Tag: oilseed rape

April 3rd – Up near Wall, the old cricket pitch was ploughed up a few years ago now by the farmer who owned it, leaving the portakabin pavilion – which must have cost a few bob to install – marooned. 

It’s so sad to see the cricket pitch gone; many a Sunday or Saturday afternoon as a young man I’d pass here with a game in full swing and sit and watch with maybe a beer on the go.

Remarkably, the in and out field are now supporting a healthy, blooming crop of oilseed rape, which seems a wee bit early for me – but it is beautiful.

Three years ago this weekend I found a car still abandoned in deep snow not half a mile from here. How the seasons in this country vary.

July 31st – Early morning, just after dawn, Mill Green in Aldridge. By heavens, it was cold; very cold for a summer morning. But it was sunny, and over this ripening field of oilseed rape, the sun passed and rendered it golden.

Interestingly wide field-margin, too – that’s got to be good for wildlife.

June 2nd – A grey, windy morning, but the temperature was rising. Running around on errands in the morning after the rain had stopped, I noticed all these wonderful wildflowers on one roadside verge neat Tipton.

There are all sorts here from common but beautiful daisies to oilseed rape, gone  feral near the crash barrier.

It may have been a chilly, grey spring, but the flora is thriving, and I don’t think I’ve ever known a spring this lush and beautiful.

May 3rd – An old cycling friend of mine whom I used to meet occasionally in the lanes of Staffordshire – the late, lamented Maurice Purser, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 93 and still rode when he was 90 – would have referred to today as a ‘wolf of a day’, in that it looked nice and friendly, but was vicious with teeth and claws. The sun was out, it was clear as a bell. It was even a tad warmer – but there was the kind of punishing, relentless wind you get in May that makes cycling in the wrong direction a joyless, unpleasant chore.

I kept close to home, and visited some places I knew would benefit from clear air and sunlight; Lazy Hill, Thornes Hill and the the church at Stonnall, and Grove Hill. I drank in the views, enjoyed the oilseed rape and noted that from Lazy Hill the wind turbine near Whittington was clearly visible. The aspect from the rear of the churchyard – just beyond the fence – was as wonderful as ever, a veritable walk across Stonnall’s rooftops. Up on Grove Hill I was buffeted by the wind and took several attempts at the panorama.

This is our area at it’s best, and worst: a grand day that presented the scenery beautifully, but was just too hostile to cycle out to see it.

April 26th – Out late afternoon for a fast spin out to Hints via Canwell, Weeford and Shenstone. It was a gorgeous day with a grim north wind – but the sun and shade more than made up for it. I didn’t have much time to stop, but the oilseed rape was at full blast, and everything looked fresh and green. 

I note with sadness that the magnolia at Hints Church -which is normally stunning – seems to have had a bad year, poor thing.

April 22nd – A spin around Stonnall on an errand on the way home, and it’s getting to late spring, early summer, or at least it feels that way: warm air, surrounded by flowers and greening hedgerows and trees. I seems a world away from the scene here a few short weeks ago.

It’s also hard to imagine that on April 5th, 2013, there was still snow on these fields.

One of the most charming and frustrating things about cycling in Britain is the weather. You never know quite what’s going to happen next…

April 19th – I still wasn’t feeling great, and added to which I was having trouble with the computer, so I slid out on a changeable, but mostly sunny afternoon for a scoot over to Chasewater, Lichfield, Wall, Chesterfield and back home. It cheered me up no end – the oilseed rape was just coming into flower, and it was one of those high-contrast days that make for dramatics skies and nice photos.

I love how the tulip looks like it’s got a tiny, tarantula-type creature inside. 

April 5th – I wasn’t terribly well, so with a heavy heart and bad stomach I left in the afternoon for a ride to Lichfield. As often happens, I was on my cyclic antidepressant, and after 30 minutes of riding, felt better. The ride to Lichfield became a ride through Huddlesford, Wetleyhay, Roddige and Croxall. Back to Elford, Whittington and home, it worked out to a nice 45 miles, and I felt loads better for it. It was a gorgeous day.

Early oilseed rape is coming into boom at Elford, where I noticed the stone guy with the club I’d never registered before. The Tame looked peaceful at Whitemoor Haye, and pheasants pottered at field margins. 

The posh house at Thatchmoor had peacocks and other fancy fowl roaming the lawn; anyone know what the peculiar-looking black and white bird is, please?

A great ride that perked me up no end.

August 3rd – Still laying off the long rides for the sake of my sore foot, I had to run some errands and get some shopping in – so I headed on a sunny, but windy afternoon to Morrisons at Burntwood.

A lovely day, for sure – and the harvest at Home Farm, Sandhills, had started, but the wheat still wasn’t ripe enough. Hopefully, it will be before the next lot of rains midweek…

July 29th – The harvest actually started a few days ago, but I was in too much of a hurry that night to get home, there was no time to stop and take photos. This was a field of oilseed rape, on the corner of Green Lane and Mob Lane, just by Grange Farm, in Walsall Wood. The dry plant has been harvested for it’s tiny, black seeds, threshed out of their pots by complex harvesting machinery. The pods, chaff and stalks are shredded, and sprayed back out on the ground to be ploughed back in.

Once the harvest starts, you know the season is marching onwards…