May 5th – This is always a nice first to chalk up for the year – the first duck and coot chicks have hatched. On the Walsall Canal at Pleck, proud mum and dad with large clutch of nine ducklings, and these three coots were spotted in Goscote, the rest of the family in overhanging bushes. I still think coot chicks have cute in shedloads.
Still no swan or Canada geese hatchlings yet.
May 3rd – The swans who’ve nested on the Walsall Canal at Bentley Bridge seem very house proud. The sitting partner today was busily removing debris and weaving new reeds into their huge nest, while their mate was finding suitable pieces from further afield to improve the construction.
I love how busy they are, and how they work in careful partnership. Magical.
May 2nd – After what seems like weeks of grey, cold weather it was wonderful to be out in the sun. I hit the quarry road behind the hall and rode down to Bodymoor Heath where hopped on the canal, and rode through Tamworth to Hopwas, returning through Hints, Weeford and Shenstone.
The greening trees this year are almost as colourful as autumn, and I’ve never before noticed the view of Hopwas Church from the Farm Bridge.
let’s hope the fine weather sticks around a bit.
May 1st – Born to be wild, still running free, the Newtown One.
The Muscovy Pimpernel still evades capture.
April 24th – At Chasewater, life halts briefly while the four white domestic ducks from just up the canal at Newtown perform a brief Beatles Abbey Road tribute.
My eyes were a bit damp to tell the truth…
April 23rd – I popped out late afternoon – it was very cold with a lazy, biting wind that instead of going around you, just went straight through. It was periodically sunny, but with remarkably dark, threatening skies. I headed for Chasewater and noted that the willows were coming into leaf – always a good sign – and that the valve from Chasewater had now been opened and the water level had started to drop. This seems to be coinciding with the reintroduction of cattle onto the spillway heath, so I guess the authorities want that area to dry out in readiness.
I interrupted a small drama as I crossed Catshill Junction on my way back to Brownhills – the puss clearly fancied a little duck for supper, but was clearly out of luck – but if looks could kill…
April 22nd – A rare break in the clouds saw the sun shine as I came up from the canal at Bentley Bridge on my way back from an errand at lunchtime. To left and right here, out of shot are massive scrapyards, yet running like a green vein through the centre, the canal; peaceful, tranquil, verdant.
I love the Black Country and this scene typifies the way it’s canals exist as magical green natural corridors through great sprawls of urban life.
Wonderful.
April 21st – One of the joys of spring: the electric blue of speedwell, which lights up hedgerows and towpaths and other hinterlands. These beautiful little flowers are putting on a good show this year by the canal near Bentley Mill Way Aqueduct in Walsall.
Beautiful to see.
April 18th – A devil of a day beset by difficulties at work. I rode off early in the morning into an unpleasant headwind with a bad stomach and the day didn’t improve much. I was distracted on the way home by a mechanical issue, and just took these photos of the new pond at Clayhanger, which is greening up beautifully at the moment, but is suffering a little for being a hanging-out place for local kids who are littering a little.
Hopefully in a few weeks the slopes around the pool will be alive with orchids again, as they were last year. Sadly, it’s a bit too wet down there at the moment to investigate.
Repairs carried out at home, I’m hoping for a better day tomorrow – it wouldn’t be hard to achieve.
April 17th – At Bishton, near Rugeley, on the Trent and Mersey Canal, someone has a very good excuse not to cut the lawn.
Imagine being able to look out of your window and see a swan nest only a few feet away!
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