Tag: IFTTT

#365daysofbiking The grass is always greener

July 25th – Lately the householder of this canalside garden with the wonderful row of planters along the water’s edge had a particular planter disappear, which he was justifiably upset about as it thought it must have been stolen.

His post on Facebook was shared many times and folk were annoyed at the pointless, nasty theft.

Seethe Watermead swan family grazing that lush green grass of the owner’s lawn, however, I’m now not convinced the missing planter wasn’t ‘helped’ into the water by a clumsy bird!

All will become clearer when the algae on the surface recedes, I guess.

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#365daysofbiking Having a laugh

July 25th – Herons are bizarre birds. Beautiful yet quite strikingly ugly; elegant in flight and when hunting yet curiously awkward when moving. They adopt the most peculiar positions and stances.

This one in Birchills on the way to work appeared to be laughing at me… Oh well.

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#365daysofbiking Clutching for a second

July 24th – Lots of waterfowl are on second clutches of the season now; a tiny minority possibly on their third.

At Bentley Bridge on the Walsall Canal this delightful clutch of ducklings, maybe a few days old, proudly watched over by mum.

A beautiful sight.

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#365daysofbiking On the tiles

July 24th – A sunny morning riding up the industrial, backstreets of North Walsall. In John Street, a pub with an interesting history is still thriving despite it’s secluded position.

The New Inns – or Pretty Bricks (from the tiled frontage) – is a great real ale house, and used to be a folk music venue and gay pub years ago. Now it’s a cosy, well-liked and popular real ale boozer; traditional, cosy, comfortable.

It’s well kept too, and on this sunny day the hanging baskets were spectacular.

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#365daysofbiking Into the blue

July 23rd – I was in Birmingham for work and was planning on catching the train home. But there was trouble with the signals and all trains I could have caught were messed up.

I decided to ride home – it was a nice evening, after all. I decided to hit the canal near Lancaster Circus, but heading out of the centre I found the new segregated cycleway up the A3 to Perry Barr. It’s absolutely brilliant. I was so enamoured, I kept on it and rode home over Kingstanding.

It’s fast, largely well thought out, has it’s own traffic signals (with repeaters at bike eye level) and was really quite busy.

Some of the routes over major junctions are a bit tortuous, but it’s far better than I’d ever have imagined.

Sad to see it ends abruptly at Perry Barr, but I suppose with the junction being remodelled there it would be folly to continue it yet.

A fine thing, very pleasing to ride.

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#365daysofbiking A place of safety

July 22nd – In the middle of the canal at Catshill Junction, in the midst of the algae mat, a mother proudly sits on a nest. A nest built upon driftwood flotsam trapped in the algae.

I’ve been watching her a few days. You can see trails in the surface from her partner coming to feed her, or take his shift sitting.

Safe from foxes and other land predators, this moorhen mum’s got a relatively secure nest.

It’ll be interesting to see how this develops!

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#365daysofbiking Monumental controversy

July 22nd – I’ve been riding through Bloxwich more often since the Chase Line upgrade, and I keep passing the remarkable sculpture of Lady Diana Spencer outside the monumental Masons that commissioned it. It’s certainly an unusual landmark.

The sculpture was made around the year 2000 in tribute to the deceased Princess, but when unveiled, it was black, shiny granite and was ridiculed for looking more like Diana Ross (according to a local politician of the day) or Dennis Nordern in the view of a local news commentator.

It was donated to Walsalls Council, who refused it, declined to place it in the local art gallery, and ended up back with the donor after plans to put it on display were apparently vetoed by the palace.

Since then, it was sandblasted to remove the sheen, and it stands outside the Masons being, well… Somewhat incongruous.

I think it’s absolutely bloody awful.

You can criticise almost every aspect of it – but the one thing nobody ever comments on that has always baffled me – the shoes.

Has she just come from welding on a ship and forgot to change her boots?

A curious bit of local legend.

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#365daysofbiking Animal magic

July 21st – It hadn’t promised to be a ride day at all, so I didn’t have high hopes for the ride at all. It was fantastic, if weary, as it happened, and it was all about the animals I met on the way.

From the two wee dogs in chokey and the ferrets at the Barton gate Steam Fair to the herd of curious cows at Dunstall, animals stole the show all through the ride.

Most interesting was the long range shot of the red deer at Dunstall Park – a farmed herd – the majestic stag of which turned out to be providing perch for two magpies, presumably assisting his grooming.

I’ve seen small birds do that with pigs before, but never magpies on deer…

A great ride. And oh, those coos!

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#365daysofbiking So glad I made it

July 21st – it really wasn’t my weekend and I was called out to a work emergency in the early hours. I had hoped to get to Barton Gate Steam Rally near Burton, but with a 3pm work finish it looked unlikely.

Due to a lift from my partner and some very sharp thinking on her part, I was deposited bike and all in Kings Bromley and managed to catch the atmosphere for the last hour, which was wonderful. I then enjoyed a lovely summer evening ride.

The help of others is so wonderful and I’m very grateful. I was tired, but needed some headspace and the joy of daft machinery.

I have no idea why the machine on the trailer with crawler tracks is, but I want one.

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#365daysofbiking A pair of characters

July 20th – Many of the ducks and smaller waterfowl are on second and in some cases I suspect – third clutches of the season. Up by Middleton Bridge I spotted momma and two ducklings.

The bond between the two chicks was very strong and they were characters and entertained me for some time.

One thing that occurs to me is I’ve never seen waterfowl – flightless until quite old – learning to fly I bet that’s something to witness.

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