November 17th – Passing through Telford near lunchtime, it was a lovely late autumn day. Taking a short cut through Priorslee, I crossed the motorway bridge and was pleased to note the trees were still showing beautiful colours, and the cycleway was still an autumnal Arcadia.
Over the years I’ve given new towns like Telford and Redditch a lot of stick but they can be really beautiful in really unexpected ways.
August 31st – The willow herb is going to seed now, I noticed the fluff as I rode the cycleway through the Goscote Valley. Filling the air at the slightest provocation from the breeze, the seeds this dweller of the margins produces float and dance on the wind.
When I was a kid, we called the little floating seeds ‘fairies’ and it was considered good luck to catch one. These days, I just tend to catch them in my mouth while riding.
My grandad called this ‘old man’s beard’ and you can see why.
This is a real end-of-summer occurrence and so a little bittersweet, but no summer would be complete without it, even if it does make me spit!
July 7th – Summer’s wheel continues to turn, despite the poor weather, and I was shocked today to note that the rowan berries on the trees by the cycleway in Pelsal were beginning to ripen.
One of the earlier berries of the summer, they add a lovely splash of orange colour to the maturing greenery of high summer.
With days now getting shorter, it really feels like the year is advancing fast now.
June 16th – Thanks to whoever tipped me off (I think it might have been Dave Fellows), but my complaint about the lack of handrails on the steps down from the canal to (the still closed) Bentley Mill Way on the Darlaston/Pleck border were, it seems, premature.
This week, a new rail has been installed – and jolly nice it looks too.
Have to say though, the steps – implicitly on a cycleway – are still awful to negotiate with a bike, but at least we have something to grab now.
It’s a shame the shallower, easier to negotiate access the other side has been removed…
May 16th – I had to visit Telford briefly, but I noticed how much greener the cycleways were than the last time I visited. Sadly, I’d just caught the end of the blossom on that wonderful line of trees, but the tunnel effect and verdant hedgerows were a joy all the same.
People knock Telford (me included) but it’s surprisingly beautiful in places.
May 6th -Not far away, but still on the Goscote Valley cycleway, the dead nettles are doing well. These fellows have no sting, and can be touched freely. They hold a sweet, tasty secret.
The blooms can be plucked from the plant, and the small neck of the bloom sucked for the nectar it contains, which is sweet and tasty.
May 6th – Spinning home from work down the Goscote Valley cycleway, I noticed new additions to the palette of flowers this year – primroses and forget-me-nots. Not remarkable flowers in themselves, but new arrivals in this location, which can only be a good thing.
Great to see nature thriving along the old rail line like this.
December 21st – I took the cycleway from Walsall to Pelsall, and crossing the Vicarage Road bridge, I tried a bit of long exposure photography. Sadly, I wasn’t patient and this 15 second exposure wasn’t long enough.
Ah well, better luck next time…
December 11th – Also at Telford, by the M54 just n the embankment by the cycleway, a fine crop of crabapples even the birds are not bothering with.
Perhaps they’re too bitter, or hard, but there’s something a bit sad and dramatic about a tree with no leaves, and an unfallen, unwanted crop of fruit.
November 29th – I returned to Brownhills via the cycleway and old Cement Works Bridge, hoping to see deer. Sadly my deer magnet was resolutely off and I saw nothing; but I did note this venerable mobile phone mast.
The same tower has been in use since the late 80s, when it had an analogue base station fitted. Since then, it’s acquired a curious variety of antenna from normal FM to microwave, and it now serves the local 4G network. A remarkable survivor.
Next to it in the trees is an Airwave Tetra emergency communications network base station – a secure mobile network for police, fire and ambulance. I’m unclear why this spot is so popular with radio infrastructure, but there sure is a lot going on.
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