Tag: gleanies

August 16th – Riding to work down Green Lane, Shelfield on a bright sunny morning, and something gently reminded me of my grandfather.

The harvest at Grange Farm has been ongoing, and the road had been treated to a generous sprinkling of spilled cereal kernels – probably wheat. This grain, spilled by machinery and trailers as they lurch from field to barn is a feature of rural and peri-rural areas at this time of year, and is what the old man called ‘gleanings’.

Locally, ordinary folk were allowed to collect the seed lost on the roads and lanes for their own use. Few would use it for food, but many fed it to pets and livestock. Grandad said that you traditionally fed pets you kept for pleasure, not profit on the gleanings, fancy birds like guineafowl. 

Guineafowl were locally called Gleanies from this practice.

I well remember the farm opposite where the old man lived until a ripe old age having guineafowl, which are noisy, shrieking birds. ‘Gleanies am off again, the buggers!’ he’d curse every morning.

On a side note, watch out for the gleanings as they’re slippery and soapy, and steal wheels and grip, particularly when wet.

A warm memory on a warm, late summer morning.

September 12th – A little local mystery solved, perhaps. This autumn, the Canada geese population have been very active indeed over Brownhills in the early morning and in the hour or so before sunset. Groups travelling en masse from one place to another, honking joyfully as they pass.

I love the noise they make and it always makes me smile. And there’s been a massive increase this year.

Returning home from work at dusk past Jockey Meadows where the crops had been harvested a week or so ago, I noted a huge flock of the birds, ground feeding on the spilled grain in the stubble. The birds were busily browsing, getting a good feed.

There must have been in excess of 500 birds.

My grandad used to call this otherwise lost seed ‘gleanings’ and traditionally, it was collected and used to feed fancy birds like guineafowl, who were therefore known as ‘gleanies’.

I assume the geese have been doing this for a few weeks as local cereal crops have been harvested – possibly an extra stop off on their normal journeys between daytime waters and night time roosting spots.

August 30th – Cycling down the bridleway from Wall Lane to the Birmingham Road at Harehust Hill, near Wall, I noticed the remnants of the wheat harvest. This spilled grain is natural, and happens at every harvest time. Trailers lurch and spill, grain falls from machinery in transit and the wind blows it into gutters and potholes. This is what my grandfather called ‘Gleanings’, and spoke of the old right the poor had to collect it for their own use. He also called the noisy, shrieking guineafowl that were often kept as yard birds in the area ‘gleanies’, as they were often fed on the gleanings.

It’s quite rare to see guineafowl these days.