Tag: commute

#365daysofbiking Spot on:

October 1st – Not seeing may fly agaric this year yet, which makes me wonder if it’s a bad season for them.

The classic red and white spotted toadstool is a real patch of brightness in the autumn, and is much loved and the subject of a huge amount of folklore.

Heading out to Chasetown before work to drop something off, I saw these in the usual spot before Wharf Lane Bridge in Brownhills, just on the heather sandy embankment by the towpath.

I love to see these fascinating fungi.

#365daysofbiking Pink light:

September 27th – Coming home in the almost dark again, the light over Clayhanger Bridge and the canal was very pink, and very beautiful.

It’s a constant source of amazement to me that the onset of the night can be so damned beautiful.

#365daysofbiking Going it alone:

September 27th – On the canal near Walsall town centre, I was accosted, as one often is, but loud, bullying, aggressive beggars, of the kind that inhabit most urban canals.

In this case, it was a pair of cygnets. On their own without mum and dad, they were enjoying the sun and harassing any passing human for food. When I declined for the seemingly perfectly valid reason that I had none to offer, they swam off, complaining noisily.

Nice to see them in rude health and taking after their parents.

#365daysofbiking Bugging me:

September 26th – The unexpectedly fine, warm weather has been bringing out some great examples of bugs looking for a last yahoo or somewhere to hibernate until spring. 

On my way to work, this lovely shield bug decided to drop in and say hi.

What a great little creature it is!

#365daysofbiking The dying of the light:

September 25th – Darkness has begun to impinge on my evening commute. Often finding I need lights nearing home, the golden hour is quickly shifting back towards 5pm. Soon the clocks will dog back, and the darkness will again be upon me. I hate that.

The harvest moon this year has been wonderful, though, so actually coming home in the dark had a reward – particularly with the thin cloud haunting the view.

Winter is coming.

#365daysofbiking Sweet thing:

September 25th – Again returning through Stonnall, I stopped to take a look are the venerable, reliably productive sweet chestnut that is always so beautiful on the corner of Main Street.

Always laden with nuts in their prickly, fur lined husks the tree is healthy and always fruits well; but sadly the climate in the UK isn’t favourable for producing sweet chestnuts, so the kernels are always small and thin.

They’re still beautiful, though.

#365daysofbiking Squaring the circle:

September 24th – Returning via Shenstone from an afternoon trip into Birmingham, I noted that the recent days, having been sunny and comparatively warm, were bringing out the joy of Autumn, and I was feeling more positive.

At Footherley Lane the old bridge was beautiful as the sun went down.

Soon these trees will be golden, then bare once more, but it’;s all part of the circle and the circle must be round.

And as long as there will be some fair weather, I think I’ll survive.

#365daysofbiking How do you like those apples?

September 24th – Interesting to see this year the large crop of healthy, plump fruit, which has turned my understanding on its head: I always thought that in hot, dry summers fruit harvests suffered.

This autumn, the hedgerows, commons and woods are populated by trees laden with fruit – from hazelnuts to apples, beech nuts to pears, it’s been a fine harvest.

These apples growing by the canal at Darlaston actually look delicious, but sadly, well out of passing reach…

#365daysofbiking Duck tales:

September 21st – The humble mallard duck doesn’t get much love, but I’ve always held that, like magpies, if you study them in any more than the most cursory fashion, they’re absolutely beautiful. The iridescent, shimmering greens of the males are lovely enough, but also the females are very much more than drab brown; if you study them, they have the most gorgeous blue and white flashes on their wings.

But better than appearance is their personality and social behaviour – here on the overflow in Brownhills near Silver Street, the ducks were in parliament doing what ducks do – sat in running water, dozing, chattering and generally being the best ducks they can ever be.

Such contented creatures.

#365daysofbiking Ample shroom:

September 21st – The fungi are appearing thick and fast now, with the damper, cooler weather as is normal for autumn. Spotted near Clayhanger when homeward bound, this shaggy ink cap was a decent, large specimen and had there been more than one, might have been decent eating.

Used to see loads of these when I was a kid, but in recent years they appear to be rarer, which is a shame. They’re nice lightly fried.