March 28th – And not far away, another sight to gladden the heart: nascent cherry blossom, just waiting for a sunny day to encourage the buds to expand into beautiful pink flowers.
It may not have been very springlike today, but signs of the season were all around.
The daylight is back, the trees are coming into leaf and yes, I’ve survived the darkness once more.
March 25th – First decent-length ride of the year in nice weather, still a very keen, cold wind but the sun was warm on my back, especially when stationary.
A run to Rosliston and back via my summer haunts of Coton in the Elms and Clifton Campville was just what the doctor ordered, and I enjoyed the ride.
The ride passed my favourite horse chestnut at Home Farm, Sandhills, visible from the canal. I judge the seasons and watch them pass by the condition of this fine tree. I think there is a suggestion of fresh green there: just a hint.
For a large gallery of this ride, see this post here on the main blog.
February 7th – In Telford early morning, and I noted the progress on the tree clearance for the new access bridge was still ongoing. All the trees around the bridge have now been removed, leaving close-cropped stumps and if I’m honest, an open, much more welcoming station. Sad at the same time though, as those trees kept a healthy stock of berries throughout the winter for an army of blackbirds, who’ll now have to seek sfustainence elsewhere.
Sad also for the daffodil bulbs, previously shaded out by the scrub, who are now bolting in the new found light. I hope they get a final chance to bloom before the go under the constructor’s digger…
December 29th – At the lime pits themselves, some excellent bracket fungus on a dying tree. It looks like a classic pleurotus to me – oyster fungus, which I believe to be edible (though don’t take my word for it!).
I was surprised to see such a healthy, fresh seeming display in cold weather. Is this normal?
December 10th – In a bizarre twist of events, in an already hectic, busy day, I had to go to Leicester to collect something from a shop. This pre-christmas errand wouldn’t have been so bad, but I had to pop in to Aldridge on the way, and the weather was awful.
It started to rain before I set out – steady, but light. When I got to Aldridge, the errand I was on there proved to be pointless, so frustrated, I headed for Blake Street to get a train to Birmingham. The train, unusual even for a pre Christmas one, was heaving. I’d tangled with the crowds going to an Aston Villa home game.
Dishevelled and irritated, I hopped on a warm, peaceful train to Leicester, and as I found my way to the mall where the shop in question is, the rain was very nearly stopped. I locked the bike up, and completed my task.
Re-emerging from the electric glare of the Mall it was pouring with rain. I returned through a beautifully glistening city, alive with interesting bikes, shops, lights and a rather wonderful but slightly wonky Christmas tree. I was wet, but Leicester was gorgeous. I love that place, I really do.
Returning from Blake Street was a trial. There was local flooding. The Chester Road and Brownhills High Street were awash with standing water the traffic wasn’t handling well.
But I’d completed what I needed to. I felt better. Mission accomplished.
December 3rd – Another great Christmas tree – always one of my favourites – it the one on Swan Island at Burntwood. Always with really nice lights, it’s a lovely sight and erected by the local Rotary Club – if I remember right, their membership sponsors it.
A lovely sight that cheered me up like Walsall’s tree did yesterday,
November 27th – It was a very dramatic-looking afternoon as I headed up the canal towards Lichfield on this cold afternoon suffused with golden, low sunlight.
I note from my favourite tree – the lovely horse chestnut at Home Farm, Sandhills – that it is now winter, as it’s bare.
As I noted yesterday, surprising how much colour is still in the landscape.
November 23rd -Noticed in light drizzle just by the far side of the canal, on the edgelands of a scrapyard near Bentley Bridge in Walsall: apples, so far out of human reach, they’re rotting off the tree – food only for birds, squirrels and foxes.
Dripping with winter rain, I guess they’ll stay until the next really heavy wind.
Sad to see. I wonder if they’re tasty at all?
November 15th – There seem to be some species of shrub and tree that are unique to commercial and trading estates, in that you only see them in the borders and copses there. These were in Tipton.
One such shrub is this one: laden with a huge quantity of bright red berries that the birds don’t seem to bother with much, I have no idea of it’s name.
Looks like another bumper crop this year, too.
October 20th – Spotted from the canal towpath as I zipped past, a forest of toadstools growing on a fallen log in the scrub at the back of Queen Street Cemetery in Walsall.
I think they might be honey fungus, but I’m not sure. There were hundreds of caps, all growing in clumps, feeding on the decaying wood. Ranging in colour from a dull weigh to a dark burnt umber, they were beautiful and fascinating.
Best crop of toadstools I’ve seen for a while.
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