wildflowers – Page 18 – BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking

May 23rd – I noticed something today I’d not spotted before. Cycling back up the Chester Road from Mill Green, as the land rises and undulates (from about 130m AOD to about 175m AOD) the plant life on the grass verges and in the hedgerows changes. At the low end, there’s birds foot trefoil, ragwort, ox-eye daises and clover in abundance in lush green grass. Higher up, these plants peter out to campion, dandelions and spiky grasses. Wonder if it’s changing soil or height?

The trefoil – called egg and bacon by us as kids – is lovely this year, and always looks nice after rain.

May 21st – It really is about the flowers right now. On a weary homeward commute I noticed the honeysuckle at the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood was coming into bloom – and the buds are prolific and dense this year. The unsung heroes of the scrub and verge, the buttercups, are also prolific on the canal banks, commons and heaths, providing welcome food for bugs and bees.

At the moment, every journey is rewarded with new flowers to see!

May 20th – Spotted on the way home this evening – red campion. Seeing lots of this this year; although named red, most of what I see is shades of hot pink. A lovely, delicate flower, this is growing in the hedgerow at Sandhills on Shire Oak Hill.

The wildflowers really are excellent this year.

May 19th – In Telford for the day, and what a day it was. Bright, warm and sunny, the flowers and greenery have come on here apace. I noticed my first ox eye daisies of the year, replete with spiders, and cotoneaster in flower, still with some berries from last year. I’ve never seen that before – the fruit is beloved by blackbirds and other songbirds, but the shrub is so prolific here, and the crop so abundant last year that I just don’t think there were enough birds to eat it all.

It makes an attractive display, for sure…

May 16th – Early summer, I guess now. I noted yesterday the dog roses in Tyburn, Birmingham, yet hadn’t noticed the highly fragrant bush on Clayhanger Common, just by the canal near Catshill Junction. This time of year is predominantly purple, pink and blue for flowers. Close by, a gorgeous cornflower, and a tiny, delicate vetch.

The flowers will be excellent for the next month or so. Bring it on!

May 13th – The purple lupins (always earlier than the pink ones) are coming out on the canal bank above the big house at Clayhanger. I’ve never been sure if these are truly wild, or long-time feral escapees from the long gone garden of Ernest Jones, who had tennis courts and delicate flowerbeds at the foot of the embankment here nearly a century before.

They are beautiful, complex and fascinating, and yet anotherindicator of the seasons escapement clicking over another notch. Spring goes from whites and yellows to blues and then purples. Summer is pretty much upon us now.

May 10th – Fishpond Wood just off the Chester Road at Stonnall is often locally referred to as Bluebell Wood, for obvious reasons. Last year the display of very delicate, native bluebells was quite poor due to the late spring, but this year they are excellent. This is a lovely quiet spot just off a main road, but when in bloom, the bluebells render it magical, even on a poor day like this.

May 6th – Three years ago, I took and posted a photo of the glade of Ramsons (or wild garlic) in the Arrow Valley Park in Redditch. For some reason an odd, quite poor photo of a common British plant has earned over 10,600 likes and reblogs on Tumblr, It’s far and away my most popular post on this journal ever, and I have absolutely no idea why, it’s bizarre.

Today, I had to go to Redditch early – a rare occurrence these days. I stopped off to check out the glade this year – it’s still gorgeous. The smell – a heady, full on odour just like normal garlic – is astounding. This really is a remarkable plant.

Bear in mind this glade is no more than a few hundred yards from heavy industry, and about a mile from Redditch town centre. It’s a remarkable place, Redditch, in lots of ways.

May 2nd – Returning from Lichfield via Aldershawe, I stopped to admire the oilseed rape here; there are acres and acres of it on the northern slopes of the hill down to Lichfield. But also, beautiful wildflowers too.

Don’t think I’ve ever known a spring this vibrant. It really is extraordinary.

April 28th – There are a couple of unsung hedgerow stars at the moment. For everyone else, right now it seems to be about oilseed rape, bluebells, and cherry blossom. But look around. Pretty much everything is having a great year so far. The dandelions – the yellow, beautifully delicate yet ubiquitous wildflower – are really, really prolific. The apple blossom too is astonishing in its density and clarity.

It might be about the spring classics right now, but look beyond them and there’s a whole host of other stuff just trying to get your attention.

These were all on a very short section of canal bank in Walsall Wood.