June 7th – A lovely, chance find whilst riding through Victoria Park, Darlaston. Part of this urban oasis, right in the centre of Darlaston, has been left to wild and apparently spread with wildflower seeds. Just as I rode past it, I spotted a small purple flower that demanded closer study. I wasn’t disappointed.
A lovely orchid growing right there. What a glorious, pretty and wonderful thing!
So good to see after so many years of these important flowers being so rare…
May 31st – Also a lovely sight and a regular here, honeysuckle or woodbine, and my favourite display grows up the embankment on the northwestern flank of the Black Cock Bridge; tumbling and cascading over the railings a fences, a huge bush flowers here every year and always looks and smells divine.
For a flower so entrenched in British culture, it’s got that alien look of tropical blooms, like the Passion flower: our wildflowers aren’t normally this brassy!
It would be very hard not to love honeysuckle.
May 26th – This chump of flowers seem to show every year, growing just on the edge of the Southwest parapet of the railway bridge at Hollyhill Lane, Shenstone. I’m fairly sure they’re aquilegia, or grannies bonnets as Susan Marie Ward has no doubt told me before, and they’re absolutely gorgeous.
I presume they’re garden escapees, as I don’t think I see them wild anywhere else, which makes me wonder why there are the two different coloured plants here.
Maybe it was guerrilla seeding, or made just seeds present is someone’s dumped garden waste – whichever, they’re a delight to the heart.
May 26th – A lovely, warm shirtsleeve ride to work on a gorgeous morning, with the wayside wild roses fully in bloom and bees busy, even at an early hour.
I know I keep saying this, but this is what I look forward to all year. I know many don’t enjoy the heat and humid conditions can be wearing, but this really is the best kind of day.
February 25th – I love daffodils – harbingers of spring, I eagerly await their appearance to herald the light and sun every year.
By now, I know where the earliest local ones appear – the miniature ones (possibly actually narcissus) in Kings Hill Park are usually competing to be first with this patch on the Chester Road near Stonnall, at the Wood Lane junction.
I know they’re both unnaturally early. But a man can dream of spring, after all.
They are a delight to welcome back every year, and on this dull, wet and blustery ride up the Chester Road, they gladdened my heart.
October 5th – Of all the flowers hanging on in this odd autumn, the butter and eggs is one of my favourites. It’s still flowering well along the hedgerows and towpaths of Walsall Wood and Brownhills, and this example was spotted near Walsall Wood Bridge.
It’s getting colder now, though, and it won’t be long until the first frost, which I think should put an end to this unusually long flowering season.
Which is a shame. The flowers have been wonderful this year.
June 14th – I’ve been aware that Jockey Meadows has it’s own cat for a while. I sometimes see him disappearing into the meadow, or running over the lane into the wood. He always seems busy, and I think he lives at the cottages near Grange Farm.
Today, we met face to face – as I rode down Green Lane, I spotted him perched on a gatepost. Large, slightly long haired and with splendidly white whites he’s an impressive, large lad. We exchanged pleasantries, and then he continued his vigil.
That cat must have a ball. Acres of woodland, hedgerow and meadow right on his doorstep, he can while away his time dozing in any quiet spot he likes, or patrol a huge territory packed with interesting, small and squeaky things.
What a life.
May 31st – The season of the dog rose is upon us. You can keep your fancy hybrids, your blobs of colour on thorny sticks; give me the colour and scent of a wild rose any day of the week – bringing colour in an uncontrolled riot to towpaths, hedgerows and edge lands all over.
These were just by the canal in Walsall near Bentley Bridge. A joy to the heart.
May 13th – On Clayhanger Common, a welcome splash of colour is the red campion, that’s flowering well now near Pier Street bridge.
Such beautiful, pink flowers. So good to see them.
March 20th – At a cafe near Cannock Chase, an outdoor eating area monitored by small birds, just looking out for left scraps or dropped crumbs.
These are bold birds, familiar with humans, and just a bit more tolerant than their far more skittish rural counterparts, but they make terrific photographs.
I’d like to claim responsibility for the photos, but they were taken by my companion and were too good not to use. But we were on the same ride, so that’s what counts.
A joy to the heart.
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