Tag: sandhills

October 7th -The Saturday was just as grey, and seeking fresh air I went out in steady rain, dried off for a short while, then returned home again in penetrating drizzle.

My seasonal barometer, the horse chestnut at Home Farm, Sandhills is currently wearing autumn colours, and will soon be naked once more, it’s green majesty having pleased me throughout the summer. Now it’s the turn of the fungus, and on the bank near Wharf Lane on the canal, where I thought there were to be none this year, the fly agaric are having a riot amongst the ferns under the silver birches.

It looks like contrary to my previous assertions, the fairytale red fungus with white spots is having another excellent year.

September 10th – A miserable, wet and grey day with high winds kept me hemmed in until late afternoon, when despite being caught by a couple of heavy squalls, the skies cleared and the sun came out for a while.

I contented myself with a loop of Brownhills and Chasewater and explored some things I’d been meaning to check out for a while, and it wasn’t a bad, but chilly and damp ride.

Some of the views – when the sun caught the spray and the rain sparkled in the light – were gorgeous.

It seems the Indian summer I was hoper for is not to be this year.

August 7th – On the way home and travelling through Stonnall after a tiring day of firefights and frustration, I stopped on Cartersfield Lane to watch as drifting smoke obscured the distant pumping station. My astonishment was short lived though when I got nearer and realised it was the same wheat-dust from the same machine working in a different field to the evening before.

Combine harvesters really are the most fascinating machines. 

Harvest must be like the ultimate triumph of the year for an arable farmer, and the hard work and long hours are clear. I bet the dust isn’t much fun in that thing either.

Good to see the harvest home.

August 6th  Dusk was falling on my return from Chasewater and at Home Farm, the harvest I had foreseen the day before was underway before expected rains appeared, and the farmer was working into the evening. Clouds of dust rose from the combine, and for all the world looked like it was on fire.

I feel really sad this year at Summer’s passing; I have enjoyed the warm days so much, with the sun and flowers. I guess again, I will endure winter and the cold and dark and come to enjoy it after initial resistance as I always do. I just wish the warmth had a fairer share of the year…

August 5th – A day when I wasn’t feeling great. People I love are leaving for long holidays, which will make my personal life unusually quiet for a few weeks, and I had a dreadful migraine that disturbed my vision and made it impossible to read or concentrate.

I went out late to do some shopping, and spun out to Chasewater along the canal. The day had been squally, but right now there were blue skies and sun, and I admired the fields of wheat running across Home Farm to Sandhills. I guess these will be harvested soon as the adjacent oilseed rape has been, and the cycle resets for another year.

Today, I felt sad, but the sun and air did me good. But inside, the weeks of quiet to come were making me down.

July 30th – The weather was sunny with squally, heavy showers and due to domestic complications I didn’t get out until late in the afternoon. When I did, I didn’t have a great deal of energy and the wind was a bit fierce so I took a leisurely bible to Chasewater and the surrounding area for a few hours.

With the bad weather it was very quiet, and also a splendid day for chasing rainbows.

I note the harvest is underway at Home Farm, Sandhills; that the birds foot trefoil has been rejuvenated by the recent rain; that the little pond right by the Burntwood bypass is absolutely teeming with busy water snails and that cows are roaming the north heath as well as the spillway area. 

It was a very dramatic day with some lovely sights but I do wish the settled weather would return for a bit.

July 23rd – A somnambulant, headache-grey day followed a night during which a work call out had prevented me getting any sleep at all. I slipped out early in the afternoon to sunshine and showers from a shifting, occasionally azure blue, occasionally black sky,

I drifted up to Chasewater, and on the way took a look at the crops in Home Farm fields at Sandhills. Both the oilseed rape and wheat are near ripeness now and I bet as soon as the rain dries off, the harvesting will be game on.

And so the year and season advances a notch.

June 27th – Another beautiful weed is the thistle. There seems to be a very large variety of these spiny, prehistoric looking plants, and their strains seem endlessly complex – but whether a light mauve like these at Shire Oak Hill or a pink or deep, deep purple, they are all gorgeous and fascinating, particularly in the hostel-looking buds.

June 27th – Another grim, overcast day threatening rain but there is always brightness in a midsummer gloom – and here, it’s ragwort.

Another yellow weed that’s usually overlooked and indeed hated by horse owners, to whose animals it’s poisonous, this is actually a beautiful wayside flower that feeds bugs aplenty and keeps pollinators busy.

Many of what we would ordinarily class as weeds are very, very beautiful if we stop and look closely.

June 3rd – I rode out on an annual pilgrimage – to the Klondyke Mill steam fair at Draycott in the Clay near Sudbury, and had a great afternoon of very English entertainment. From there, the afternoon was pleasant enough so I headed for Scropton, Tutbury, Rolleston, Horninglow, SInai Park, Tatenhill, Barton and then home via Walton upon Trent, Croxall and Whittington. A nice 68 miler in decent warm and sunny weather, topped off by a beautiful sunset over Brownhills as I returned home. 

The day was great, the little villages sublime and the golden hour – haunted by the blackest, most threatening cloud was superb.