Tag: red

#365daysofbiking Blackbirds and bees

July 2nd – On the same industrial estate, a treat for the bees and bugs is blooming beautifully – cotoneaster, a stable of urban hedgerows and borders.

The tiny pink-red flowers are a bee magnet and every bush is alive with visiting insects, but not just that: These flowers turn into sugar-laden orange-red berries beloved of blackbirds and other songbirds in autumn, helping get the avian locals through winter.

Everywhere you look right now, nature is helping itself get along. It really is beautiful.

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#365daysofbiking Poppy red

June 16th – Looks like it’s going to be a good year for crop-field poppies: The gorgeous effect where these delightful flowers bloom amongst agricultural crops and present patches or whole fields of red.

At Stubby Leas near Elford, this gorgeous patch of big red flowers in a field of oilseed rape were absolutely delightful and a patch of brightness after the sun had gone in.

The feathery, fussy and lovely flower was found growing in a ditch, beside the quarry at Sittles, all by itself.

You can’t mention poppies without thinking of the symbolism of Remembrance and they are so beautifully appropriate.

You certainly never forget with these lovely tributes occurring naturally.

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#365daysofbiking A rose between two thorns

May 7th – Further up the canal at Bentley Bridge near Darlaston Green, another sign of spring: The roses are flowering on the edge of the canal – rather poetically between scrapyards either side of the canal, between which the green vein of the canal ambles, being beautiful.

The roses smell gorgeous and are a true joy to the heart in such grey times.

I don’t know where the warmth and sun are hiding but we could do with them back. But in the meantime, this is a wonderful burst of brightness for sure.

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#365daysofbiking Way out west

May 6th – It wasn’t a bad day, really, and thanks to some emergency help from a doctor, I had some good medication and felt much, much better.

So I did what I always do when improving: Get on my bike.

This season I want to expand my horizons a bit. I want to explore places I’ve not been in years. So I thought I’d make a start by heading west rather than north or east.

West is difficult from Brownhills. Beyond Great Wyrley is miles of lovely, rolling countryside, but sadly, Great Wyrley and Cannock are in the way. When the motorway and bypasses came through, it left few peaceful, viable paths to the countryside of the west, meaning getting to it is a chore.

But as I reminded myself today with a 52 mile bimble, it’s actually gorgeous when you make the effort. So I will. Far more often.

I went via Norton, Washbrook, then into Wyrley, Landywood and Shareshill. Up through Hilton Park, Saredon to Four Ashes, then on to the canal north to Penkridge, Acton Trussell and Milford, and from there down the main roads to Rugeley and back over Red Hill and Chorley.

A really fine ride, sadly in mostly grey, cold weather but the scenery – and lack of discomfort – more than made up for it.

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#365daysofbiking Hello ladies

April 28th – A day marred by a bad stomach so I busied myself with other things and headed out late in the afternoon for a circuit of Chasewater, Burntwood, Wall and Stonnall.

At Chasewater, it seems the small group of deer who have been hanging around the spillway heath at Anglesey Basin are still there.

The fece doesn’t trouble them, they just hop over as required.

Odd too see people walking past without stopping – deer used to be a spectacle here but it seems now they’re as familiar as the cattle on the north shore.

I still can’t quite believe they’re here.

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#365daysofbiking Hair and gone

March 23rd – Meanwhile, over with the red deer at Chasewater, the seasonal moult has started, and the ladies who looked so healthy and fine a week ago now look like threadbare old rugs. They are also covered in dried mud, which they roll in to try and liberate the irritating cold weather coat.

It’s natural of course, to lose the winter coat, and the scruffiness will soon pass; but my favourite ladies always look so grim at this time of year.

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#365daysofbiking Following the herd

March 9th – A terrible long range photo in awful light but a huge herd of red deer were loafing in the fields near Gains Lane, between Pelsall and Great Wyrley. In total I think somewhere around 40 animals were there in total – more were appearing from the scrub behind as I watched.

Wonderful to see of course but only a short distance from the M6 Toll, the A5 and a major junction complex.

It’s great to see the deer around but I do worry about them.

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#365daysofbiking Downtown lights

February 16th – Another long exposure experiment, Morris from the front of the Parkview Centre (the old Council House) gives a different aspect with the light trails from passing traffic.

I need to try this again when it’s busier – maybe panned out to get the curious saddleback contour fo the roundabout to show.

But its nice to get this wonderful statue with less of the usual blue light tint to the image.

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#365daysofbiking Regrouping:

 

February 10th – there were a very large number of deer on the north heath – loafing in the marsh, and up in the woods towards Fly bay. There must have been 45 or so.

Of course, they always regather in herds in spring, and the animals were content to browse the scrub, meadow and heather and doze in the copses.

I still can’t believe we have these wonderful animals right here on our doorsteps. They are so beautiful.

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#365daysofbiking Slipping the reins

Christmas Day – Just lately my deer magnet has been very poor – I hadn’t seen deer close enough to get a decent photograph for weeks if not months.

Luckily, I spotted these fine reds in the scrub at Chasewater North Heath just by the bypass. I gently ushered them over the trail and back into the park – for all the good it will do.

We don’t have reindeer wild here, but the reds made a special Christmas treat. Good to see them.

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