Tag: Pratts Mill Bridge

May 5th On the way home I took the canal from Darlaston, in the hope of avoiding the worst of the wind. Nearing the factories near Pratts Mill Bridge, I noticed this swan, ostensibly asleep but clearly monitoring me on the far side of the canal, nurturing it’s clutch of eggs.

I wonder if it’s the swan couple that in previous years have nested in the old Gasworks Arm and Anson Junction in Pleck? No sign of them up there this year. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch sight of one of the parents leg-rings soon and find out for sure.

November 10th – I had to leave work mid morning and head up to Great Wyrley, which was a longer ride than I expected – but very enjoyable, all the same. On the way, I went up Green Lane, but on the way back, came through Leamore. I’d forgotten just how great the view was from the top of Pratts Mill Bridge; on a clear day a great view of St. Matthews, but even on this hazy, smoke-fogged day the view across the terrace rooftops was ace.

It makes me think of Douglas Dunn’s ‘On Terry Street’.

Walsall – always a surprise in store.

November 1st – After Thursday’s blurry rat backside photo, I received a complaint from a reader who’s rat phobic. Sorry, Linda, but I quite like them, and they are a part of our wildlife. I’ll try not to spring rattus norvegicus on you again without warning. 

I have suitably cautioned Linda about this post….

Rats and humans have a symbiotic relationship – they are intelligent, quick and scarily versatile adaptors, which has ensured their proliferation and survival, and despite their carrying of disease and filth, it is without doubt that without these guys cleaning up after us the human race would probably have died out by now.

Today I was riding back from the supermarket, and this healthy specimen was just on the towpath near Pratts Mill Bridge in Leamore. Braver than most, it hung around as I took its photo, before it darted for safety into the reeds next to me.

What I hadn’t seen was Mr. Whiskers looking sternly on from nearby. Rat for tea, possibly…