January 5th – Heading off to Walsall for the evening, the sunset looked great from the Black Cock Bridge, but I couldn’t get a good angle on it, and I was in a hurry. A couple of hurried shots over Jockey Meadows would have to do. It was warm, and fairly still; it was like spring. I know it’s not really spring – we’ve had no cold weather as such, and it’s early January, after all – but aconites are out in my garden, and the birds were singing in the gathering dusk.
A man can dream, eh?
May 20th – The greening is now in earnest. All over Cannock Chase and the Shugborough Estate, nature is doing it’s damnedest to get our attention. From Brindley Heath to Severn Springs, Milford to Haywood everything is a fluorescent, vibrant, verdant shade of growth. To be in England: can there be anywhere finer right now?
By the way: Cycling over the Shugborough Estate at 8pm, when all the tourists have gone is the way to see it. Hardly a soul, and very, very peaceful.
May 17th – I had a huge amount to think about on the way home from work tonight. It was a warm, pleasant afternoon, so I took NCN5 from Walsall and headed through Pelsall and up the old railway to Chasewater for a bit of quiet contemplation. I hadn’t been up this track for a few weeks – in fact, since I saw the deer here last month. It was now wearing it’s late-spring jacket of fluorescent green. In the greening times, this path transforms into an emerald tunnel, almost totally cut off from its surroundings, permanently damp and scented with growth, flowering and earth.
May 15th – The wild garlic, or ramsons as it is occasionally known, is a blast right now. There’s a glade of it growing on the riverbank of the River Arrow, just in a copse adjacent to Ipsley Meadows on the Arrow Valley cycle route. To enter this shaded, secluded place is a full-scale assault on the senses; the heady smell of garlic is strong; the carpet of white flowers gorgeous. The sound, too, of birds singing in the trees above. The foliage of the plant can be eaten and used in cooking, as can the flowers. A wonderful thing, to be sure.
May 15th – Today, I found myself in Redditch, and blessed all day with that smug, just managed to avoid the rain glow. I haven’t been down the Arrow Valley cycle route for ages, and in today’s bright sunlight, it was a verdant gem. The varieties of colour in the different trees nd grasslands, coupled with the water of the river and central lake made for a spot I could happily have spent all day in. A joy to the heart.
May 12th – I shot around Stonnall, Shenstone, Little Hay, Canwell, Hints and Hopwas. I had the sun on my back and speed in my wheels. The countryside was beautiful, with the most vibrant greens and yellows. Birdsong was all around, and I really had the sense of nature going about it’s seasonal business. The canal between Hopwas and Hademore was limpid and placid, and the return through Lichfield was equally lovely. Can there be anywhere finer than South Stafforshire on a sunny late spring day?
May 12th – I took great ride out through South Staffordshire, but it started by checking out the swans on the canal at the back of Sadler Road in Brownhills. I was concerned to see both birds off the nest, and feeding from bread left by walkers nearby. `it was a warm day, but having seen Mrs. Swan fretting over her clutch of eggs the evening before, I felt sure this was bad…. I went on my way with a somewhat heavy heart.
May 9th – This morning was lovely. Not as nice as the day before, but warm and still. There’s definitely a change in the air, maybe a little summer is creeping in at last. On my way to Shenstone, I noticed how Lynn Lane had taken on the colours of foliage and growth. I love this time of year.
May 8th – I guess we’re coming on to summer now, although the temperature and general changeability of the weather doesn’t suggest it. Emboldened by the rain, Jockey Meadows, at Walsall Wood, and the surrounding countryside is beginning to look really fresh, clean and green. I’ve always adored the cinematic landscape here. Similarly, overlooking the new pond at Clayhanger, where a whole range of deciduous trees give a spread of greens.
Sadly, tomorrow the rain looks set to return. Come on sun, please!
April 27th – Returning from work, I was caught in yet another rainstorm. I had to go to Brownhills, and it was grim. Traffic was backed up, the wind was gusting and I was sodden and sullen. As I came from Lichfield along Barracks Lane, though, a sight of summer caught my eye; anonymous, usually unnoticed, a gateway. Today, even in the pouring rain, it was green, verdant. Purple flowers speckled the long grass, bursting out around it. I marvelled at it for a least ten minutes. I’m beginning to think I may have a screw loose.
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