July 15th – On the cycleways of Telford, the hedgerows, verges and scrubs are alive with life, blossom, and developing fruit. I was really surprised to note today that rowan berries all along the path were ripening well.
A bitter but sugar-laden fruit, rowan makes great jam and wine, and when ripe, will be devoured by hungry songbirds.
Bright orange, it’s one of the first berries to appear, and one of the most distinctive sights of summer. Great to see.
July 7th – Another desperately dull day, with not many photo opportunities. Sadly, I took a bunch of photos on the way home, and messed the settings up, so the only ones I have to show are the from the cycleway in Goscote again this morning.
I note we’re in for a fruitful year; not only are the apples plentiful, but cherries seem to be having a fine time, and haws look to be good, too; if the blossom is anything to go by I think we’re in for a bumper crop of black and elder berries too.
I love the dog roses, smelling wonderful in the post-rain humid air, and the cornflowers look superb too, in their thistle like glory.
Some much great stuff going on in the hedgerows – and all on one short stretch of path in Goscote.
July 6th – On the way to work on a grey, dull Monday morning, these apples near the cycleway in Goscote caught my eye, and made me think. They’re growing well, and ripening in the recent warm weather.
That’s a harbinger of late summer.
Just where is this year going?
December 19th – I don’t know why I think this, but I always consider cotoneasters a Christmas plant. The bright red-orange berries are a favourite with blackbirds who will strip a bush in days, all the time protecting it from the hungry beaks of other birds.
Something odd is going on though. Last year, there were huge bounties of such berries still on the bushes well into spring, seemingly barely touched. This year, these I pass on the way to work are already nearly stripped. This seems to be the same everywhere.
Why? Was preferential food available in abundance last year? Perhaps not so many blackbirds? Did something about that previous summer make the orange fruit less nutritious or maybe unpleasant?
Really puzzled by it.
October 17th – The morning commute was damp, and a little drizzly, but it brightened up as I neared work. On the way, I noted the assortment of hips, haws and berries, glistening with raindrops. For the hedgerow fruits, it’s been a bountiful year, and the birds certainly have plenty in the larder right now.
A fine autumn; best I can remember for many a year.
September 23rd – Labouring up Shire Oak Hill at Sandhills, a familiar crunch crackles under my tyres. The beech mast is thick this year, and it’s been a good year for beech nuts.
The husks are hard, prickly and dry as old bones; the little brown nuts shiny and hard. Some years, the nuts are fatter and more oily than others, and this is part of the growing cycle of the tree, not a factor of the weather. Edible but harsh, they were used as a substitute for coffee in wartime and gave their name to a chewing gum.
I collect a few, split them open with a pocket blade, and suck out the kernel, and chew them determinedly for the remainder of my journey.
A palatable taste, not unlike a slightly sharp hazelnut. But it’s hard work to get a decent mouthful!
September 20th – Must have passed this garden backing onto the canal at Anchor Bridge hundreds of times – but never once noticed the apple tree, which this autumn has a fine crop of apples. The owner doesn’t seem to have noticed, though, as the windfalls are plentiful on the ground.
A lovely sight. Wonder if they’re eaters or cookers?
September 3rd – I’d been to Redditch for a meeting. I don’t go there much these days, and it made a nice change, to be honest. Nicer still was an early finish, and riding back from Sutton, I chose to ride up through Little Aston Forge, a route I also hadn’t ridden for ages.
I must have passed those lovely cottages on the hairpin loads of times over the years, yet I’ve never noticed the pear and plum trees in the hedgerow opposite. The plums – they seemed a bit large to be true damsons – were well over now, but it looked like there had been a decent crop.
The pears had suffered from pests, and some were frost damaged, but the ones that survived were large and beautiful.
I really don’t know why I’ve failed to notice these before…
August 27th – Just on the canal bank between the Black Cock Bridge and Walsall Wood Bridge, a crab apple tree with lots of good fruit.
This is the first tree along here I’ve seen with fruit this year. Normally there are three or four.
A sad reflection on the season, which seems to have been a bit strange. But never mind, this will make a lovely jelly for someone.
August 26th – In the backlanes between Stonnall and Shenstone (I’m not going to say where) there are a secluded row of apple trees. I’ve known of them for years, and they always seem to grow decent fruit. This year, they’ve excelled themselves.
The apples aren’t huge, but there are lots of them. There are several varieties, Cox’s, Russets, and I think Granny Smiths. The Russet I nabbed was sweet, juicy and ripe, the Cox too.
I always love to see these apples.
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