Tag: Chesterfield

February 25th – There’s cold weather coming in, and on this splendid day, there was a razor-sharp edge to the harsh east wind that made the journey to the cake stop at Hints hard work, made worse by the fact they mithered about serving me 40 minutes before closing time. 

Customers are such a pain in the arse.

The cake and day however, were beautiful, as was the countryside. I saw my first full size daffodils of the year on the old A5 at Hints, and lots of plants are clearly waiting for the warmth to come and spring will be on her throne.

February 18th – One of the stranger legacies of the M6 Toll motorway coming through the area has been the drainage and pollution control lagoons that dot the countryside at intervals along it’s route. 

I think the idea is that surface drainage from the road is taken into these pools which can be isolated during instances of pollution, like diesel spills. The lagoons themselves seem to overtop into local drainage, so they also provide a sediment settling function.

The one on Bullmoor Lane has matured well, and is, in summer, alive with wildlife. Secluded and rarely visited, it’s a little enclave of peace and tranquility. Only the sign by the roadside gives you any hint of what’s there.

February 18th – In what turned out to be an abortive, doomed ride due to technical and other issues, I was further dismayed to come upon this asbestos water tank, dumped in a lay-by on the bend of Bullmoor Lane near Chesterfield. 

As structural asbestos this is a health hazard and will require specialist removal and handling, unlike the monkeys who dumped it here.

If you’ve recently had a water tank like this removed, the people who did it may be flytippers with no respect for others. I hope their plumbing is of a higher standard than their waste practices.

I did report this online immediately.

July 8th – A bit of a recovery ride I suppose took me out and around Lichfield late in the day. Noted hazelnuts in profusion near Darwin Park, but what really stole the day was the sunset. From the cobwebs eerily lit on the gorse to the sundog that shone to the south of the sun, it rendered everything it touched utterly beautiful, none less so that the oceans of ripening barley.

What a beautiful end to the day.

June 16th – This poor, out of focus photo shows something I was very surprised and quite lucky to find – a lapwing chick.

There were two of these long-leeged wee birds in the middle of Bullmoor Lane, and my approach scattered them into the margins of the road. The shrieking above alerted me to the presence of the parents, and after a quick phot, I left well alone.

These curious, ground-nesting birds will be fine and it’s hard to believe these lanky, spotty wee balls of fluff grow into the elegant, wheeling aerial acrobats that their parents are.

A treat on a warm summer afternoon.

June 16th – Summer is finally on her throne, and how glorious her reign. I slipped out after work on a circuit of the backlanes of Shenstone, and took in all the overcast but warm day offered. The hedgerows and fields are green, flowers are out (including the curious ones I found at Summerhill I can’t identify) and the view of Wall Church from Hiton was gorgeous.

Even the Victorian and decidedly austere pumping station at Shenstone looked incredible surrounded by lush pasture.

This is the time I love.

November 19th – Riding to Lichfield on a grey afternoon to get a little shopping in and get some fresh air. I went through the backlanes of Hilton, Wall Butts and Chesterfield, and was cheered here as I was elsewhere earlier in the week by the still wonderful autumnal colours.

I’m finding the darkness a little tough this year, but rides like this, although mostly dull and grey, the brightness I do find helps immensely.

Spring can’t come soon enough – yet it’s barely winter. Oh dear.

June 17th – I came through Chesterfield near Stonnall in the afternoon and the skies were very threatening, yet failed to deliver their apparently evil intent.

Equally menacing was the murder of crows, calling and chattering from the overhead lines. It was very Hitchcock.

I hurried home before the storm arrived… be it inclement weather or angry corvids.

April 3rd – The curious textures and contour-following lines of a ploughed and planted potato field seen today near Shenstone. The almost Moire-like visual disturbance this causes is fascinating, and really shows the undulations in any landscape.

Particularly impressive was the single cock pheasant clearly feeling a bit superior in the centre. Not the brightest birds but certainly very beautiful.

September 5th – Ah, Autumn. Or is it? I guess we’re on the cusp, really. It’s cold; it was very chilly out today, and the hedgerows and copses of Hammerwich, Wall and Stonnall were full of large, juicy blackberries and other fruits. The elderberries and sloes are blackening up. There’s hints of brown and yellow in the leaves. The light is soft.

In a spot I know in the backlanes, apples hang off the branches of wild trees. Pippins and russets have done well this year – sweet and crunchy, when I took a look, they were falling to the ground and being eaten by wasps.

Good to see them.