May 2nd – On an errand to Lichfield, I stopped at the crossing to get over the A51 near the Friary. I looked to my right over Festival Gardens. I spotted this.
This… is gorgeous. Mother and child on a carpet of fallen blossom petals. No idea who they were, but I wish them the very best.
A wonderful thing to see on a dull Friday afternoon.
April 28th – There are a couple of unsung hedgerow stars at the moment. For everyone else, right now it seems to be about oilseed rape, bluebells, and cherry blossom. But look around. Pretty much everything is having a great year so far. The dandelions – the yellow, beautifully delicate yet ubiquitous wildflower – are really, really prolific. The apple blossom too is astonishing in its density and clarity.
It might be about the spring classics right now, but look beyond them and there’s a whole host of other stuff just trying to get your attention.
These were all on a very short section of canal bank in Walsall Wood.
April 27th – I was working throughout the day, and only got out late evening. It was threatening rain, and dusk was bearing down. I then realised I’d forgotten the camera, so had to use my phone. It didn’t really like the light, I think.
Nice to see that in the last week my favourite tree – the lone horse chestnut near Home Farm, Sandhills, has burst into leaf; I read the seasons by that tree, and now I know safe passage to summer is guaranteed. The canal all the way round to Newtown (and probably well beyond) is lush, and green, and beautiful. How I love this season.
Cruising up Short Street, I spotted the sky, and shot home before I got soaked. Interesting to note, though, that the street lights here have been changed for new LED ones; they’re very good, and are creeping onto many streets in Brownhills. Wonder what the rollout plan is?
So much nicer than the old orange ones.
April 22nd – I rode Telford’s cycleways on my way to work. It was raining. The raindrops and fresh greenery made it simply beautiful.
April 21st – Not a bad bank holiday, all-in-all. It started grey, but by the time I got out at 2pm the weather was brighter and warmer than it had been for days. It was hazy, and the sun was breaking through occasionally. I headed out to Harlaston again – but this time, I went by a direct route, and at Clifton Campville, headed to Lullington and Coton in the Elms. From there to Rosliston, then back along the Trent and Tame to Lichfield and home.
The north-easterly was a grim wind to head out into, and it was quite a battle, but it was nice to have it behind me on my return.
Note that the cherry blossom in Whittington – the top picture – is a good two weeks earlier than a similar picture I have from May 4th, 2010. It certainly has been an early spring this year.
April 19th – I was fiddling with a mechanical fault all day. I love my bikes, but the gears can be perplexing when not quite right. I spun out late to Chasewater, and unexpectedly bumped into a good friend while I was there, which brightened me up no end. On the way, I noticed the oilseed rape at Hammerwich was looking gorgeous. Still not quite peaked, it’s a lovely colour nonetheless, and I love how the tractor trails in the crop highlight the landscape contours.
As long as I live I’ll always love this changing, fascinating landscape.
April 16th – Of course, the real star of this year’s Springs Got Talent is the blossom, which has been extraordinarily abundant this year. Apple and ornamental cherry line the cyclepaths of Telford. The falling petals are a delight, and shower any passing cyclist with confetti, like some groom of the spring.
Fantastic stuff.
April 14th – Clayhanger Common is wonderful. On this sunny, spring afternoon, it was green, clean and beautiful. The meadow looked verdant, and the forget-me-nots, cowslips and dandelions were all well in flower.
The new pond too – usually the last place to green-up in spring, is looking great, although the swans don’t seem to be nesting here this year yet.
There’s little here to indicate the polluted, barren wasteland this all once was. A fantastic thing.
April 13th – Up on the Chase properly for the first time in ages. I rode up through Chasewater, Cuckoo Bank and over Rainbow Hill to Birches Valley; then up Penkridge Bank, the old ranges and Abrahams Valley.
It’s a good spring up there this year – everything so green and fresh. It was wonderful, although yesterday’s punishing westerly remained, making the going very tough at times.
I think my deer magnet needs retuning. They took one look at me today from afar, and walked off…
April 10th – returning down the dam, another sign of spring. The bugs have risen.
This isn;t a murmuration of starlings, or even a flock of sparrows. I don’t know exactly what they are, but the air was thick with drifting, buzzing, irritating clouds of insects that got in my hair, eyes and clothes.
Interesting how they all seem to emerge at exactly the same natural trigger point. In a day or so, they’ll be gone.
An annoying, but fascinating beit of nature.
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