January 19th – A cold commute on a sunny morning, and lots of little delights; the mist off the canal, wildlife and plumes of steam and smoke drifting in mercifully still air. On Green Lane, Walsall Wood, road spray from the pooling water there had coated the adjacent hawthorn hedge and encased it in ice.
Beautiful and haunting.
January 15th – Walsall Wood’s winter lido is again filling up courtesy of the inclement weather.
Once a bowling green, and passed to Walsall Council after being created for the local miners to enjoy, the old Oak Park – beside the leisure centre – continues to decay, unloved.
This is little short of a crime. Every time I see it it makes me angry – very angry indeed.
January 6th – An early, grey commute was brightened by something I’d never seen before, a heron in Jockey Meadows. A fair way from the canal or Ryders Mere, it must either have been resting or hunting in the water meadows here.
The photos are awful, and very long distance, but I’ve never seen a heron here before.
It set me up for the day.
January 5th – In the New Year Quiz on my main blog this year, I asked about the bulkhead pipes visible sticking from the mounds of a couple of local landfill sites; the answer was that they were gas collection points, to feed a gas turbine that generated electricity from the otherwise wasted methane evolved when the buried refuse decomposes.
This plant – humming away continuously in the way only a gas turbine can – is just off Brickyard road in Aldridge and has been running for at least 3 years fuelled by as from the Vigo Utopia landfill, generating electricity which is fed back into the national grid.
Refuse operators will paint this as ‘green energy’ – it’s no such thing; it’s not renewable, is finite and is no cleaner than any other methane power plant. It is, however, making use of gas that formerly would have been wasted, so it’s a good thing.
There is a similar setup at Highfields South, not more than a mile away.
Christmas Eve – On the way back I also had to nip into Walsall Wood, and dropping down from Shire Oak Hill, the sunset view over the Black Country to the South West caught my breath, as it often does. Considering the time of day on Christmas Eve the traffic was quite heavy, but it did feel very much like Christmas.
Greetings of the season, everyone!
December 22nd – With a light heart and the wind behind me, I returned via Walsall in mild drizzle. It was warm, and I had to stop to take off some layers – the weather has been crazy this last few days – windy, but blowing hot and cold.
We’ve just passed the winter solstice and this makes me happy. I’m in the darkness here and now, but from here, the days lengthen in that all too familiar sinusoidal acceleration pattern, and soon, we’ll have light and leaves again. Fact is, I’ve survived the closing in again, and this year, it barely affected me at all. Considering I was dreading it, that’s some relief.
Cresting the Black Cock Bridge, this conifer decorated beautifully with hundreds of lights demands attention. It’s so bright, so sparkly, yet not glaring like a lot of such things. It’s really, really beautiful. And it’s huge.
Such a gorgeous beacon of light in the darkness.
December 21st – I was spinning up to Walsall Wood to make a quick delivery, and I realised there was a carol concert happening at St. John’s church, and it was lit up.
It looked and sounded very Christmassy.
Sadly, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get a decent night shot of this humble but handsome church without that bloody streetlight spoiling it. Just can’t get a good angle.
Deember 21st – I’m interested in road safety technology and lighting as many readers will have gathered, and I’m intrigued by the recent upgrade to the zebra crossing on the Lindon Road by the Clayhanger Road junction.
The conventional Belisha Beacons have been replace for two LED streetlights, shining down on the crossing and adjacent footpaths, bathing the whole area in white light. This gives a stunning effect in an area of orange sodium lights; further, the beacons themselves are bracketed off the lighting columns, which have LED lights in them and shine out the white bands on the post that would normally just be paint or reflectives.
The overall effect is remarkable, but very hard to photograph. I’m impressed.
December 5th – Out late again, I shot past Walsall Wood church and noted the Christmas tree and church look nice again this year. I love the fact that the local councillors buy the tree themselves out of their own pockets and give it to the community.
They don’t have to do that, but the fact hat they do, even though we’re miles apart politically, is a true act of festive felicity.
Shame the street lights always wreck any night shot of Walsall Wood church.
November 27th – I again returned via Walsall Wood, but unlike the night before, it was clear. I see the christmas lights are going up, and as ever, the High Street looked bustling and beautiful in the night. Walsall Wood is often overlooked, yet it preserves it’s village atmosphere and is surprisingly beautiful in parts.
An undervalued gem.
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