Tag: horse

June 20th – Readers seem to be enjoying the wildflower theme of late, so today I decided to continue with it. Ragwort gets a bad press, somewhat unfairly. A member of the daisy family, it’s host to a number of butterfly, moth and insect species. Yes, it’s toxic to horses, but both have co-exesited for many centuries, and modern scares about horse deaths appear to be wildly overstated. Ragwort is a very hardy, tough plant with beautiful yellow flowers, The buds are particular works of organic engineering, too. Sadly, all too often overlooked for less common specimens, it brings a dash of colour to field, scrub and verge throughout summer. These lovely examples were growing on a patch of scrub by the M54 embankment in Telford.

February 27th – Out early to Telford again today – hopefully for the last time in a while. Standing on platform 4c (sort of like New Street’s version of Harry Potter’s platform 9 and three quarters, only less feasible) I looked across the dismal concrete and steel architecture and noticed the steel horse. Life size, jet black and approaching 25 years old, this is part of one of the better public artworks I’ve ever seen. I think there are twelve metallic equine silhouettes in total, at various locations between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, all in animated poses as if racing the train. They are regarded with surprising affection by travellers, and after two and a half decades, they still make me smile.

June 8th – Cycling the old railway route up through Goscote to Walsall often throws up unexpected challenges – gangs of loafing youth, grass fires in summer, intemperate canada geese. By far the most frequent seems to be negotiating the wrath of often rather stroppy horses. This particular equine highwayman  casually stops me, presumably after a mint or food, receives a bit of welcome fuss and then lets me pass.