August 27th – Returning to Brownhills that evening, I stopped to look at these shrubs growing by the Pier Street bridge on the towpath. I’ve been peripherally aware of them for ages, but not studied them before.
I have no idea what they are, and the blooms – now mostly over – seem almost prehistoric.
I’ve never noticed this before and am curious as to what it is. I’ve not seen it anywhere else locally and it appears to be thriving. Is it a garden escapee?
July 30th – Another plant mystery. Are these white currants of some kind? Large, glossy and surprisingly white, they’re growing in a hedge near Four Oaks.
Any ideas, please?
January 15th – also seemingly decaying unloved is the old Veolia plant on the Lindon Road on the border between Walsall Wood and Brownhills. Once a chemical waste disposal site, it started life as Effluent Disposal, and went through a number of incarnations before being purchased by Veolia, who’ve since built a new HQ at Cannock, leaving this place vacant.
It appears to have resident security on site, as one would expect.
There was talk of this place being converted into a food processing factory, which seemed bizarre, given the history. The site was up for sale for ages. It’s hard to think of what it could be next, really.
I imagine any estate agent has a challenge on their hands shifting this.
August 12th – This is strange. I spotted it growing in the thicket by the cycleway in Telford. The plant itself looks like maybe a rose or some kind of bramble, the the growth ar the top is totally alien to me.
It’s about the size of a golf ball, maybe a bit bigger. Is it some kind of parasite, like an oak gall? Genetic mutation? Or even some kind of uncommon species?
Help invited… it is kind of beautiful.
August 4th – I ought to know what this is; I can’t remember and the book is in elsewhere. The nettle-ish leaves have me confused. It’s a lovely shade of purple and one single instance (that I’ve found) is in bloom by the canal at Birchills.
Susan, help!
February 28th – On Monday, I took some photos of the Weinerberger brickworks marlpit near Stubbers Green. At the time, extraction wasn’t in progress, but as I passed this afternoon, far below me in the quarry, the red marl was being loaded into a continuous chain of trucks to be hauled to surface factory for moulding into bricks. Digging will continue for hours in a precise, designed pattern. The marl is surprisingly dry, and there is still lots here. This extraction will continue for some time to come yet.
September 1st – I guess it really is coming on to autumn now. I spun out around five o’clock and noticed the sun was already low in the sky. That was really sobering. I slipped up to Chasewater for a quick nose around, and then over to Walsall Wood along the canal. On the way back down the canal, I noted the basin at Ogley Junction was still host to the buttes and stricken dredger that had sunk during operations at Anglesey Basin earlier in the year. Somebody must own this equipment, and it’s been stuck here for months now. I can’t be cheap to buy this stuff, so I’m wondering what the deal is. You can’t just forget about such plant, can you?
Having said that, if you look closely, behind the blue dredger is a white one, just visible. It’s been there, in dry dock, brand new and unused for pushing 3 years now. It’s called ‘Hamster’, and British Waterways – now a charitable trust called the Canal & River Trust – seem to have completely forgotten it exists, too. Mystifying, and it says much about the shambles that is waterway management in the UK.
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