Tag: oilseed rape

July 26th – Passing through Stonnall on my way home, I noted the harvest has started, presumably to beat that morning’s rain, but it’s a sobering sight.

Near Lower Stonnall, the oilseed rape has been cut, the fields looking ragged and desolate, covered in the stalks, pods and shredded chaff that the harvester blows out after flailing out the precious black seeds.

Perhaps more strikingly, the field adjacent has already been harvested and ploughed over for the next crop. 

It feels uncomfortably like Autumn’s breath is on my shoulder…

May 7th – First decent ride out for a week or to, to be honest. An afternoon spin up through Lichfield, Alrewas and Cotton to Rosliston Forestry Centre for tea and cake, then back via Coton in the Elms, Netherseal, Chilcote, Honey Hill and Harlaston.

A harsh northern was challenging, but blew me home, and the sights were beautiful in the warm sun. The ducks are still about at Coton and if that one doesn’t have the spirit of Elvis in him, I’m a Dutch uncle.

Not sure what I did to offend the striped cat at Whittington, but it was well cross with me…

A lovely ride, marred only by the unwelcoming attitude, poor cake and service at Rosliston: a piece of advice to fellow cyclists – go to the Honeypot instead. Not only was I served heavy, poor cake in a polystyrene takeaway box, but was treated like an irritation at 4:30pm when advertised closing is 5pm, but staff having a break discussing how ‘cyclists shouldn’t be on the road’ made me vow never to give the place my custom ever again. 

April 27th – Also near Stonnall, a classic spring view: cottages at Mill Lane, Lynn surrounded by an ocean of bright yellow oilseed rape, the cheesy scent of which is filling the air in the backlanes at the moment.

It’s still way too cold, but the countryside is showing itself beautifully.

April 17th – When I set out, I wasn’t feeling the love; the afternoon was grey and cold and I really couldn’t detect a good ride in me. I was heading for cake at Fradley in an attempt to lift my mood. It worked.

The day didn’t warm any, but it became sunny, and I found myself pulled along the cycleway through Barton and Dunstall, crossing Sinai Park to Burton.

Burton was gorgeous – I forgot the Ferrybridge and extraordinary River Gardens; this is a very beautiful place. 

Seeing the commercial deer herd at Dunstall was nice, and the oilseed rape and avenue at Sbobnall made me feel so much better.

Returning in the gathering dusk, I was heartened to see work had been going on at the long vacant Drakelow power station site and it’s now home to a 5MW solar power farm, feeding straight into the national grid.

A positive, beautiful ride I wasn’t expecting.

April 9th – A 35 mile recovery ride for tea and cake on the following day didn’t go so well though. With technical issues and some spills the ride didn’t start well, and like a fool, I headed out with a punishing wind flat behind me.

The ride out was beautifully sunny and warm, and the oilseed rape at Middleton was beautiful.

As I rode from Middleton up the canal to Tamworth, someone flicked a switch and the nascent summer instantly was turned off. A harsh, cold wind and overcast skies battled me all the way home.

It was harder to ride 35 miles today that the 111 I rode the day before.

March 18th – Talking of swans, here’s a flock of about 100 grazing on a field of young oilseed rape near Wetleyhay, between Whittington and Fradley, today.

This behaviour isn’t often witnessed by urban swan fans, but large congregations of these birds will often descend on open farmland to feed from young crops and can actually totally strip a field in no more than a few days.

This presents quite a challenge to farmers, who know public opinion isn’t on their side. In frequently targeted areas, farmers will often zig-zag tapes across vulnerable fields to make landing difficult for the swans.

Whilst we all love these large, beautiful birds, it can’t be very easy for farmers to lose their crops in this way…

July 31st – Rain is predicted for next week, so Home Farm at Sandhills were taking no chances, and when I passed by on the canal, the oilseed rape was being harvested.

The combine didn’t come close enough for me to work out how it was working, but it blew out a constant stream of chopped plant matter presumably with the oily black seeds threshed out. The machine really was shifting and the whole thing dramatic and impressive, throwing up clouds of dust as it worked.

I’ve often wondered how producing such tiny seeds for oil can be viable, but it clearly is. It seems a long time since these fields were glowing yellow with the bloom of it…

July 8th – Short morning at work on a very windy, wolf of a day – beautiful to look at, but a the very devil to ride on. A short run over to Lichfield in the late afternoon via Chasewater was rewarded with beautiful views of ripening oilseed rape and wheat in fields around hHome Farm at Sandhills. 

A lovely afternoon but hard work on the bike!

May 4th – Summer seems finally to be on it’s way in. A warm, sunny day during which I had to visit telford, where the tulips in the station flowerbed are divine. On the way back from Lichfield, the daffodils were still strong in the hedgerows, and the oilseed rape was burning yellow in the fields.

Sunshine, it’s so good to have you back… please stay awhile.

April 25th – A 45 miler over to Walton on Trent and back through Lullington on what started as quite a bright afternoon but soon turned to rain. I got soaked, several times. It was cold. But the riding was quite fast, and nature really is trying to call on the warmer days – the oilseed rape is out, I found an isolated bluebell wood, birds and animals are busy, and even a few daffodils are hanging on. 

I was really interested to note at Wetleyhay north of Whittington that there are many, many solar panels being erected in the fields there to form solar farms. Great to see, and can only be a good thing for the environment and our energy security.