January 8th – Still periodically bouncing the strange bike to test the forks, I took it up Catshill Bridge to try it over the drop on the way back down. When up there, I realised the low cloud was making for interesting colour in the night sky, so set the camera on the parapet and let it do it’s thing.
Not a bad picture, really. Streetlights have a lot to answer for…
December 4th – A bitterly cold day, but it was sunny and bright and I felt Cannock Chase calling me – so I wrapped up warm and went for it.
On the way, checking out the condition of the rosy earthstar fungus at Clayhanger Common, I passed this juvenile swan on the canal between the Pier Street and Catshill Junction bridges. This is very probably one of the large brood hatched here in the summer, which have mostly now migrated into the large flocks at Chasewater and Stubbers Green where they regularly get fed.
Still in juvenile plumage, this was a large, healthy bird, clearly used to admirers as it approached me eagerly chattering for food, yet drifted away when the realisation that I was empty handed dawned.
I’ve not seen many swans on the local canal recently, so this was a pleasant change…
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.
July 21st – It’s been a great week of commuting so far. Sunny and warm, without too much wind. I felt the sun on my face, and everything had that great summer air about it you only get in during really warm spells.
This evening, however, was different; it was ten degrees C cooler than on Monday, and the skies were grey. As I neared Brownhills, it began to spot with rain, and I raced home to avoid the thunderstorm we were surely due.
It never came, and neither did the rain.
It’s been a great few sunny days, and if the summer would like to return, I for one will make it very welcome indeed…
July 18th – I like this a lot. On Catshill Junction Bridge, just on the Walsall Wood side, there is a very healthy teasle plant growing from the brickwork.
It’s now tall, and in bloom. It looks fantastic, and slightly alien, as these plants always do.
A migrant from the wild sowing of nearby Clayhanger Common, we never would have seen these kind of plants here in my childhood. A wonderful, life-affirming thing.
July 18th – A pootle up the canal to Walsall Wood on an errand in a glorious golden hour. The hottest day of the year so far, the water bubbled as unseen creatures walled in the cool water, and grasshoppers, bees and birdsong filled the air.
An absolutely wonderful evening that shows that while people seem to think this area is ugly, it’s actually beautiful.
June 27th – Near Catshill Junction, I watched momma coot feeding her chicks – presumably the second set of the year. She was diving, then returning to the surface and feeding the little ones from her beak. It was fascinating.
The chicks still look as Phil Griffin so memorably put it, like ‘badly knitted moorhens’, but they are very cute all the same.
It’s also interesting to be reminded of how strange adult coot feet really are. Curious birds, coots.
May 21st – On my way back via Chasewater, I spotted the huge Canada goose family near Catshill Junction; remarkably, 12 of the 13 chicks survive, with mum and dad being a good bit more protective and aggressive than formerly – one suspects the loss and protectiveness are related.
The young are growing well though. Lovely to see.
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…
August 29th – A late rove around Brownhills and I just missed the sunset, and there are sadly few decent places to catch it in the town without going to Chasewater. I got as far as the Chase Road Bridge, then realised I wasn’t going to make it and looped back to Brownhills.
It was a gorgeous evening with great skies, and considering how windy the day had been, it was very still.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 