July 11th – A beautiful summer’s day and the grass of Victoria Park – up until the 1930s a railway cutting – is looking scorched and brown; but no matter. This little gem of a green space right in the heart of industrial Darlaston still looks superb.
July 10th – Popping from work into Walsall at lunchtime, it seemed the wasteland a the bottom of Bentley Mill Way had been the scene of a small scrub fire.
I first saw the lone fireman, tending the petrol powered pump extracting water from the canal, then saw the last of the smoke from the lads doing an excellent job, as ever.
These fires won’t harm the scrub much, it’ll soon grow back, but the commons, heaths and patches of wasteland right now are like tinder, and there will be many more such fires across the area if the fine weather continues.
And all the time, the good folk of the West Midlands, and indeed national Fire Service will be on hand to do their utmost to protect lives and property.
Thank you.
June 21st – It’s good to see that one place the Canal and River Trust mowers didn’t go is the meadow and embankment alongside the new pond at Clayhanger, where orchids, ribwort plantain, birds foot trefoil, ox-eye daisies, buttercups and many species of grasses are thriving, much to the appreciation of the bees, bugs and birds that rely on them.
Long grass and meadows are not some untidiness to be dealt with: They are essential to our ecosystem.
June 20th – To my dismay, the agressive and pointlessly regular towpath mowing schedule continues on local canals, to the detriment of wildflowers growing there, like the poor orchids.
In recent years, the canal management have insisted on having the canalside grass mown every month – not only is this unnecessary, it inhibits the growth of some wonderful species and destroys others in their prime.
The mower had been through today, and although the operator was mindful of some orchids, many more were destroyed.
If the grass had been left another month, it would have been to no detriment and huge benefit.
Frustrating and pointless.
April 19th – I note there’s a good display this year of a curious little flower, that of Danish scurvy grass. A tiny white bloom, this plant loves salty soil and has colonised main road and lane verges in what’s known as the ‘burn zone’ – the area generally devoid of life where road salt spray and backwash makes life inhospitable for other plants.
In this salty environment, Danish scurvy grass thrives and blooms, giving lovely withe fringes to the kerbside.
A remarkable thing.
November 29th – As I got to Redditch, the frost was still quite pronounced and coated grass and fallen leaves. It’s been a bit of a shock this year, we’ve been plunged into comparatively cold weather surprisingly quickly in the season after several mild winters with only a few really cold days.
I do hope this is a portent and we have lots of cold weather to come – maybe even a decent fall of snow…
November 16th – Something I’ve not seen yet this year, on a roadside verge in central Walsall: a small fairy ring.
Speculation is rife as to how this odd little toadstools make the traditional rind or arc on lawns and short grass – some say it’s rotting tree roots that cause the to sprout, or perhaps a particular sporing pattern.
Like so much of the world of fungi, there’s far more we don’t know that that which we do.
September 16th – I was being watched at Catshill Junction.
My observer was reluctant to make himself known.
The small, black and white cat, barely out of kitten hood, was studying me closely from over the narrows. I was clearly not to be trusted. Monitoring the neighbourhood is a very grave task.
I look forward to making his acquaintance again.
June 7th – A lovely, chance find whilst riding through Victoria Park, Darlaston. Part of this urban oasis, right in the centre of Darlaston, has been left to wild and apparently spread with wildflower seeds. Just as I rode past it, I spotted a small purple flower that demanded closer study. I wasn’t disappointed.
A lovely orchid growing right there. What a glorious, pretty and wonderful thing!
So good to see after so many years of these important flowers being so rare…
May 17th – Nice to see, even on a rainy, grey morning, that meadow flowers are now showing strongly on the verges and edge lands of industrial estate, urban roads, tracks, towpaths and trails.
Welcome back for another season to buttercups, clover and bird’s foot trefoil, which serve to brighten even the most overlooked piece of grass.
Everywhere you look at the moment, beauty is bursting to the fore in a myriad of different flowers, leaves and blossoms.
A wonderful time of year.
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