Tag: Walsall Wood

May 18th – Some things are changing, though. Up at Streets Corner, for example, work is well underway on the new Co-op store where Saturn Motor Sales had their yard. Although work has been ongoing for a while, signs have only just gone up, proclaiming the development to be complete by late 2012. This is great news for the Wood, and I look forward to having another store to compete with the Tesco Express over the road. However, with a new store up the road in Shelfield and branches opening all over the place, I do wonder if the Co-op  can maintain this period of aggressive expansion.

May 18th – only just still standing, the fabric of the old St. John’s School in Walsall Wood High Street continues to gently decay. Soon, I think the roof will collapse, the clearly rotten timbers unable to support the tons of roofing tiles resting upon them. Permission has been granted for some years now for a development of flats here,meaning demolition of most of the old school and the old bungalow next to it, also empty now for several decades. Sadly, the downturn came, and the developers ran out of money.

A small, suburban, architectural tragedy.

May 18th – Well, that’s one technique. Over the last year, both myself and The Stymaster have grumbled to Walsall Council about the badly spelled road sign that stood here on the southwestern flank of Hollanders Bridge, in Walsall Wood. I say stood, as the obvious solution to crap spelling is apparently just to remove the whole sign… 

Like, wow. I have nothing further to add.

May 8th – I guess we’re coming on to summer now, although the temperature and general changeability of the weather doesn’t suggest it. Emboldened by the rain, Jockey Meadows, at Walsall Wood, and the surrounding countryside is beginning to look really fresh, clean and green. I’ve always adored the cinematic landscape here. Similarly, overlooking the new pond at Clayhanger, where a whole range of deciduous trees give a spread of greens.

Sadly, tomorrow the rain looks set to return. Come on sun, please!

May 4th – The swan family from the new pool in Clayhanger, whose four hatchlings I noted earlier in the week, have somehow moved the 30-odd meters to the canal, and were up near Walsall Wood Bridge, just near the High Street, when I spotted them yesterday evening. Clearly growing and bright as buttons, the little grey and white cygnets were clearly being taught to forage by mum and dad, who seemed to be finding clumps of vegetation for them to sort through, although their offspring didn’t seem too interested. Swans typically live on algae, reed grasses and small bugs and tadpoles, so learning to forage is critical.

Further up the canal in Brownhills, Mrs. Swan is still sitting. She seemed unsettled yesterday. Hatching must be imminent, I’m sure…

May 1st – After yesterday’s break in the sun, it was back to the rain and howling wind, which unusually, was behind me on my way to Darlaston. I haven’t been this way much in recent weeks, and the commute was reasonably enjoyable, despite the rain. The flooding on Green Lane, Walsall Wood has occurred for as long as I can remember, and never gets any better, even though drainage works have been undertaken. This is the lowest point in Jockey Meadows, and is the crossing point of the marsh that drains from Shire Oak and High Heath. It’s easy to come a cropper here – I’ve seen cars hit the water and slew, and drenching the cyclist is a fun game for the local driving yobs.

February 28th – Returning very late from work, cresting the Black Cock Bridge (no sniggering at the back) I stopped to take a picture of the night-time view of Camden Street down towards Oak Park. When I turned around to climb back on the bike, I realised the view behind me was far more interesting. This footbridge (actually green in the daylight) was added to the canal bridge in the 1980’s, and is made from tubular steel, which, when lit by my rear light, looks quite stunning… beauty in unexpected places.

February 26th – Since we’re on a bit of a refuse theme today, as I trundled up the canal to Aldridge, I stopped to look at the gulls, crows and jackdaws scavenging on the Highfields South Landfill, just behind Barons Court in Walsall Wood. This is the reality of our waste problem, and Walsall Wood and Brownhills have plenty of landfill sites. A hole has been dug – in this case, for brick marl – leaving a large, watertight void. Ideal for dumping our rubbish. Highfields is filling at an alarming rate – what’s under that vehicle looks like a combination of domestic and industrial general waste with what appears to be incinerator ash. Carrion birds are picking over the food waste. It stinks. And we can’t keep doing this. We have to cut the waste we generate. Nobody wants to live near a landfill – and the space within them is reducing, week by week. Yet mention bin regulation or recycling and we’re up in arms. It’s as if we can’t see the connection. I find it utterly depressing.

February 2nd – If you’re a cyclist, Green Lane between The Black Cock pub, Walsall Wood and Shelfied School is best avoided, at least until the next heavy rains. Today, as I went to work, the hedges were being flailed. This happens every few years, either in the autumn or winter. Cutting the roadside hedges back is essential, and must be done when birds aren’t nesting, but it showers the road with debris, in this case, Hawthorn clippings. These short bits of twig bear sharp, tough thorns whose specialist skill is puncturing bicycle tyres – particularly cheap, thin ones. I’d say that in rural areas, 90% of my punctures have been caused by Hawthorn spikes. I don’t blame the farmer, the job has to be done. But until rains come and float the debris away, the route is best avoided.

January 31st – Today returned to grey. Travelling to work, I was struck by the grimness of the day. Not quite as bad as Sunday, but it was still jolly depressing; overcast, constantly threatening snow but never delivering. I noted that Jockey Meadows on the Walsall Wood/Shelfield border, irritatingly referred to as Jockey Fields in the recently erected Natural England signage, looked impressively cinematic. I’d quite like some snow for a change. Maybe I’ll be lucky this week.