October 29th – In Telford again, and just by the Priorslee turnoff on the cycleway is a rather fascinating fungi colony growing from an old pine stump on a bank of conifers.
This fungi grows back every year on the same stump, and I’ve never actually found out what is is.
Any ideas, please?
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April 29th – I made another call on my way home to check out the latest work on the heathland restoration on Brownhills Common between the Chester Road and The Parade, south of the Watling Street. Much local comment had taken of mass tree felling and carnage, so I was wary.
I needn’t have worried: The careful project continues to strip out most of the coniferous trees and saplings here, and standing upon a mound that was once a conifer plantation most of my view was now the varying greens of deciduous growth. Native saplings have been left, and the whole area opened up to the light.
Yes, there are tractor tracks on the main footpath, but other than that easily remedied damage, the work seems to be sensitive and in line with original plans.
You can already see the improvements in biodiversity and birdlife here, and that can only be great for the future of this wonderful heath.
September 13th – Spotted on the footpath on a Wednesury industrial estate, these giant pine cones. Weighing in I’d guess at half a pound in weight, they’re actually quite sharp and abrasive and I’d not want one to land on my head as it fell from the tree.
Remarkable things, and lots of them; like conkers, at this time of year falling harvests can be the only decent reason to wear a helmet…
June 26th – A brighter day and on the journey to work, a small mystery.
A huge pine cone, eaten by something, probably a squirrel, lying on the canal towpath near Pleck.
It was lying under an apple tree, with no pines or conifers in sight.
Perhaps the grey bushy-tailed fellows commute a long way these days.
This year’s apple crop is looking healthy, though…
July 16th – He was singing to me as I cycled away from Telford Central station. It took me a while to spot him, in the crown of a nearby Douglas fir. His song was so joyful and life-affirming, the thought of the wee chap kept me smiling all morning.
If you have a song to sing, sing it like nobody is listening – because it’ll make the day of the person who unbeknown to you, is.
February 8th – At The Parade, as it bisects Brownhills Common, I note the thinning of the conifer plantations continues apace. Many of the invasive trees have now been removed, and light once again reaches the ground beneath them. This is essential work to restore the heath, and it seems to be being carried out professionally and with care.
The log piles by the roadside are huge and smell beautiful, it has to be said.
August 9th – Some months ago there was a brouhaha locally about plans to manage this section of Brownhills Common by removing the conifers, which are not natural here and are damaging the biodiversity of the heath.
Many locals didn’t see what the problem was. Here its is, this afternoon, in a nutshell.
Here we have open heather heath, host to a myriad of insects, small mammals, and passing deer. The heather, grasses and small, deciduous saplings are being choked by fast-growing spruce.
What chance does that oak sapling stand against the larger conifer shading it? If left unchecked, how diverse will this spot be in five years?
This is why management is necessary. Because if we’re not careful, the heath here will be lost, together with all the species it contains.
January 13th – Whilst pottering down the Wednesbury Road, I noticed a curio I’d not been aware of before – a pine tree, or conifer, growing in the front garden of one of the terraces that now form the Girls School there. It’s very, very tall, and has progressively had the lower branches trimmed away. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this in an urban environment before – and why, in all the years it must have existed, have I never noticed it? A real oddity.
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