Tag: canal

August 27th – As I travelled home along the canal, I listened to the rain singing on the water, and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Near the western side of the Watermead Estate, I came upon the swan family, still at a huge nine, still growing.

They were clearly feeling a bit chippy as momma swan took exception to my footwear and pecked at my feet continually, and the offspring seemed to be quite tetchy as well. 

These gorgeous, truculent birds remain beautiful, and their antics made the afternoon, really, as did the canalside life and noting that the Canal and River Trust cleanup crew – usually mostly volunteer staffed – had been out doing their thing.

Thanks, people.

August 22nd – I note a fair crop of acorns this year, and like last, I was caught by false memory with the knopper galls.

I tend to think these parasite-created growths happen earlier in the year than they actually do, and always assume we’re not going to see any when they’ve not appeared by late July. Since they’re caused by a wasp larva hatching in the acorn bud, they can’t occur earlier than the fruit, can they?

The tiny wasp that drills it’s egg in to the fruit bud earlier in the year – coated in a secretion that will corrupt the bud’s growth plan into these curious galls – is pretty unremarkable. But the distorted, knobbly knopper galls are glossy, leathery and fascinating.

Nature can be very weird sometimes.

August 20th – Something else I was pleased to note on my long, slow return was the portly, waddling form of Mrs. Muscovy, or the Newtown One, the duck that escaped from the flock at the smallholding by the canal between the Lichfield Road and Chase Road bridges. 

Defying all attempts to return her to the comfort and security of a kept flock, this steadfastly singular duck likes a spot just by the aqueduct at Newtown, from which to watch the world go by.

I had thought the local fox had made lunch of her, but she appears to be fit and well. Which is good news, really.

August 14th – A fast paced run-out to Middleton Hall, via Chasewater and Fazeley was very pleasant on a warm but overcast afternoon. Again, it was really about the curiosities; the cats by the canal in Brownhills, one alert and stately, the other clearly furious to be awoken from an afternoon nap. The wee dog at Middleton Hall that waited patiently for his owners to finish their tea. The remarkable scarecrow at Mile Oak. 

I had more energy today, and the wind had died. A great afternoon ride.

August 10th – So, continuing Susan Forster’s seven day wildlife challenge, no such series would be complete without the swans. Truculent, grumpy, aggressive and temperamental, we all love these large waterfowl. 

I spotted the Bentley Bridge family – still doing well with their single cygnet – at the disused basin in Pleck on my way to work. Just one at first, drifting in classic leg-up rest position, preening with intense concentration. 

Swan feet are fascinating – so leathery and hard-wearing. A triumph of natural engineering.

The other two members of the family were nearby. I notice junior is now, like the Watermead cygnets in Brownhills, developing white back feathers now, and all trace of juvenile grey fluff has gone.

Oh, how these birds enthral me.

August 9th – Bind weed is everywhere at this time of year. With the almost pure white flowers and large leaves, this climbing plant is prodigious and often regarded as a nuisance.

That’s a shame really, as it’s another one of those plants that if it was rarer, it would be cherished. It attracts and feeds lots of bugs and bees, and is particularly beautiful.

I was fascinated in the way the one flower had been so selectively nibbled.

August 9th – Reader Susan Forster has challenged me to take a photo of wildlife every day for seven days.

The opportunities for animals are limited, obviously, but I’ll give it a go and start with the humble urban sparrow, one of my favourite birds. Sociable, gregarious and actually quite lovely if you look closely, these overlooked birds are a large part of our landscape, yet barely acknowledged as they’re so common.

This group were fussing around the steps of Bentley Bridge, preening, pecking for bugs and generally hanging out.

August 8th – I still can’t get my head around the state of the trees currently blocking the new development’s view of Catshill Junction. This is a Walsall Housing Group project consisting of apartments, sold as ‘canalside’ dwellings – but as far as I can ascertain, most of the properties have no view of the canal itself due to the overgrown thicket in-between.

Such dense vegetation must also make those flats terribly dark. Unusually for Walsall Housing Group, they don’t seem to have any plan to deal with this and integrate their development into the immediate environment. I find this surprising and sad.

And still languishing unloved on the bank, the Catshill Junction Sculpture. 

What a mess.

August 8th – I felt it again today,  that Autumn feeling. Just on the canal at Clayhanger the leaves aren’t even turning and the feathered water lilies are still perfection itself, but the honeysuckle going over, the acorns swelling on the trees and hard quality of the air made me think more of a clear day in October than August.

Is it me, or is anyone else feeling an early Autumn coming on?