June 14th – I took a spin over to Hopwas Hays Wood via Wall. It was a little too muddy, to be honest, and the skies threatened the whole time I was out. But it was a nice ride for all that.
Crossing Harehurst Hill from Claypit Lane on the bridleway to the old Watling Street, when I looked south, all I could see before me was a healthy, lush crop of beans. Northwards, a similarly decent crop of wheat.
Looks like a decent season for the farmers if the weather holds.
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.
November 9th – I came back from Lichfield along the backlanes through Wall. Despite a better day weather wise, it was again now drizzling and wet. I was looking for more photographic inspiration, and found it at Harehurst Hill, looking towards the twin TV masts of Sutton Coldfield. I just wish I could capture the distant lights better.
July 28th – I know I keep returning to this. but it’s rather fantastic. The fields right now are just on the edge of harvest, and are positively glowing with gorgeous colour. Here at Harehurst Hill, near Wall overlooking a wheat field on a fine sunny afternoon, I seem a million miles away from the cold and chills of last winter’s dark commutes. Oh, for an endless summer…
July 13th – As Summer’s clock mechanism whirs away, inexorably ticking the days away until autumn, little markers fall in place like the escapement of a precision mechanism. Flowers bloom and fade, trees blossom and fruit, animals breed and fledge. Today’s marker is this very nearly ripe field of wheat at Harehurst Hill, between Wall and Lichfield. Almost overnight it has transformed from a fresh green to a warm gold. Soon, it will be harvested, another marker in time’s passage.
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