Tag: ladybird

#365daysofbiking Well spotted

July 17th – Near Jockey Meadows on the way home, I stopped to take a call on the phone, and whilst mooching around on handsfree, I noticed this 10 spot ladybird in the adjacent hedge.

It appears to be native and not a an invasive harlequin, and yes, 10 spot ladybirds often have 12 spots apparently! There’s a similar yellowish harlequin but the pattern is markedly different and there’s no tell-tale dimple on the rear of the wing cases on this one.

I guess I must have done but I don’t recall seeing one this yellow before. A rather charming and endearing find – and the client who called me had no idea what I was doing.

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June 20th – A day of errands in the Black Country and plenty of riding the canals, green and limpid as they always are in summer, and alive with life, from the Wednesbury mother and foal to the bugs in the cowparsley. 

The pink flowers are stunning and I spotted them on the way home in Harden, just on the canal bank there. Does anyone know what they are? they’re absolutely gorgeous.

October 4th – I was surprised to note that the warm autumn, which has seen dead-nettles enter a second flowering cycle, odd aberrations of occasional foxgloves still in bloom and dandelions still out in pastures has resulted in some unusual sights, but I was surprised to note this ladybird still quite active on Clayhanger Common.

One thing’s for sure – when the cold sets in, it’ll be a shock to the system…

March 12th – Since I’d had to miss the bike jumble last week, and spring always starts with a ride into Birmingham on the canals and cycleways, I took a gentle ride into the city via Sutton Park and the Witton Lakes cycleway, returning via NCN 5 through the Galton and Sandwell Valleys. 

It was warm, still and the journey was as full of surprise and delight as ever it is. Everything form the ladybirds to the urban cats is awakening, and I see Bill Drummond is still communicating with Birmingham via the patch of light under Spaghetti Junction.

A good start to spring.

November 10th – I was still tired, and it took me a long time to get moving, but it was a gorgeous afternoon. I headed to Hopwas Hays Wood, again to test my mettle on the downhill there that fascinates me. On the way through, I stopped at Wall in a gorgeous golden hour. I studied for the first time the new milepost erected there in 2012. It’s an impressive thing, but like a lot of statuary these days, it’s so inoffensive, I don’t really see the point; commemorating the Queen as it does, it’s neither historically accurate or informative, but the carving is lovely. On the post’s crown, a last ladybird seemed to be enjoying the sun. I hope it found somewhere decent to hibernate. 

The real star of Wall for me is not Roman but Victorian – the church, with it’s gorgeous, well-kept terraced churchyard. It’s always peaceful here, and the golden light rendered the light Sandstone church and all else it touched golden. 

February 23rd – On my way to work on a sunny, warm summer- sorry, February day, I was in shirtsleeves. Taking the scenic route through Kings Hill Park in Darlaston, the spring flowers were just crying out for attention. As was a wee ladybird, sunning itself. 2012 certainly is running the whole gamut of weather, that’s for sure…

April 9th – Another leisure run out around Staffordshire and south Derbyshire. Plenty of buzzards, kestrels, rabbits and songbirds. Sadly, unusually high levels of roadkill at the moment. Oilseed rape is coming on, and the air is beginning to smell of pollen and green. Blossom is well advanced with cherries, apple and the continuing blackthorn showing well.