March 18th – Struggling up Shire Oak Hill after nipping to Stonnall I noticed the flowers at the roadside that were bringing colour to a very dull evening. Plenty of fresh daffodils, of course, but this year the snowdrops seem to have held on forever. Not sure if all these are actually snowdrops, though: they’re very similar but shaped more like a harebell. Can anyone help, please?
Whatever they were, they eased my haul up the hill…
March 2nd – Two very poor photos of Walsall Wood in a downpour. I was late back from work. It had rained most of the way home. It was cold, and the wind was brutal. I was dry under the waterproofs, though, and I just made a place I had to visit on the way back, so it wasn’t all bad.
Walsall Wood has a sort of soft, beautiful quality in the rain of a dark night. Villagey, yet urban. Energy and motion in the traffic, unstoppable, relentless, with somewhere to be, that isn’t here; yet it’s contrasted with the static streetlights, shop and pub glow and the son sheen of wet tarmac.
I’d rather be at home. I’m still troubled by low energy, short breath and sinus hassle, but that’s improving; but the night was hostile and I’d rather be in the warm and dry.
So I ploughed home.
February 7th – On my return, I cycled back down the canal into Brownhills. My favourite tree near Home Farm at Sandhills is handsome even when bare, and it doesn’t seem long now until I see it in leaf once more – but there seems to be a lot of bad weather to go through yet before those warm, sunny spring days return.
On the towpaths, the mud has to be seen to be believed, and at Anchor Bridge in particular, the rotting leaf litter her has made a slimy, hazardous goop which is hard and unpleasant to ride through – until things dry out a bit, take care!
4th October – And finally, watch out if you’re riding along the canal between Chasewater and Brownhills. The hedge between Home Farm and the towpath has been flailed, and there are thorns all over it. As it was I passed a couple of people repairing punctures, so if you’ve not got tough tyres, I’d give the route a miss for a week or two.
July 30th – Coming home from Shenstone, I noticed the harvest had started at Lynn, and the grain trailers were filling, clouds of corn-dust blowing over the fields and that familiar scent in the air.
At Sandhills, the first blackberries ripen by the roadside, while the oats at Home Farm have already been harvested. Interestingly, when I took the photo of Ogley Hay church over the fields, I didn’t spot the red deer in shot…
July 19th – Oats are in fashion this year. After years of barely seeing any at all, this year all the best-dressed arable farms are wearing them.
I’m seeing them all over the place – the price, or subsidy for them must be high this year. They are a beautiful golden colour at the moment, and are painting the fields in shades of high summer.
These at Home Farm seem to be ready for harvest.
May 31st – Must say, panorama mode on this thing seems decent too, if a little fiddly.
May 31st – A wolf of a day again – a heavy wind and wet morning, but bright sunshine in the afternoon made for a short ride and some familiar views to test the Nikon. The zoom is a lot more tricky to get right than the older camera, but it gives way better results, I have to say. Those shots of the Cathedral from Shire Oak and Hammerwich from Newtown are remarkable sharp for the range.
On the whole, the camera seems excellent, and most of my grumbles are with a particularly fiddly user interface, not inconsiderable weight and peculiar autofocus lag.
Oh, and terrible, terrible documentation. But on the other hand, wow!
April 29th – To my surprise, I noted on my way home that local real ale Mecca the Four Crosses in Shelfield had closed, and was boarded up. With a planning application granted in 2012 to build a nursing home attached to it, despite the best efforts of the community, I guess it was always living on borrowed time.
With the Spring Cottage and Four Seasons gone, I don’t think there are any pubs now left in Shelfield, are there? A great sadness.
April 26th – Things that happen while you’re not looking. In the last week, my favourite tree on the edge of Home Farm, Sandhills has burst into life. I love that horse chestnut, and I judge the seasons by it. It’s a handsome tree that can be seen from the canal at Catshill, and I watch it’s progress carefully.
Reassuring to see it green for another year, in such lovely spring sunshine.
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