Tag: climate

October 5th – A headache-grey, overcast and unpleasant day that was as grim and hard to face as the weather on the commute. Work is challenging at the moment and leaving me incredibly tired, day after day.

I’ve never known a summer end so abruptly and just dive headlong into a grim, grey, lifeless autumn like this – yes, the fungi is plentiful and the trees beautiful; but day after day the grey, sunshineless gloom is hard work.

I need a holiday. Returning home via a gloomy Catshill Junction, I was, for once fed up of the view.

May 23rd – I’m glad to say the sun and warm weather over the last few days has rejuvenated a blossom I thought had died this year with barely a whimper; laburnum or golden chain began flowering weeks ago, but petered out, I assume due to the climate.

Today, it was bright, lush and clear, and one can see why it was planted so much in the postwar years – a truly beautiful blossom. Sadly, the seed pods are very, very toxic and after several child poisonings by ingestion, many of these beautiful trees were cut down for public safety.

Those that remain though – especially examples like this one planted to contrast with neighbouring species at Shelfied – are very, very beautiful.

October 10th – Another abundant crop is the sweet chestnuts on the tree at the bottom of Main Street, Stonnall, which are now ripe and falling to the ground. This is always a productive tree, and the soft, downy insides of the husks contrast with the intensely spiky, hostile exterior, but it does look oh so cosy to be a sweet chestnut. 

As usual, the nuts are not big enough to eat, as the fruit doesn’t grow well in the British climate, but the tree is stunning and an interesting, handsome curiosity.

September 9th – Found in Kings Hill Park in Darlaston, a sign of the oncoming autumn. Glistening ink caps, shooting up after a night’s rain; tiny spores waiting in the ground until exactly the right combination of light, temperature and moisture. Then – ping! – instant toadstool forest.

Isn’t fungus incredible?

February 6th – It’s been chilly now for a couple of weeks, and I now have my winter cycling skin on, and barely feel the cold. It gets you like that in the end; you become tempered, inured, used to the climate; so much so that you feel it when it warms up that much more acutely. I love being in this position. It means when spring comes, it’s even more joyous.

At Green Lane on another cold, icy commute, I was wrapped up and felt warm, and the barren beauty of the season really struck me.

I’d like spring to hurry up, of course: but I can live with this, for now.

June 17th – Birdsfoot trefoil is one of the great flowers of summer for me. Often called deer vetch or eggs and bacon, it grows in sandy soils in rough grass and heathland. This example, at Anglesey Basin, near Chasewater, is in fine health. This is one of the yellow blooms that dapples verges and meadows this time of year, along with ragworts and buttercups. It’s normally a mixture of yellow and crimson blooms, but there doesn’t seem to be much of the crimson component this year. I’m wondering if there’s a climatic effect evident there…