July 15th – Another joy of warm summer rides is the overspray from crop sprinklers. Often placed – sometimes I wonder if somewhat mischievously – so they spray into adjoining lanes, cycling through the cold mist is a delight.
Sometimes, it you can’t get caught by one directly, standing downwind can be just as rewarding.
Or maybe, just maybe, if the sun is shining, you can catch a perfect little rainbow…
June 15th – I heard about the local poppy field on Facebook, and it being very sunny and early, I took a detour on the way to work to check it out.
The field is just on the east of the Chester Road before the Wood Lane junction and is glorious. A few snatched pictures don’t do this gem justice. I will revisit it soon.
I love to see the poppy fields at this time of year, and welcome their rise since the drop in farming use of herbicides that used to kill them.I also adore the randomnesss of the places they appear – never the same two years running.
A beautiful and ephemeral thing – get out and see it while it lasts.
December 4th – The Chase was beautiful and deserted, and from Chase Road, over Stepping Stones and Seven Springs back to Abraham’s Valley and the old RAF Hednesford, I barely saw a soul. It was cold – so very cold, but with parts of the forest at wildly differing temperatures: In Abrahams Valley it was at least two degrees higher than in Sherbrook Valley. In any case, barely above freezing anywhere.
As night fell, owls and deer were busy and the Chase was a sensory delight. Just what I needed!
October 27th – Spotted in Victoria Park, Darlaston, this field mushroom. All on its own, it’s mates had either been picked, or not turned up – but this was a splendid specimen, and quite rare so far this year due to the dry autumn we appear to be having.
It’s a strange autumn when you can’t find enough wild mushrooms for a senescent omelette!
September 3rd – Shooting through Weeford on my return, expecting the rain to start again, I noticed these mushrooms growing on a verge. They were huge, and their presence reminded me that now we’re coming on Autumn, watching out for the fungus could be productive.
Wondering in the rosy earthstars and orange peel fungus will be back on Clayhanger Common this year?
July 1st – Between the railway line and the the backlane into Shenstone, a curiously planted field corner, laid in neat rows. I couldn’t see what the crop was from the road, and it piqued my interest, so I took a zoom shot.
Turns out to be carrots, with what looks like wheat growing thickly between them.
I’ve only ever seen one other field of carrots locally, and that was at the top of Lazy Hill. I’ll be interested to see how these develop and how they’re harvested.
April 3rd – Up near Wall, the old cricket pitch was ploughed up a few years ago now by the farmer who owned it, leaving the portakabin pavilion – which must have cost a few bob to install – marooned.
It’s so sad to see the cricket pitch gone; many a Sunday or Saturday afternoon as a young man I’d pass here with a game in full swing and sit and watch with maybe a beer on the go.
Remarkably, the in and out field are now supporting a healthy, blooming crop of oilseed rape, which seems a wee bit early for me – but it is beautiful.
Three years ago this weekend I found a car still abandoned in deep snow not half a mile from here. How the seasons in this country vary.
March 20th – It’s been 5 years since I last visited Freda’s Grave on Cannock Chase. It’s up near Brockton Field, and is a little historical curiosity. The resting place of a beloved Canadian military mascot, Freda the harlequin Great Dane (not a dalmatian as often claimed) who was stationed with her regiment here on the military camp that existed during the Great War.
It’s not in an immediately obvious place, and finding it on the heath high above the Sherbrooke Valley is a rite of passage for many a young Cannock Chase rookie.
Then you turn around, and that wide open landscape stretched to the distance, just waiting to be explored. Fantastic stuff.
January 24th – An awful image, snatched at dusk through a hedgerow at Newtown, Brownhills: four red deer females loafing and grazing in the field between the canal and Chase Road.
After years of seeing them around Brownhills, I’m still not over the frisson of noticing them: they feel so out of place and exotic, even though this is their home.
A lovely thing on an otherwise dull day.
December 14th – There’s a small stub of driveway or track off Old Park Road in Kings Hill called Kings Hill Field. I think once, it went right across the park to the Darlaston Road, and I suspect it’s the remnant of an old right of way, now curtailed by the lovely Kings Hill Park. There’s a small row of terraces, and the gates to the park; and in the right light, by chance, it looks beautiful.
This is why I love this place.
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