Tag: muscari

#365daysofbiking Angels of the hedgerows

April 10th – Another working from home day – indeed, it was Good Friday, so I took off for an exercise ride at teatime. The lanes and tracks of Stonnall, Shenstone, Raikes and Hilton were warm and quiet. I saw the odd fellow cyclist, or runner. But mostly it was just me, the birds and the flowers.

The stunning yellow archangel is looking gorgeous at Footherley again this year – a relative of the nettle, I hadn’t noticed it for years, and then it seemed I couldn’t stop spotting it in places where I must have seen it before, but never noticed it.

The grape hyacinths – muscari – are also like little shocks of blue in the hedgerows and gardens I slid past.

We may be locked down, but the riding is surprisingly good at the moment.

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April 21st – I don’t think I’ve ever known a spring like this – someone has fired a starting gun, and on this generally sunny afternoon ride to Burton so many flowers were either out or coming out that it was astounding.

I have never seen hawthorn in flower at the same time as blackthorn. The wild garlic is out when there are still daffodils. Bluebells are about too. It’s absolutely gorgeous out there.

A long, sunny afternoon ride, stopping to inspect the flowers was just what I needed.

How I love this time of year.

April 17th – Every day, new flowers and leaves. This is fantastic, and just what I’ve been waiting for. All I need now is the sun to do it’s thing…

Spotted in a roadside verge near Lower Stonnall on Gravelly Lane – one of my all time favourite spring flowers – muscari or grape hyacinth. A garden favourite, I’m not sure if they’re native here or a garden escapee. But they are so very gorgeous, tiny blue arrangements of even tinier obovoid flowers.

Welcome back.

May 1st – A blustery and occasionally wet ride over to Walton on Trent and back through Lullington and Clifton Campville – but true to my promise, I found the colours of spring.

Songbirds were in the hedgerows – never seen so many goldfinches – and blossom, wildflowers and emerging leaves made everything bright.

I couldn’t get the sunshine, but I got the season. A great ride.

April 16th – I rode into Lichfield to do some shopping and errands, and noticed how all the spring flowers were out. In Festival Gardens, the mascara or grape hyacinths were the deepest electric blue; by Minster Pool the tulips were a beautiful regiment of cream and St. Michael’s churchyard has a huge glade of wild garlic, bluebells and primroses.

Just that morning we’d had quite heavy snow showers.

This unusual but beautiful spring continues.

March 26th – Beauty can be found in very unexpected places. As I got off the train into a sunny South Wigston, in Leicester, these gorgeous grape hyacinths were growing up a piece of grass that’s usually wasteland. Mixed in were  primroses, polyanthus and what seemed to be some kind of violet. This station is is normally just one away from being the rectum of the UK rail system, only beating Lichfield Trent Valley because it has ramp access to bot platforms. Usually it’s desolate, untidy and lonely, often threatening. Today, it was a little oasis of purple and joy…