October 7th – I’m fascinated by the way the scrub on Clayhanger Common has formed into a tunnel over the footpath behind the overflow at Clayhanger Bridge. This footpath is used enough to be fairly well worn, and the creepers, brambles and scrub have turned the track into a foliage arch which is quite charming and could, for all the world, be a portal to some kind of wonderful netherworld.

May 29th – in the seemingly unnamed, orphaned strip of woodland that lies wedged between the River Tame and the canal just north of Hopwas Wood Bridge, the largely disused southern driveway to Tamhorn Park provides a nice green route for walkers and cyclists. Vehicles used to come through here, but not for a few years and the wrought iron gates remain locked, rusting and blocking the track to most motorised traffic. This fallen branch – surely snapped by the weight of the parasitic creepers bound around it – now provides an additional obstacle. 

The cyclists and walkers, however, just wore a path around it…