March 11th – If you’re riding Bullmoor Lane between Hilton and Chesterfield, in the back lanes near Shenstone, beware of mud and … other stuff.

The farmland here has been up for sale for a long time, but now seems to have an owner and they seem to be improving the soil. Slurrey tankers appear to discharge into a large red mobile tank from which a crop sprayer is replenishing it’s supply before returning to it’s smelly, but important task.

Nice to see, but man alive it makes a mess on the nearly roads

April 11th – In the fields just outside Shenstone, one might be forgiven for thinking there was a frost. However, it was too warm for that today, and this looks more like a dusting of icing sugar. It’s actually a freshly ploughed field, dusted by nitrate fertiliser. Soon, a crop will be planted here, and the growing will start over again.

The only trouble with dusting fields in this way is that even in still conditions, everything around gets dusted too, like the holly in the hedgerow…