Wednesday, October 28th 2020 – Over in Darlaston, the parks – Victoria and Kings Hill – are gorgeous in their seasonal jackets. I notice there are still beautiful flowers in bloom in the planters at Kings Hill, and the fallen leaves make for lovely colours in these vital, hidden gems.
I will always shout up for the parks in Darlaston: They get very little attention and they are such a lovely part of the town.
A real spirit lifter on the way to work.
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March 4th – Heading to work through Victoria Park in Darlaston on a grey, quite chilly and very windy day, I noticed the weeping willows were coming into leave, and providing a welcome splash of bright green.
The fine weather may have suddenly disappeared, but the early spring continues unabated, thankfully.
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#365daysofbiking The world spins, me a apart of it:
November 1st – My worry was misplaced. I had good news from the hospital, and rode gently back, taking in the air which with my inbuilt mood filter switched off, was now sunny and cheering.
What better time to enjoy the parks of Darlaston, Victoria and Kings Hill? What better time to sit and appreciate the leaves, the dog walkers, the birds and my beloved Black Country?
It made a change to have lightness in my heart. That’s been a rare thing of late.
365daysofbiking Noble jacket:
October 5th – Darlaston is probably at it’s very best in autumn. An indisputably industrial, highly urbanised Black Country town with a huge amount of greenery, it wears the multi-coloured noble jacket of autumn beautifully.
In Victoria Park, looking towards the Mystic Bridge, autumn is just starting to paint the trees in shades of yellow, gold and orange.
The sadness of the summer’s loss is now passing, and I’m quite enjoying the change in the scenery.
July 25th – These oak knopper galls actually took me by surprise a couple of days ago, but the photos I took weren’t great, so I revisited the saplings they’re growing on today.
I spotted them on a tree near Victoria Park in Darlaston and I don’t think there’s a single normally formed acorn on that tree at all, and yet several adjacent ones have no knoppers at all.
These mutations of normal acorns are of course caused by a tiny wasp that lays eggs in the acorn buds earlier in the year. A secretion the eggs are coated in causes the acorn bud to mutate and grow in a distorted form, forming a gall, with the wasp egg at the centre.
The larva hatches, and eats it’s way out of the gall, which provides it enough nourishment to grow to maturity.
Insect galls like this don’t hurt the tree, but of course, do affect it’s fecundity.
Isn’t nature amazing?
April 12th – Victoria Park in Darlaston was looking moody and dramatic as I passed back through, and I still adore the mystic bridge.
This park isn’t doing so well for the flowers this year, sadly; the old cutting is usually a riot but there was hardly anything, mainly I think to over-enthusiastic grass cutting.
Sad really. Darlaston does have some excellent parks and open spaces.
February 15th – A brighter day, but windy. As long as the sun is out though, this’ll do me. Nipping across town in Darlaston on an errand, what better day to nip into Victoria Park and do a bit of snowdrop spotting?
This winter is strange. Just as I think it’s beaten me, we have a nice day, and I’m saved for a while.
I’ll never tire of this place.
February 6th – On the corner of Gladstone and Station Street in the industrial backstreets of east Darlaston, a curious little bungalow cottage I’ve always wondered about.
Painted terracotta red with two tall chimneys, Victoria Cottage is an unusual house that doesn’t seem terribly large, but someone is awfully proud of. It has a plaque dating it to 1897, and it’s well cared for and the people who live here clearly love the place.
It looks almost like it was built as a project by someone, it’s such a curious shape. I’m sure there’s a bacstory here that must be fascinating.
Anyone know more?
December 14th – The snow was still hanging around, and out on an errand during daylight in Darlsaton, the view of Victoria Park’s mystic bridge was gorgeous.
It wasn’t until I zoomed in that I noticed the two friends having a chat.
A bitterly cold, but beautiful day.
December 7th – Out and about on a sunny, bright but windy day in Darlaston, and I was passing through the parks I love now that winter is now in full effect.
Mostly the leaves and flowers have gone, the majestic trees are bare and growth has stopped – yet the colours are still lovely and there’s still a barren beauty, and above all, peace.
The long shadows, sunlight and crisp air always make Victoria and Kings Hill Parks beautiful – every year I hate it’s approach, but every year I again learn to love winter.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 