August 31st – Here’s another one I can’t identify. I noticed it today growing up along the palisade fencing along the canal access steps of Walsall Wood High Street: some kind of creeper, the leaves are almost ivy-like, yet this isn’t evergreen or leathery in appearance. The single red berries are rather odd. Can’t ever recall seeing anything like this before.
August 31st – I know bugger all about Lepidoptera. That’s not to say that caterpillars, butterflies and moths don’t fascinate me, because they do, but I never found time to read much about them. They’re very curious things. Take this fellow, for instance. 30mm long, clearly a Wolves fan, I spotted him whilst travelling at some speed down a canal towpath in Aldridge. I pulled the bike to a halt, and went back to examinee what I thought I saw crawling along a himalayan balsam stalk. How does that even work? I spotted him really easily, presumably so can his predators. How does that work on an evolutionary level? He’s certainly striking, hairy and caprivating. Anyone recognise what it is?
Edit: he appears to be a future cinnabar moth. Wonderful, black and red moths… and also rather late, it seems.
August 30th – An odd day. I only had one thing to do – go and meet someone in Tyseley, Birmingham. I set off for the 9:20 train from Shenstone, but a fallen tree at Erdington stopped all services. So my easy day turned into a cycle your of Birmingham. I raced into the city through Sutton, Wylde Green and Erdington, hopped on the canal under Spaghetti Junction, pausing only to photograph the oddest, most scary scaffold tower setup I’d ever seen (Yes, that is on a raft, held on with a ratchet strap, no, I don’t know why either). I continued to Tyseley through the city centre on the canal, passing Camp Hill and the most unpleasantly surfaced canal footbridges I’ve ever experienced. On the way back, I called in at stops in Greets Green and Darlaston. I was knackered, frankly…
August 29th – In complete contrast to the day before, I travelled to Darlaston in a rainstorm. Wet and miserable, I slid through the streets of Walsall. Fed up of the traffic, at Bridgman Street, I dropped onto the canal towpath for peace and quiet. Near Bentley Bridge, I suddenly noticed these flowers growing in the reed-beds at the side of the water. They instantly cheered me up. I have no idea (as usual!) what they are, but their dainty blooms were just the tonic on a damp and chilly journey to work.
August 27th – Still, there’s always nature to surprise you. This carpet of fringed water lilies has suddenly materialised near the canal aqueduct at Newtown, Brownhills. I’ve not seen this type of lily growing here before, and wonder if it’s a domestic escapee. Whatever the provenance, these flowers were delightful even in the rain, and they did lift my grim mood.
August 25th – Common toadflax is a late-flowering joy. Attractor of bees, it’s a relative of the foxglove, whose yellow flowers remind you a little of the snapdragon. They’re growing along the towpaths of much of the canal aroundabouts, and this clump was near the Pier Street bridge pool on Clayhanger common.
The tall, slender neck of the flower is loaded with nectar that bees love, but is often counterproductive as frequently bees bite through the neck of the bloom and drink the goodness without pollinating the plant.
19th August – I again sneaked out in the early evening. I’d been working all weekend, and was aching for a bit of freedom. I spun up the canal in a lovely golden hour, and I noted the hedgerows and greenery that’s just exploded with growth since the warm weather came. Ferns, hawthorn and nettles are staging a battle to reclaim the towpath along the stretch from Anchor Bridge to Ogley Junction. It’s beautifuly green, lush and verdant.
Later, at Chasewater, I noted how the birds were returning to their old haunts on the main lake – The jetty from the waterski club is now serving as an impromptu gull roost.
A gorgeous evening.
August 12th – rounding the bend in the canal opposite Brownhills Canoe Centre, I noticed some debris on the towpath under the hazel thicket that’s grown so well there in recent years. Taking a closer look, I realised that the detritus was partially eaten hazel, or cob nuts, stripped by hungry squirrels. These are a fine, nutritious snack for our furry pals, and birds and foxes will Hoover up the remainder. I always wondered why I’d never seen these bushes fruit…
August 12th – Computer bother kept me busy all day. I’m a mac user,and one of the really great things about Apple macs is that they don’t often let you down, but when they do, it’s a major pain. I spent the day recovering from backups and generally being stressed. At sunset, I ventured out for a ride to let off steam. I took a look around Clayhanger Common and the pond at Clayhanger in a gorgeous, misty golden hour. There was a partial temperature inversion, and a peculiarly concentrated mist hung over the meadow near the old railway embankment. A very ethereal evening indeed.
August 11th – An afternoon recovery ride around Chasewater and Lichfield to keep my legs moving. At the canal by Catshill, there appears to be a film on the water. It always concerns me when I see this, as folk tend to think it’s pollution: it is, and it isn’t. It’s perfectly natural, and not man-made. The film is fibrous seed matter from thistles, willowherbs and other wind-seeding plants.
An odd phenomena that soon passes.
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