March 10th – I do like to see folk getting stuck into their food. This chap, clearly immersed in the dining experience, is one of the Chasewater cattle, today fed with hay in a stall. He seems to have used his horns to break the bale open, and become somewhat entangled. I bet that thatch is quite warming.
A bit like me and spaghetti. We never went back to that restaurant…
September 15th – I noticed that in the fields between the A5 and the canal, the farmer was baling mown hay this evening. The device behind the tractor rakes up the sun-dried grass, rolls it into mat-like clumps, before compression and baling with twine. Completed bales are ejected back onto the pasture. Unlike straw, which has no nutritional or economic value to speak of, hay is a valuable commodity as it retains the goodness of grass, and becomes expensive during a bad winter.
Hay making is one of the great traditions of the rural summer, and speaks of provision and preparation, as well as the rotation of the season’s wheel. What better place to do it that in pasture in the evening sunshine?
May 22nd – Summer is really on her throne now, I think. Returning home that evening, I came from Blake Street through a green, hazy wonderland. The oilseed rape is still bright yellow, the hedges and copses dusted with white blooms of cow parsley and hawthorn blossom. The air is heavy with pollen, bee buzz and insects. Near lower Stonnall, the first hay crop has been cut. It’s left to dry in the fields, then turned and dried some more before baling. It’s been a long time coming but this is just wonderful.
November 18th – The night photos continue. Sorry if you’re getting bored with them, I am trying to vary them a bit, it’s just that I’m mostly on my bike right now when it’s dark, and today was no exception. I escaped for a spin over to Whittington at 4pm, and was captivated by the traffic when crossing the A38 footbridge at Weeford. Looking south, the top photo shows traffic on the A38 itself, Little Hay Lane and M6 toll, off to the right. The lower picture was taken on the flyover taking Jerry’s Lane over the A5 Bypass near Packington Moor, with Lichfield TV transmitter in the background. I’ve been trying variants of these for a while and these are the first such long-exposure shots I’ve been happy with. Oh well – should see some daylight tomorrow…
September 28th – I noticed near Lower Stonnall this huge stack of hay bales being covered for storage. This time of year is all about putting stuff behind for the famers; silage is gently maturing in yards, potatoes lie ready in the earth, their foliage having been removed. Sugarbeet, manglewurzels and turnips are maturing. Huge stacks of bales like this dot the countryside. Last year, there was a shortage of winter food for livestock. I’m sure farmers this year are keen to avoid any repeat.
August 17th – as I returned home that evening, I noticed that Green Lane in Walsall Wood was blocked by the farmer moving large trailers of fresh, sweet-scented bales of hay. This activity must have been going on here at this time of year for several centuries, only the automation and vehicles have changed. It reminded me of the advancing of the season, and of the fact that although I live in an urban area, I’m never far from the countryside.
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