August 2nd – Another late summer and autumn bounty is fungi. A prime hunting ground for edible treats like these lovely field mushrooms and puffballs are the verges of industrial estates. Usually undisturbed, fungi prosper quietly here, and tend to go unstomped by mischievous kids.
From now until late autumn I will carry a cotton bag and knife to perform an impromptu harvest of anything tasty that would otherwise go unplucked.
This time of year does have some excellent things to commend it.
July 26th – Passing through Stonnall on my way home, I noted the harvest has started, presumably to beat that morning’s rain, but it’s a sobering sight.
Near Lower Stonnall, the oilseed rape has been cut, the fields looking ragged and desolate, covered in the stalks, pods and shredded chaff that the harvester blows out after flailing out the precious black seeds.
Perhaps more strikingly, the field adjacent has already been harvested and ploughed over for the next crop.
It feels uncomfortably like Autumn’s breath is on my shoulder…
July 23rd – A somnambulant, headache-grey day followed a night during which a work call out had prevented me getting any sleep at all. I slipped out early in the afternoon to sunshine and showers from a shifting, occasionally azure blue, occasionally black sky,
I drifted up to Chasewater, and on the way took a look at the crops in Home Farm fields at Sandhills. Both the oilseed rape and wheat are near ripeness now and I bet as soon as the rain dries off, the harvesting will be game on.
And so the year and season advances a notch.
November 15th – There seem to be some species of shrub and tree that are unique to commercial and trading estates, in that you only see them in the borders and copses there. These were in Tipton.
One such shrub is this one: laden with a huge quantity of bright red berries that the birds don’t seem to bother with much, I have no idea of it’s name.
Looks like another bumper crop this year, too.
October 4th – Winching myself up Shire Oak Hill at Sandhills at sunset, I noticed the potatoes in the fields that stretched to the canal had been stripped of their foliage ready for harvest. I love that view of Ogley Hay and St. James from here, and it looked beautiful and autumnal.
Elsewhere, harvested fields have already been ploughed, harrowed and replanted, with spring-like carpets of green sprouting winter crops, with almost springlike colour.
Whatever time of year, the farming continues.
September 19th – Yet another abundance this year of bright orange-red cotoneasters, so beloved of blackbirds, who upon finding a bush, will fight off challengers, usually while another steals the sugary berries.
These bright fruits – another clear sign of autumn – line hedgerows, cycleways and towpaths, and seem a very popular bush to plant on industrial estate verges, which is good for birds and bees alike.
August 14th – A fast paced run-out to Middleton Hall, via Chasewater and Fazeley was very pleasant on a warm but overcast afternoon. Again, it was really about the curiosities; the cats by the canal in Brownhills, one alert and stately, the other clearly furious to be awoken from an afternoon nap. The wee dog at Middleton Hall that waited patiently for his owners to finish their tea. The remarkable scarecrow at Mile Oak.
I had more energy today, and the wind had died. A great afternoon ride.
August 5th – Interesting to note the fruits doing well this year and those that aren’t. We seem to have bounteous quantities of blackberries, acorns and here, sycamore seeds. Beech also seems to be fairly prodigious.
Not doing so well at all are the horse chestnut, hazel and pear trees.
It’s curious how the years cycle. As my Grandad used to say ‘It’s always a good year for something’.
July 31st – Rain is predicted for next week, so Home Farm at Sandhills were taking no chances, and when I passed by on the canal, the oilseed rape was being harvested.
The combine didn’t come close enough for me to work out how it was working, but it blew out a constant stream of chopped plant matter presumably with the oily black seeds threshed out. The machine really was shifting and the whole thing dramatic and impressive, throwing up clouds of dust as it worked.
I’ve often wondered how producing such tiny seeds for oil can be viable, but it clearly is. It seems a long time since these fields were glowing yellow with the bloom of it…
July 28th – Inexorably sliding now from the flowering to the fruiting, I notice the first blackberries are making their appearance in the hedgerows, scrubs and thickets.
It looks like another bumper crop this year, that’s certain to result in the baking of many a pie, crumble or tart.
A real treat for the foragers…
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