Tag: oak

September 22nd – a bright, sunshine autumn day. A ride through Staffordshire. My goodness, it was nippy as evening fell. It’s been one hell of a bad year for the oaks. I’ve previously recorded the absolute plague of knopper galls around Brownhills, devastating the acorn crop, and I’ve hardly seen any unharmed ones at all. Out in Staffordshire the story was the same. The ones that aren’t victim to the tiny, drilling wasp are small and sickly, affected by the lousy summer.

I hope they (and we) have a better time next year. To me, oaks are the epitome of the English tree, and when they suffer, I feel we all do a little bit.

January 3rd – after a rough morning (the stomach still not giving me any respite, to be honest) I perked up in the afternoon and again braved the wind. Since my range and energy reserve were limited, I tacked round through Walsall Wood and let the wind blow me up through Holly Bank and Shire Ridge to Shire Oak Nature reserve. I hadn’t been here since spring, and the character had completely changed. Incredibly, the gorse was just passing through the far side of it’s second flowering, and the bogs and pools in the hollows of this former sand and gravel quarry had once again been enlivened by the rains. The thing that impressed me most, however, was the birdlife.

November 5th – inspired by Jodiesnaturewalks, I popped into Goblin Wood in Green Lane, Walsall Wood, to see if I could spot any deer. Sadly, I was out of luck; but this was the first time for ages that I’d visited this copse. I think it must be one of the oldest, and and certainly one of the last remaining oak and holly copses for miles around. There’s a real sense of antiquity here, and the wood is well loved by locals, generations of which have played here as kids. It’s nice to see this wood now enjoys protected status.

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October 10th – by the time I reached the top of Shire Oak Hill, dusk had fallen and the lights were coming on. This was dismal, I loathe and detest the enforced loss of light. Yet, even so, balancing the camera on the quarry gates and taking a timed shot of the view to Lichfield made for a wistful, evocative view of the Old Lady of the Vale. I will get used to it, but for a few days at least, I will mourn the coming darkness. Was it really summer a week ago?