December 12th – A wet, horrible day, but a remarkable, surprising find – a rosy earthstar.
This curious thing, looking like plasticine or glazed ceramic, is a fungus like toadstools. It’s relatively rare, and I’ve never seen one before. It’s in a bunch of about 5 in various stages of life on a small patch of CLayhanger Common, and I spotted it entirely by chance.
A great find on a very unpleasant day.
October 25th – The fungi are still going strong. On the common I found plenty of fly agaric at various ages, from globular and spotty fresh young caps to plate-like washed out pink and smooth. I also found a shroom I didn’t recognise, and had to look up. This is certainly a cortinarius, either cinnamon or bicolour. They’re a lovely chestnut, almost chocolate colour, and the gills are fascinating.
I’ve never seen them before and my big book of fungi says they’re fairly rare, so I’m quite pleased spot them.
June 17th – This is joyous.On the banks of the new pond at Clayhanger, what I believe to be northern marsh orchids growing in profusion. The grass is not cut here, and there must be 40 or so of these beautiful purple flowers. They are doing well, and they’re just gorgeous.
The whole bank running down from the towpath is a carpet of wildflowers, and alive with bugs and bees.
There are usually a few marsh orchids on the towpath up towards Aldridge, but the Canal and River Trust’s ferocious and inflexible mowing schedule means that all the best specimens have this year been shredded to pulp in the name of tidiness.
Let’s hope the mowing zealots don’t spot these…
May 23rd – On my way home, I rode past the JCB plant at Rochester. The huge factory has a landscaped park in front of it containing large lakes fed by the river Churnet. On one, I was lucky enough to spot the two resident black swans, who are noted for their presence here.
Australian imports, these birds are uncommon and very grumpy that I wanted to photograph them. I love the white stripe on their bills.
A lovely thing to see.
5th September – At the top of Digbeth High Street in Birmingham, one of about 130 or so left.
Highly unusual, it captures a fleeting moment in British history. Been meaning to feature this for some time – and it’s not the only one in Brum, either.
A fine bit of British quirkyness on a fun afternoon.
August 20th – In late summer, in an overcast moment, Coppice (or Goblin) Woods between Walsall Wood and Shelfield are silent, dark and beautiful.
I think this is probably the oldest oak and holly deciduous woodland for miles and miles around. This is very traditional British woodland, of which there is precious little left.
If you fancy a walk out this weekend, why not pop down and explore it?
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