May 25th – Another thing that’s abundant right now is the May or Hawthorn blossom. Creamy white, with a distinctive (and not always pleasant) scent, there’s a huge amount this year, which on occasions is meeting the cow parsley in the hedgerow and just forming a white cascade, like here at Clayhanger.
This time of year is so wonderful – it’s just a shame it doesn’t last longer.
May 25th – As we advance to late spring and early summer, some of my favourite flowers are emerging now; birds foot trefoil ‘egg and bacon’, buttercups, elderflowers and ox-eye daisies all brighten the verges, hedgerows and edge lands of my commute.
Such lovely flowers. How I love this busy, colourful time of year.
May 6th – Spinning home from work down the Goscote Valley cycleway, I noticed new additions to the palette of flowers this year – primroses and forget-me-nots. Not remarkable flowers in themselves, but new arrivals in this location, which can only be a good thing.
Great to see nature thriving along the old rail line like this.
April 17th – Another harbinger of spring: bluebells. First I’ve seen this year, spotted under a hedgerow in Shelfield. OK, they’re imported Spanish ones rather than the more traditional English variety, but they’re coming… and in the same patch, a few white ones for good measure.
Great to see.
September 3rd – I’d been to Redditch for a meeting. I don’t go there much these days, and it made a nice change, to be honest. Nicer still was an early finish, and riding back from Sutton, I chose to ride up through Little Aston Forge, a route I also hadn’t ridden for ages.
I must have passed those lovely cottages on the hairpin loads of times over the years, yet I’ve never noticed the pear and plum trees in the hedgerow opposite. The plums – they seemed a bit large to be true damsons – were well over now, but it looked like there had been a decent crop.
The pears had suffered from pests, and some were frost damaged, but the ones that survived were large and beautiful.
I really don’t know why I’ve failed to notice these before…
August 27th – Just on the canal bank between the Black Cock Bridge and Walsall Wood Bridge, a crab apple tree with lots of good fruit.
This is the first tree along here I’ve seen with fruit this year. Normally there are three or four.
A sad reflection on the season, which seems to have been a bit strange. But never mind, this will make a lovely jelly for someone.
May 31st – He was in the middle of a busy lane at Shenstone Woodend, just sitting there. I spotted him by chance, and just swerved to miss him. I screeched to a halt and thought what to do.
He could fly short distances, but was clearly exhausted, and I couldn’t get him out of the road for love nor money. I know you’re not supposed to touch fledging chicks, but he was going to get squished under the wheels of the many vehicles that come this way.
I gently picked him up, and popped in in the hedge right next to where I found him. I hope he survived.
Anyone know what he is? I think he’s a tit of some sort.
Edit: Thanks to Fatuoussunbeams – he’s a blue tit. Thought he was, but after my recent dire attempts at botany I’m hedging my bets! Cheers…
May 20th – Spotted on the way home this evening – red campion. Seeing lots of this this year; although named red, most of what I see is shades of hot pink. A lovely, delicate flower, this is growing in the hedgerow at Sandhills on Shire Oak Hill.
The wildflowers really are excellent this year.
April 29th – It really is all about the flowers for me at the moment. I miss them so much in winter, it’s fantastic to have this roadside splashes of colour back in my life.
Spotted returning from Sutton this evening, just minding their own business on a roadside verge: the most dramatic red tulips and (I think) delicate, pink clematis.
I’m never the fastest cyclist around, and every journey takes longer at this time of year as I have to keep stopping and looking at the flowers…
March 30th – I’m not going to say where this is, for fairly obvious reasons, but there’s only one animal in the UK that digs like that – and this one has been digging a real des-res. Freshly excavated damp sand and quite large stones spilled out onto the roadside, but no sign of the occupant.
Not the best site, Brock. The cars whistle through here…
I wish you well, in any case.
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