June 1st – A grey day, largely but very humid. Storms were expected that never arrived, and the air of humid frustration was pervasive throughout the day.
Another blossom is out now, to add to the list – elderflower. So this weekend I shall be out with the sack, collecting some for a relative to make wine and cordial. Not too many though, as we need to remember the black-crimson fruit that will be used to make excellent wine in autumn.
A nice find on an unremarkable, draining day.
May 31st – A very poor photo with lousy focus, but another first for the season: My beloved beauties the orchids are coming into bloom.
They don’t last long, so keep an eye out on canal embankments, meadows and wetlands. We have a number of varieties, and these mall flowers are always tiny perfection.
The slug seemed to be enjoying them too – this example was on the bank of the new pond at Clayhanger.
May 30th – A sign of the advancing season is the collection of seeds for a little guerrilla planting. Clayhanger Common has large patches of cowslips like these going to seed – the seeds are not ready yet. But when the heads dry and turn golden, I’ll be out shaking a few into a back for the precious black seeds within, which I’ll then spread to other areas that might benefit from a bit of cowslip love.
That’s how most of these delightful yellow flowers got onto Clayhanger Common in the first place…
May 30th – So many new wild flowers every day. On a day that was wet, but whose rain I missed whilst in work, I noticed the clover along the Goscote Valley cycleway was looking beautiful in the wet grass.
If you actually study clover flowers, they are amazingly delicate and complex, yet so often overlooked.
A true staple of summer.
May 29th – Sam, the elderly king of Kings Hill is still out in his favourite patch of communal garden nearly everyday.
Following the rains of the day before, the grass was clearly still a bit damp, so this black and withe, toothless old lad was en repose on the garden wall, and watching me carefully.
But only with the one eye.
May 29th – The season is moving along so quickly now. All along the canals of Walsall the waterlilies are bursting into bloom. These large-leaved water plants spread from floating rhizomes in the spring, and have the most gorgeous yellow flowers that bugs seem to love.
There is a later strain that have white or pink, more ornate blooms. that won’t be far behind.
We never had this kind of beauty on the canals when I was a child. I still find it amazing.
May 25th – A dreadful commute, in both directions. It was the first rainy day for ages, so I can’t complain really by by heck it was wet. I got soaked in heavy rain in the morning, battling my way through standing water and on slippery roads; then on my return in fine, penetrating, all dampening drizzle.
The roses along the cycleway in Goscote looked beautiful on it though.
Hopefully a better day tomorrow.
May 24th – It was a great sunset, best for ages I think, but sadly, I was working late and barely caught it, except in the final throes as I rode home in the gathering dusk.
I’m getting too damn old for this working late malarkey.
May 24th – It’s not often you see a proud swan momma doing the Hokey Cokey to entertain her cygnets, but it’s a longstanding tradition, in my head.
This wonderful sight of the mother watching over young, sleepy hatchlings was at Stubbers Green, mid-morning, and an absolute joy to the heart.
This pic was taken from the road, and the nest’s proximity to the traffic is my only worry.
May 23rd – Sam, the elderly puss that puts the king in Kings Hill, Darlaston, has been enjoying the spring.
Clearly in his dotage, I rarely see Sam actually doing anything – but often dozing. I didn’t see him once during the winter, presumably he prefers the indoor warmth of his nearby home, but come the summer and he sleeps around the flats complex where he lives.
Every day I’ve passed for the last week, he’s been asleep in the dappled shade of a tree in the morning, and in the afternoon, enjoying the warmth of the sun-heated wall nearby in the evening cool.
Despite his age and total lack of teeth, he has a fine set of whiskers and a great sheen to his coat and I know that his human loves him very much.
Seeing this lad out and sleeping every spring really makes me happy.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 