August 24th – Fruits of all kinds from berries, to nuts to pears. All in a short section of canal from Clayhanger to Brownhills on a dull, airless journey home. Nature is bountiful at the moment, and I was pleased to find the untouched windfall hazels, as here don’t seem to be many around this year. I note also the pears did quite well at Clayhanger, and the blackberries are delivering a huge crop this year.
It’s feeling a lot like autumn now.
August 21st – It was a grey, damp Friday afternoon, and it felt more like October than August, and after a few grey, wet days I noticed the little meadow near the new pond at Clayhanger had lost all of it’s summer colour suddenly, like switching off a light.
All was not lost, though, as there are still wildflowers nearby – toadflax and honeysuckle are still showing well, and damsons and apples are adding autumn colour. Even a confused lupin was bright in the gloom.
Autumn can wait just a little while, can’t it?
August 14th – I’m told these cherry-like fruits, growing on the trees on the Clayhanger side of the pedestrian bridge at Silver Street, Brownhills, are wild plums. They are most fascinating, and ripening in abundance.
I wouldn’t eat them, considering the history of the land they’re groin on, but the are a curiosity. Wonder how they got here?
August 12th – The photography was better, but I wasn’t.
Still pretty rough, and not really any better, I got out a little earlier and bumbled off to Chasewater to catch the sunset. Getting used to a new camera can be odd and the Nikon seems to have interesting habits; it doesn’t seem to do sunsets quite the same as the Panasonic, which tended to redden them, where as this one tends to pull out the pink aspect more. It worked better than I thought it had from the picture preview.
From there, I scooted back to Brownhills as it got dark. Some shots from Clayhanger’s railway bridge using a gorillapod allowed me to experiment and found that aperture priority allowed me to get the hash, sharp light pattern I like. That was a real discovery.
I was a lovely evening, and although I felt dreadful, I’d learned something, so it wasn’t a bad trip, really.
And then there were the toads…
July 26th – In heavy rain, a flotilla of swans. not far from the place I last saw them, cruising for all the world like it was a bright, sunny day.
I don’t suppose they care about the rain.
They had somewhere to be, and were travelling with purpose. But despite the horrid, grey weather, they just sailed on like it didn’t matter – because to them, it clearly doesn’t.
I should be more like the swans. Rainy days like this pull me down. But soon the sun will shine, and the world will seem brighter once more.
July 26th – The latest addition to the local architectural scene is a set of steps built by the Canal & River Trust down off the canal towpath at Clayhanger, to the foot of the embankment.
The steps are well made, have a sturdy handrail, are ballast filled and are well levelled, painted and a really, really nice job.
If only we saw such attention to detail when urgent repairs were required.
The steps have only been built to allow surveyors access to the toe of the embankment, because scrambling down a bank is clearly too much for them.
This is funny in one way, but also opens up an area to kids and the nosey that was previously well hidden and a haven for wildlife wanting peace and quiet.
You couldn’t make it up.
July 25th – There was something of the night about the long-haired but diminutive cat on the far side of the canal near Clayhanger Bridge.
Those piercing eyes and quick wits; there was a hunt on and I’d disturbed it. But what an absolutely beautiful puss.
Someone loves that wee black cat and brushes it loads to keep it so beautiful.
July 23rd – It may be high summer, but the wildflowers see no sign of abating, just the usual shift to darker colours as summer wends on. I love the rotund, spiny perfection of thistles, and the loose strife by the canalside at the Black Cock bridge is a new addition; but a welcome return of common toadflax is always a joy, even on the dullest days.
July 21st – On Clayhanger Common, near the Pier Street Bridge, a powder blue, ball-shaped wildflower I believe to be field scabious. It’s growing very densely in a small patch and is rather beautiful.
Scabious derives the somewhat odd name from scabies, the disease the plant was believed to treat, as well as plague sores and other itchy conditions – scabies itself coming from the Latin ‘Scabere’ – to scratch.
I’ve not seen this here before, and it’s a welcome addition.
July 13th – I haven’t seen these guys for a while , and my goodness, they’ve grown! These are the Watermead swan family from Brownhills, and they came over to see if I had any food as I passed Clayhanger Bridge.
I was glad to see they still number five, and interesting to see the very beginnings of adult plumage forming on the growing cygnets.
Here’s to another successful year!
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