June 2nd – The orchids are really prolific and pretty this year, I’m very glad to say. In many shades of blue and purple these small, dense blooms are springing up all along the canals, heaths and wetlands.
These were at the canal by the new pond in Clayhanger. Look at the markings on the petals – absolutely gorgeous.
They’re not with us for long, so get and see them while you can.
June 2nd – I just beat the rain on my way home, and speeding along the canal near Clayhanger, I stopped briefly to chat to this lone bandit, for no other reason than he came to say hello.
The lone swans without partners and clutches are often overlooked at this time of year, in favour of the antics of the many families that have sprung up along the canals – but the lone swans are still as wonderfully curious and nosey as ever.
Such truculent, difficult birds – but I do love them so.
June 1st – I’d been into Birmingham on the way home, and came back on the train to Blake Street with a headache riding shotgun. Although it was a pleasant, temperate afternoon, it wasn’t terribly bright, but as I passed Grove Hill near Stonnall, the sky lightened.
That tree, that hill, are local icons and subject of much legend. But for all that, they’re beautiful, especially in the summer, and make me feel I’m nearly home when I see them.
May 31st – Also a lovely sight and a regular here, honeysuckle or woodbine, and my favourite display grows up the embankment on the northwestern flank of the Black Cock Bridge; tumbling and cascading over the railings a fences, a huge bush flowers here every year and always looks and smells divine.
For a flower so entrenched in British culture, it’s got that alien look of tropical blooms, like the Passion flower: our wildflowers aren’t normally this brassy!
It would be very hard not to love honeysuckle.
May 31st – Since were in the largely purple phase of flowering now, it would be wrong to overlook this tiny gem. Prolific on grass verges, towpath margins and anywhere with decent light and room to spread, vetch is a gorgeous, long lasting lilac-violet colour and brightens many otherwise dull corners.
It really is a highlight of summer and one I look forward to enjoying seeing.
May 26th – This chump of flowers seem to show every year, growing just on the edge of the Southwest parapet of the railway bridge at Hollyhill Lane, Shenstone. I’m fairly sure they’re aquilegia, or grannies bonnets as Susan Marie Ward has no doubt told me before, and they’re absolutely gorgeous.
I presume they’re garden escapees, as I don’t think I see them wild anywhere else, which makes me wonder why there are the two different coloured plants here.
Maybe it was guerrilla seeding, or made just seeds present is someone’s dumped garden waste – whichever, they’re a delight to the heart.
May 26th – A lovely, warm shirtsleeve ride to work on a gorgeous morning, with the wayside wild roses fully in bloom and bees busy, even at an early hour.
I know I keep saying this, but this is what I look forward to all year. I know many don’t enjoy the heat and humid conditions can be wearing, but this really is the best kind of day.
May 25th – So many new flowers to notice every day, and in the warm sun of this perfect early morning, bright yellow coltsfoot was showing wonderfully well by the roadsides and in the hedgerows.
Such a beautiful, summery weed. Absolutely gorgeous.
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.
May 23rd – With warmer weather, during the warm hours, the urban cat population revert ro their languid, lazy norms, finding shady, peaceful spots to doze and watch the world go by – at least until it’s cooler, when they tend to be more active.
Coming through central Walsall in the afternoon, this young overseer of the neighbourhood was en repose on top of the wheeliebins in a shady front garden, and clearly enjoying the cool vantage point.
Seeing such characters emerge is one of the best things about summer…
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