May 3rd – Nearby, in Pleck, a sight curiously not seen often, which is odd considering the proliferation of Canada geese: A nest being sat by a parent. Interestingly, unlike a swan nest, I could see no obvious partner nearby.
The sitter seemed comfortable, but the nest was much smaller than that of a swan.
It’s be interesting to see when the new arrivals make an appearance. I’d guess they’ll be hatching soon.
May 3rd – On the way to work on a sunny morning, the canal in central Walsall was beautiful.
All the weeks and months of riding in the rain, cold and dark, dreaming of rides like this.
Yet again, another winter is survived and the warmer, longer days are here: Nature is greening, the weather is good and the light is upon us.
Always worth the wait.
April 30th – Yes, spring continues although the expected weather has still failed to turn up for the gig.
Spotted in Pleck, Walsall, near the Scarborough Road bridge, a momma Mallard proudly marshalls her new ducklings away from the inquisitive human and to apparent safety.
First hatchlings I’ve seen this year. Always a joy to the heart.
April 23rd – Spotted on the canal near Bentley Bridge, what I though was beech leaves in emerald perfection are actually hornbeam I believe (Thanks to reader John for the tipoff).
Either way, their fresh-sprouted perfection is immaculate and beautiful.
April 10th – Always good to spot workboat Essington about on the local canals, even on a grey damp morning like today. Essington is the boat used by the mainly volunteer litter picking crews from the Canal and River Trust, who patrol stretches of local canal cleaning up the banks and water.
Today, the boat was moored in Pleck.
And after recent weather here, by heck we need it with the washed-in trash that’s everywhere at the moment.
The crew were clearly on their break – but my best wishes, and thanks go out to them for making the canals nicer for all of us. Bravo!
March 22nd – Still a nip in the air, but all along the canals of the Black Country, life is waking up, shaking off the taper of a long winter and getting on with nature’s imperative – and that included the waterfowl.
I notice lots of ducks, Canada geese and swans now closely paired for mating, busily courting each other and nest building.
A lovely sign that better days are on the way…
January 8th – Off to work on a miserable, grey and cold morning. I hit the canal in Walsall to avoid the morning crush hour and was accosted in Pleck by a very cross character demanding food. Sadly, my supply of corn was in another jacket, and the swan who was so aggressively begging showed it’s displeasure by repeatedly pecking my feet.
Of course, the swan was not starving, but urban swans are very lazy and accustomed to the high life, and when loafing in ice-free swim holes near bridges on cold days, they have little better to do that harass passers by for tidbits. I suspect the policy works best on passing mothers and fathers with children, whose guilt twanged, will come back with food.
The ice itself wasn’t severe. Moorhens and coots skittered about on it, but I doubt it would have supported the portly resplendent girth of your average drake mallard.
On the wonderful Dru Marland Canal Ice scale, I guess it was somewhere between IC2 and IC3. Check Dru out here: she’s wonderful.
November 6th – One of those cursed days when you don’t forget the camera, but you forget to put the card in, so it’s useless. Having to make do with the phone, I nipped into Walsall lunchtime from work in Darlaston, and on my way back, caught this remarkable shaft of sunlight on the canal near Bridgman Street.
It was a misty, soft sunlight day – presumably the remains of the firework-frenzy fug – and maybe that was what created it, but it was beautiful.
Just a shame I didn’t have a better camera to catch it with.
October 25th – Pleasingly, I escaped work in daylight, so took the chance to spin along the canal home. On the embankment at Pleck, the fly agaric are dying off now, after yet another spectacular display – but one or two good examples remain, like this huge one.
I have no idea what’s so favourable for these most traditional of toadstools, but there’s a huge quantity grow here. Right in the urban heart of Walsall.
You never can tell.
September 28th – My quest for fly agaric – the red and white spotted toadstool of folklore and fairytale – was satisfied today when I visited a familiar patch that unexpectedly exists between the Darlaston Road and canal in Walsall.
This edge land, under self-seeded silver birches at the top of the cutting, is host to the largest colony of these toadstools I’ve ever seen; there must be at least a hundred of them in various stages of life.
This is a remarkable find and confirms my suspicion that I’ve largely missed the season this year – they seem to have peaked earlier this year, but this spot which is quite hard to climb to contains some of the best, most perfect examples of the fungi I’ve ever seen.
All in one of the most built-up, urban patches of Walsall.
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