March 19th – A late ride out to Chasewater, feeling a bit low. Cheered, however, to see the Newtown One, the Papillon of Brownhills, was still evading the attentions of both her mistress and Brer Fox.
Go home, Mrs. Muscovy… there’s free food, other ducks and a warm roost in safety. And the drakes who chased you off are now in the freezer!
March 11th – The Newtown One. Like the Scarlett Pimpernell, they seek her here, they seek her there. Always within snatching distance, but always evading the grasp.
This bird has a safe roost, free food and company back home. But she appears to prefer contemplating silently life’s complexities at the canal side.
The saga continues…
March 6th – Feeling better, I headed for the Chase for the first time in ages. It was very cold, and when I set out, the wind was against me as I rode to Chasewater.
On the way, I passed the escapee Mrs. Muscovy, the Newtown One, still defying all attempts to return her to the flock.
February 14th – A sunset spin around Brownhills on a bitingly cold, but thankfully dry afternoon. This is again the season of good fine sunsets, and cold days like these are usually rewarding. Chasewater was as beautiful as ever, but the beauty caught Newtown and the canal, too, and it was a pleasure to cycle in. Hopefully with the lengthening days and drier weather I can get up on the Chase soon. I’m so missing it, but since Christmas it’s been so muddy it’s been very difficult going from what I’ve heard.
Evenings like this make me optimistic that the current spell of bad weather will be settling down soon.
January 24th – An awful image, snatched at dusk through a hedgerow at Newtown, Brownhills: four red deer females loafing and grazing in the field between the canal and Chase Road.
After years of seeing them around Brownhills, I’m still not over the frisson of noticing them: they feel so out of place and exotic, even though this is their home.
A lovely thing on an otherwise dull day.
October 11th – A gentle run along the canal back to Brownhills was in order, and on the way, I noticed a beautiful sky. My grandfather used to call this a ‘Mackerel Sky’ – presumably after the markings of atlantic mackerel.
He used to have a saying ‘Mackerel sky, 24 hours dry’ – and it broadly seems to work, I think. Wonder if there’s a meteorological basis for this or if it’s just an old wive’s tale?
October 10th – I suspect this chap, getting some compact and much needed shut-eye on a waterside jetty at Newtown, Brownhills is the same smug cat I spotted a couple of weeks ago.
He was lazing in the mild afternoon, and with tail as draught excluder and warm on a plastic tarp, I suspect he could have been in heaven.
You have to admire the propensity of the everyday omg to nap just about anywhere.
September 3rd – Further on, and caught in a very grey moment, the heather near Newtown in Brownhills is stunning this year. A sea of speckled purple, it’s actually far more vibrant than this image shows.
Well worth a walk or ride along the canal to sea.
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!
May 17th – Only a short ride today, as my stomach was bad and I was busy with other stuff.
On the canal at Newtown, a familiar scum is developing, and I always get concerned mail from readers about it, who are justifiably concerned that the canal has been polluted by some foreign substance.
Well, it has and it hasn’t: but it’s nothing to worry about. The white film is the pollen and detritus from Sallow trees (Goat Willow) which bloom at this time of year and shed white fluff to the four winds – and it gathers on the canal surface, looking like some terrible contaminant.
It’s really a natural, organic thing and nothing to worry about.
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