British spring. Vivid yellow green, hanging in strings like some fluorescent downpour, it used to be a lot more prolific than it is today.
There used to be loads of this tree growing in parks, gardens and public spaces – but it hides a deadly secret.
The seeds of this beautiful tree are deadly toxic, and after several accidental child poisoning incidents in the 80s, many of the trees were cut down for reasons of public safety.
Fortunately, some remain, like this example on the canal between the towpath and the cemetery at Bentley Bridge in Walsall.
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