August 30th – Something in the climate of this day was perfect for the cats of North Walsall. They lazed in the shade of cars and lamp-posts, relaxed, just watching their world go by, making sure all was in order and nothing was untoward.
It’s nice to know they were on guard, these sunshine sentries of suburbia.
August 15th – North Walsall, on a warm, sunny afternoon.
Hel-LO ladies!
August 14th – A fast paced run-out to Middleton Hall, via Chasewater and Fazeley was very pleasant on a warm but overcast afternoon. Again, it was really about the curiosities; the cats by the canal in Brownhills, one alert and stately, the other clearly furious to be awoken from an afternoon nap. The wee dog at Middleton Hall that waited patiently for his owners to finish their tea. The remarkable scarecrow at Mile Oak.
I had more energy today, and the wind had died. A great afternoon ride.
August 7th – There were three in total, but ginger scarpered. Judging by their lanky, adolescent appearances, I think they were siblings, and I spotted them as they dashed over the road near Red Hill. They’d clearly been investigating the horses in the field, and been scared, and now there was this guy on a mechanical contraption pointing something at them.
These cats are clearly characters, and living in the quiet backlanes of Longdon, they have acres and acres of woodland, hedgerow, pasture and ditch to explore.
What a life they have before them.
June 23rd – On the canal at Darlaston, a flower I’m assuming is some kind of wild rose, although the flower itself looks a bit like a large blackberry bloom.
The flowers are wonderfully delicate and the centres a gorgeous shade of yellow.
Any ideas, anyone?
June 14th Every year, a couple of weeks after the yellow water lilies flower, out come the white ones, and this year there’s a fine display at Bentley Bridge.
Caught just after a rain shower, these looked splendid scattered with raindrops.
they always look so perfect, they could almost be made of wax.
May 6th -Not far away, but still on the Goscote Valley cycleway, the dead nettles are doing well. These fellows have no sting, and can be touched freely. They hold a sweet, tasty secret.
The blooms can be plucked from the plant, and the small neck of the bloom sucked for the nectar it contains, which is sweet and tasty.
April 27th – When I left home just after dawn there was a heavy frost; I left Darlaston later in the morning for Telford in bright sunshine, which really highlighted the blossom on roadside trees. Mainly cherry, but some apple and plum, too. Absolutely beautiful.
Sadly though, this doesn’t bode well for a bumper fruit crop like last year; a frost on the blossom now will damage it and reduce the fruit yield.
With such beautiful blooms, hope the weather and sunshine pick up soon.
April 24th – At Chasewater, life halts briefly while the four white domestic ducks from just up the canal at Newtown perform a brief Beatles Abbey Road tribute.
My eyes were a bit damp to tell the truth…
March 24th – Passing through Wednesbury, I noticed this bank of daffodils by an industrial estate verge. Now that’s a fine thing and I was very happy to see them, then I noticed that amongst the standard yellow variety, there was white too.
I wonder if that was a happy accident or a genetic mutation? Whatever the cause, a delight to the soul for sure.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 