May 21st – A weary day at work, but better in myself, I had things to do for work in Tipton, and on my return, rode the canals all the way back to Goscote.
Another fine day, the sallow fluff – shed from this peculiar tree’s blooms – was making me sneeze and coating everything in a ghostly grey fur.
It is curious, though. This relative of the willow is clearly having a very good year…
May 18th – I said last week, somewhat stupidly, that the blossom season was passing. That was completely and utterly wrong – it’s still in full swing.
Not with the brassy, brash cherries, apple and other fruit blossoms that entertained for an all too short period a few weeks back, but with the more subtle blossoms of humbler hedgerow soldiers – in this case hawthorn and rowan.
Both smell remarkable. Both creamy white, but very different. And both rarely deemed worthy of a mention, but criminally overlooked as they’re beautiful, especially close up.
May 17th – I first noticed this remarkable blossom in the car park just by the cycleway in Telford last week. I have no idea what it is and I think it’s probably some type of ornamental shrub, rather than something commonly wild.
The long white blossoms remind me a little of labernum, or an upside down horse chestnut.
Can any readers help please?
May 3rd – On the way to work on a sunny morning, the canal in central Walsall was beautiful.
All the weeks and months of riding in the rain, cold and dark, dreaming of rides like this.
Yet again, another winter is survived and the warmer, longer days are here: Nature is greening, the weather is good and the light is upon us.
Always worth the wait.
April 25th – One of the sadnesses of the season is how short lived the blossom is – it’s there, and gone in a blaze of colour, then shed petals and confetti, then… nothing. A more transient example of the season’s wheel you could not find.
At the moment, the blossom is just starting to end, but passing these two intertwined trees on the cycleway to Priorslee in Telford always fascinates me as it looks like one tree with two different colours of blossom.
I love how, even when fresh, the pink one looks like bright but tattered tissue paper.
Such a lovely, but all to quickly passing, time of year…
April 11th – There is beauty and positivity in the gloom – the cycleways, verges, edge lands and tracks of Telford are lined with tentative buds and trees coming into early leaf. Nature is just poised to go for it when the warmth comes, just holding it’s breath…
Aren’t we all?
April 11th – Over in Telford on a misty grey and damp morning, crossing the motorway on the cycleway bridge I noticed that the blackthorn blossom was in full swing.
One of the earlier tree blossoms of spring, it’s usually a pointer to better weather. Often mistaken for hawthorn, it turns hedgerows and copses white for a time, but before the leaves are fully out.
It shows it’s real beauty on a sunny day. Ah well, better luck next time.
March 21st – Leaving my camera at home made a bad day for photos – but the day was dull anyway, so at least not much was lost.
Coming back through Brownhills, though, I noticed the sky was that gorgeous azure blue of late spring dusks, and the moon was a pleasing crescent above the still skeletal trees.
I feel certain we’ve seen the last of winter now – and I’ve probably just doomed it, but there you go – and I’m really eager for sunny, warm days.
With the clocks going forward on Sunday it seems like a real possibility and not just a distant dream now.
February 8th – Passing through Walsall and running some errands, I crossed Church Hill in a golden hour. Always a bit conflicted about the view from here these days – it’s obscured by tree growth now which is a bit of a shame, but the trees are lovely in summer.
A bit of a trim wouldn’t hurt I guess. All the better to se a town glowing in winter sun…
January 31st – One of the sure signs of a change in season from winter to spring is the appearance of various types of catkins, which are most commonly seen at this time of year on hazel trees, or in the case of these long ones, alder.
Alder is curious in that the buds you can see are also flows, the large blooms are male, and those female.
The word catkin is likely to have come from the Dutch Kateken, meaning kitten – due to the resemblance to kitten’s tails.
Catkins emerge this time of year as they’re wind pollinating, and emergence after coming into leaf would hamper pollination.
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