July 9th – A bumper day for photos, although the weather was still wolfish and punitively gusty. At the north heath at Chasewater, the deer were browsing. Just the pair at first, then another six joined them to peer inquisitively at me. Now in their summer coats, they’ve lost the scruffiness of the moult and look healthy and well.
Still can’t believe these wonderful animals live on our doorsteps.
July 9th – Also being reclaimed by nature and teeming with flowers is the Victorian brick lined spillway at Chasewater, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. The flowers and plants – including heathers, mustards, spotted orchids and others – are gradually overcoming the masonry and are beautiful. But this is also industrial history.
Should it be cleared, even though it’s unused, to preserve it? Or just left to decay, beautifully? I can’t decide.
July 8th – At the old Anglesey Wharf, near Chasewater, the wildflowers are currently gorgeous – feral poppies, cornflower and wild sweet peas bring welcome reds and purples to a riot of colours.
Those sweat peas grow every year around the former coal chute. That sole reclamation of industry and pollution by something so beautiful always makes me happy.
July 2nd – A ride out to Brockton, Milford and Tixall marred by mechanical problems, a headwind and tiredness, but a good trip all the same. Tixall is as beautifully incongruous as I remember, and the Chase was as gorgeous.
The waterfowl of Chasewater were also on good form as I passed through. I’m wondering just how much the swan numbers can increase to – gorgeous birds, but so many of them now. Interesting to watch.
June 25th – Swans are inscrutable, they really are. On the Nine-Foot Pool at Chasewater, with the level still just about overflowing, a pair of birds sleep on the concrete spillway weir, seemingly oblivious to the natural plant detritus around them.
To me, the spot they doze in looks uncomfortable, chilly and precarious, but to them, it’s clearly just the right place to get some shut-eye.
Occasionally, I realise how much I don’t know about wildlife.
June 25th – Out late after a busy day working at home. It was a pleasant evening as I spun up to Chasewater along the canal from Ogley Junction.
I must say, that view of Hammerwich over the Warrenhouse still stuns me after all these years – and with the grass high in the meadow like a gently rippling sea, it’s even more beautiful.
Another lovely thing (though perhaps not if you grow veg!) is the burgeoning rabbit population along the canal and around Chasewater Dam. As you ride on a quiet afternoon, bunnies scuttle for cover from the towpath, nearby scrubs and gardens. They look healthy, and seem to be doing well, which is good news after myxomatosis wiped out the warren at the Chase Road Bridge a few years ago.
A nice afternoon’s bimble.
May 28th – I returned from Burntwood via Chasewater at sunset.
It was peaceful, and remarkably, I had the dam to myself. The dam, and the magic.
It’s been ages since I caught a decent Chasewater sunset. Pleased with this.
May 28th – A recovery day. I didn’t do much, but had to be at a function in Burntwood in the afternoon, so I pottered there in the sunshine of a breezy afternoon along the canal and via Chasewater. I’ll never tire of the stretch between Anchor Bridge and Chasewater; so varied in such a short run; urban gardens, rolling countryside. Green fields, open heath and factory yards. It’s all here, and all rather splendid.
My Horse Chestnut tree at Home Farm – my favourite, and my overseer of the year – is currently in glorious flower, like most conker trees. At the Chasewater Cottages, young rabbits regarded me watchfully from the buttercup-strewn lawn. And in a waterside garden, I loved momma and children scarecrows.
I’ll never love a stretch of canal more than this.
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…
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