April 23rd – Spotted on the canal near Bentley Bridge, what I though was beech leaves in emerald perfection are actually hornbeam I believe (Thanks to reader John for the tipoff).
Either way, their fresh-sprouted perfection is immaculate and beautiful.
April 22nd – One of the loveliest things about this time of year is falling petals from trees in blossom.
Like nature’s own confetti, it celebrates the coming of warm days, sunshine and light.
To see this delicate beauty, driving in swirls on the breeze, dappling grass and decorating you as you pass is a joy to the heart.
I just wish it wasn’t over so quickly!
April 20th – Returning home from from Shenstone on a gorgeous evening, passing lanes full off other cyclists whose general absence was noted when the weather was not so lovely, I stopped to check the familiar and have a rest.
There is a piece of scratched graffiti amongst many others in the soft sandstone of Footherley Lane’s brook bridge. It says ‘Billy + Tracee 30-4-83′.
I remember this when is Wass freshly cut, when I was a kid exploring these lanes. Coming soon will be the 35th anniversary of this act of what was presumably, love.
In this beautiful spot, Billy and Tracee recorded their love, and I often wonder if they’re still together, and remember this.
I do hope so.
April 20th – And so, spring is on her throne at last and summer is booting up.
The speed at which this has happened this year – in no more that a week – has been startling and rather wonderful.
Every day new discoveries, and whilst yesterday, the blossom was just starting, this morning it was showing strongly.
How long I have waited for the light, the warmth and the wonderful burst of life. It was worth the wait.
April 19th – Later that same day, I popped over to Telford. When I alighted from the train, I spotted this pair of old friends on the platform.
Just two old muckers off for a break together. As you do.
It made my day.
April 19th – I note there’s a good display this year of a curious little flower, that of Danish scurvy grass. A tiny white bloom, this plant loves salty soil and has colonised main road and lane verges in what’s known as the ‘burn zone’ – the area generally devoid of life where road salt spray and backwash makes life inhospitable for other plants.
In this salty environment, Danish scurvy grass thrives and blooms, giving lovely withe fringes to the kerbside.
A remarkable thing.
April 18th – There are lots of floral arrivals at the moment but it would be wrong to concentrate on the dramatic, showy ones. One return in the last week or so and enjoying the morning sunshine today from every patch of grass and roadside were a huge number of one of nature’s most overlooked gems – dandelions.
These humble yellow flowers are actually really lovely if you stop and look at them for a bit – which today, I advise anyone to do. They’re really gorgeous.
Sometimes, it’s the little, familiar things that are most beautiful.
April 18th – Last week I found the lovely pieris flowers I didn’t recognise in Wednesbury, even though as readers Susan Marie Ward, Linda Mason and others pointed out, I’d posted them here before.
The reason I hadn’t recognised them was because I’m used to seeing them with the beautiful bright red foliage they normally develop in early spring, but this year seems very late, and last week there was no hint of it.
Well, now it’s arrived and the result is truly stunning. Pieris – sometimes called fetterbush, rather delightfully – is grown a lot in gardens and in beds on industrial estates and parks.
Little things like this make spring such a wonderful time, I’m so glad it’s finally here.
April 17th – Every day, new flowers and leaves. This is fantastic, and just what I’ve been waiting for. All I need now is the sun to do it’s thing…
Spotted in a roadside verge near Lower Stonnall on Gravelly Lane – one of my all time favourite spring flowers – muscari or grape hyacinth. A garden favourite, I’m not sure if they’re native here or a garden escapee. But they are so very gorgeous, tiny blue arrangements of even tinier obovoid flowers.
Welcome back.
April 17th – The Telford footbridge construction project continues, and there’s a really interesting stage started now; partially build sections of the bridge have been delivered as steelwork skeletons, namely a couple of lattice piers and the over railway deck section. What’s interesting is that they have been fixed temporarily on spare ground, and other parts are being welded and added. The assembled sections will be completed on the ground, and then lifted into place.
I’ve never seen this done before and passing through on a grey, drizzly afternoon it was certainly interesting to watch the engineers at work while I waited for the train.
This is certainly going to confuse people trying to work out the final layout…
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