May16th – I note the annual appearance of lupins with interest; growing near Clayhanger Bridge on the canal bank, the purple always bloom before the pink and white; and I don’t suppose they are really but they seem very early this year.
Still, it’s lovely to have them back, and to note the start of the rash of purple flowers coming soon – vetch, marsh orchids and others.
There’s something new every day right now. I love summer’s first breath.
April 27th – On the way back from an errand in Shenstone, I noticed these delicate little flowers growing at the roadside between Footherley and Lower Stonnall. They’re a pink/white/mauve colour and absolutely beautiful.
Has anyone any idea what they are please?
April 24th – A very cold day once more with periodic rain and sun, so typically April, really; I keep forgetting it’s so early in the year. However, as I passed Clayhanger bridge in the early evening, a patch of cowslips I’m fairly certain are there due to my previous guerrilla seeding forays, and it’s wonderful to see such beautiful delicate softness against the harshness of the traffic barrier.
Mission accomplished, I think.
April 16th – At Chasewater, someone has designed and implemented a cunning Bob-trap, by planting the dam with my all time favourite flowers: Cowslips.
On this grey, showery afternoon without much to commend it, the sight of thousands of these bright yellow blooms forming a veritable carpet was a joy to the heart.
When I was a kid, you couldn’t find a cowslip for love nor money, and I feared they’d die out: now, thanks to seeding like this and the odd bit of guerrilla activity (cough) they greet me everywhere.
Do get over and see it if you can: my images really don’t do it justice.
My compliments and thanks to whoever did this. You made a man very happy today.
April 13th – Spring flowers are coming thick and fast now, from dead nettles to bluebells, both Spanish and English lining the hedgerows, edge lands and verges.
Spotted at Shire Oak, some beautiful sights just growing in a mundane, roadside here that most would just pass by.
There’s beauty out there in profusion if we’re open to it.
April 12th – A further delight of the rain on Clayhanger Common – cowslips and pear blossom bearing jewel-like raindrops. In spring, even the rain is beautiful, and sights like these, even when you’re soaked to the bone due to lack of waterproofs – gladden the heart.
April 11th – In kings Hill Park in Darlaston, the flowers continue to be a delight whenever I pass through; today the deep pink tulips were in bloom, sprouting in profusion from the planters – and in the strip of wildflowers I found a week or so ago, the flowering continues in earnest.
Such a beautiful display in a very well-loved and cared-for urban park.
April 5th – The season is moving on at such a pace now, it’s very hard to keep up. Another first this morning near Clayhanger Common, my first bluebells of 2017 in a patch of spring snowflakes. Yes, they’re Spanish rather than their more delicate English cousins, but that dash of blue-violet is unmistakable and soon the woods and hedgerows will be a rash of vivid colour once more.
Welcome back, old friends.
March 27th – Over in Kings Hill Park in Darlaston, there is a gorgeous p[atch of spring flowers that have been planted near the old chapel. All sorts of varied plants seem to be included and it really is rather delicate and beautiful.
Kings Hill Park – like many of Walsall’s green spaces – is a true joy to the heart in springtime, and I commend people who love this season to get out there and enjoy sights like this while they last.
March 13th – This is a terrible photo, and sorry about that, but the mood I was in precluded concentrating on image quality; but the subject did very much cheer me up. On the way home, I rode up Shire Oak Hill from Stonnall in the dark. Since I was tired and not 100%, I rode up the pavement, as I feared my speed would not keep with the traffic. It was then I noticed them.
Loads of clumps of beautiful, white spring snowflakes – leucojum vernum- which are very like snowdrops, but the blooms are more bell shaped, the plants taller, with more foliage. Each flower has tiny green tips to the petals which the harshness of the flash sadly stripped away in the photo.
These gorgeous flowers grow in increasing numbers in this spot every year and they always surprise me. Today, on this dark and weary night, they were a real tonic.
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