Tag: Stonnall

September 5th – Ah, Autumn. Or is it? I guess we’re on the cusp, really. It’s cold; it was very chilly out today, and the hedgerows and copses of Hammerwich, Wall and Stonnall were full of large, juicy blackberries and other fruits. The elderberries and sloes are blackening up. There’s hints of brown and yellow in the leaves. The light is soft.

In a spot I know in the backlanes, apples hang off the branches of wild trees. Pippins and russets have done well this year – sweet and crunchy, when I took a look, they were falling to the ground and being eaten by wasps.

Good to see them.

August 31st – Couldn’t stay in on August Bank Holiday Monday, even though it was grey and wet. My irritation was compounded by setting out without some important supplies, so called in to the shops at Stonnall. 

This ginger puss has been lurking around the shops here for a few weeks. I noticed a shopkeeper feeding it, and it also seems fond of sitting outside the Indian restaurant and the chip shop. It looks too clean and in too good a condition to be stray, so I suspect it’s a local opportunist.

Whatever the domestic status, it’s a lovely, friendly, affectionate puss who welcomes all passing, and on this wet day seemed happy to hold court under the shelter of the shop canopies.

August 15th – Returning by train because I was short of time, I cycled from Blake Street through the backlanes of Footherley and Stonnall on a beautiful, slightly chilly evening. My energy reserves were very low, and the ride was hard going, which can only have been due to the recent ill-health.

Still, the sun set fire a glorious golden hour and the fields were rendered beautiful. Even the horse chestnuts hit by leaf miners were gorgeous in the late sunlight.

Is that autumn’s breath I can feel on my shoulder?

August 5th – I was feeling OK, it was just after sunrise on a bright summer day and so I decided to head to work via Aldridge and the Chester Road at Stonnall, just to catch Grove Hill in the soft light. There seems to be a crop of potatoes growing around the iconic tree, but the lower field of wheat has been harvested.

In the early morning light the stubble looked golden and beautiful, and I was puzzled by the one remaining stack of square straw bales. You don’t see many square ones these days. Unusual.

I love this spot and haven’t photographed it for ages. But it changes little, and always retains it’s magic.

July 30th – Coming home from Shenstone, I noticed the harvest had started at Lynn, and the grain trailers were filling, clouds of corn-dust blowing over the fields and that familiar scent in the air. 

At Sandhills, the first blackberries ripen by the roadside, while the oats at Home Farm have already been harvested. Interestingly, when I took the photo of Ogley Hay church over the fields, I didn’t spot the red deer in shot…

July 28th – Returning home from Telford, unusually these days, I took the train to Shenstone and rode from there. It was against the wind, but a lovely ride: the fields are full of life and everywhere looks beautiful in summer colours.

Lots of maize about this year, interestingly in fields it was in before; clearly, crop rotation not a big priority. The crops are growing tall around Stonnall, and lush green, like a jungle. It’s a most un-British crop in that it’s so tall.

Also prevalent this season are spuds – acres and acres of them around Springhill. I wonder where they all go?

May 30th – I have a new camera to try out. I usually use a Panasonic TZ70, but having used that brand for 8 years, I often try alternatives to see how they are when I get chance.

Courtesy of a generous friend, I’m currently using a Nikon S9900… and I rather like it. With similar ultra zoom performance, it seems a bit more solidly build, and I have to say, in most situations I’ve used it in, the camera has produced excellent images.

They seem a little vivid, but the macro mode is excellent, and much better than I’m used to, as I found when I tried it on various flowers.

I have this for a couple of weeks, so plenty of time to find the issues, I guess.

May 3rd – Another spot that benefited from the sunshine and offered some shelter from the wind was Fishpond Wood, which I’d taken such a poor photo of the previous Friday.

The wood is currently carpeted with delicate, English bluebells and is a magical, captivating place.

I come here every spring; it’s life-affirming and reminds me just why I love this area so much. We may not be on the list of the nation’s tourist must-see places, but we have such beauty in so many unexpected places.

May 3rd – An old cycling friend of mine whom I used to meet occasionally in the lanes of Staffordshire – the late, lamented Maurice Purser, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 93 and still rode when he was 90 – would have referred to today as a ‘wolf of a day’, in that it looked nice and friendly, but was vicious with teeth and claws. The sun was out, it was clear as a bell. It was even a tad warmer – but there was the kind of punishing, relentless wind you get in May that makes cycling in the wrong direction a joyless, unpleasant chore.

I kept close to home, and visited some places I knew would benefit from clear air and sunlight; Lazy Hill, Thornes Hill and the the church at Stonnall, and Grove Hill. I drank in the views, enjoyed the oilseed rape and noted that from Lazy Hill the wind turbine near Whittington was clearly visible. The aspect from the rear of the churchyard – just beyond the fence – was as wonderful as ever, a veritable walk across Stonnall’s rooftops. Up on Grove Hill I was buffeted by the wind and took several attempts at the panorama.

This is our area at it’s best, and worst: a grand day that presented the scenery beautifully, but was just too hostile to cycle out to see it.

April 22nd – A spin around Stonnall on an errand on the way home, and it’s getting to late spring, early summer, or at least it feels that way: warm air, surrounded by flowers and greening hedgerows and trees. I seems a world away from the scene here a few short weeks ago.

It’s also hard to imagine that on April 5th, 2013, there was still snow on these fields.

One of the most charming and frustrating things about cycling in Britain is the weather. You never know quite what’s going to happen next…