August 16th – I know I keep banging on about this, but I’ve never seen such a fine and large crop of bramble fruits as this year. Here, on the farm track beside the canal at Tamhorn, near Hopwas, the fruit was heavy on the bushes, and smelled divine.
My Grandfather used to say that bountiful crops indicated a harsh winter to come. I’m not so sure of that, but the birds and squirrels will have a ball.
August 14th – Spotted at Little Aston – the first ripe blackberries of the year. Note the tighter structure. These are a little hairy, and I suspect they’re a hybrid, but the fruit was firm and smelt divine.
There’s an absolute feast out there at the moment. Never seen fruiting like it.
August 12th – The dewberries are always earlier than the blackberries, but many folk don’t know there’s a difference. Dewberies are hairier, and consist of fewer, larger globes than their sweeter, finer counterparts. It seems to have been a good year for the bramble fruits this year, and hedgerows are spattered red and black with ripening fruits. A positive bounty for birds, squirrels and pie-makers alike.
August 5th – I returned in heavy rain and the photography was lousy. I did notice, however, that may trees seem to be fruiting better than the hazels of yesterday. This Sycamore at Sandhills has fine, plump seeds, already turning brown in preparation for what is, in their case, genuinely a fall, all be it a blade-moderated one. In my childhood, these seeds were called ‘Helicopters’, for their notorious (and I think, unique) spinning action as they fell.
Hips and haws are also doing well in the hedgerows right now, but the photos were terrible, sorry.
July 29th – The summer is now moving into a new, later phase. From the growth, then the flowering, we’re now in the ripening and fruiting stage. All around, conkers, acorns and berries are visible in trees and hedgerows, still swelling and ripening. Here at Telford, the rowans that line the cycleways are turning orange slowly. Beautiful, but sad too, at the passage of summertime.
October 15th – Returning along Green Lane, Walsall Wood at dusk, something caught my eye on the verge near Shelfield School. I stopped to take a look at what seemed to be small peaches, and found they were actually really nice, perfect little crab apples. These would probably make a decent wine or jam – whilst too acid for conventional culinary purposes, these tiny apples are highly prized amongst jam-makers and home brewers. I’m surprised nobody has picked up the windfalls, to be honest…
October 1st – October? How did that happen so quick? After the grimness of the day before, the bright morning was a joy. For the first time in a while I was in Telford, and the rose hips on the cycleway beside the M54 are beautiful. Rosehips can be used for so much stuff – wine, jelly, syrup – but few seem to pick them. Sad, because it’s been a great year for the roses.
There are a whole host of fruits here, from blackberries to dewberries, crab apples, medlars, rowan berries, catoniasters and even nightshade seem to be showing well. Autumn is also coming on here fast, more of which later in the week.
September 20th – A busy, draining day. I had urgent and unexpected stuff to attend to in Redditch, so headed out early. Expecting a quiet journey, it was horrid, and the task I had to undertake didn’t go smoothly either. At 11:30am, I left Redditch and had to go to Tyseley, so to get a bit of perspective I cycled up the Arrow Valley cycle route back to Redditch Station. It’s interesting how, even in this most unusual of years, some things have prospered. One of those things is hawthorn. Everywhere I go, hedgerows and trees are laden with deep red berries. Some say this is the sign of nature preparing for a hard winter.
The fruits themselves are edible but quite bland, and not actually berries at all; they are pomes, the same structure and type of fruit as apples. Haws are said to have health and fertility promoting properties, and can be used to make wine or jams. Birds love them, and will survive on this plentiful, sugar-laden bounty during the long months of winter.
September 17th – This is a summer tradition that’s been hit by the weather. All through the growing season (and into autumn, usually), throughout rural Britain the traveller will see trestle tables of surplus fruit or veg, with an honesty box for payment. I’ve seen very few this year, which is sad, as they’re a lovely tradition. I’ve purchased everything from these roadside stalls, from cucumbers to windfallen cooking apples, from tomatoes to plums. With the weather badly affecting the growing this year, the only stall I’ve seen has been this one of runner beans, in Main Street, Stonnall. Here’s to a better year in 2013.
September 11th – On cue, a couple of weeks later than the fatter, looser dewberries, the blackberries around Stonnall are ripening and being picked by foragers and birds alike. Blackberries are smaller, sweeter and stronger tasting; a more dense fruit, the individual ‘buds’ that make up the fruit (called ‘drupelets’) are smaller. Blackberies are also more whiskery than dewberries.
All are good to eat, and are adding to the tapestry of fruits and seeds smattering the hedgerows and thickets right now, along with hips, haws and seeds.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 