April 17th – Cowslips everywhere this year. From a rarity 15 years ago to being all over everywhere like a cheap suit, these wee, delicate primroses come in a whole variety of subtly different forms, and are just crying out for attention.
My favourite flowers, without a doubt. Go find some and take a look for yourself. Wonderful little things.
April 7th – Yay! The cowslips are here. Heading back to Brownhills from work, I took advantage of a gap in the rain, and spinning up a sodden towpath, I spotted the recurring patches of cowslips on Clayhanger Common near the Pier Street Bridge.
I’m sure I guerrilla seeded these a decade ago, and they’ve spread beautifully. Since then, further bands of these dainty little primroses have appeared all around the common. Seeing them in flower brings me enormous pleasure.
Cowslips are my favourite flower. To me, they symbolise spring; yellow, hardy, and they appear when the worst is passed. This year, they’re a good couple of weeks early.
The snail seemed quite pleased with them too…
February 25th – Terrible pictures grabbed quickly in the half light… but cause to celebrate. My daffodils are here. Spring is underway!
These early ones come every year at the end of February. They grow on the verge corners by the cottage at the junction of Wood Lane and Chester Road, Mill Green. They are showing beautifully this year, after being a little sad last year.
They fill me with joy. I spotted them a couple of days ago, but have had no time to stop and photograph them. I say hello outloud, every time I pass. They are my signal to hold on, because the greening is coming again… and not a moment too soon.
October 23rd – Back in Leicester for the day, and passing through South Wigston station, I stopped briefly to study my favourite bit of wild land, not expecting much to be showing well. How wrong I was. Cotoneaster, a yellow berry I don’t recognise, roses, rose hips, clover all made for a fine splash of colour. The cotoneasters were particularly impressive, and they’ll make a handsome winter feast for the blackbirds.
A fine end to yet another wet commute.
September 26th – Winging back along the canal to Brownhills, I took another scout along the fringes of Clayhanger Common. Locals will know that 40 years ago, the was a benighted site of contaminated land used as a refuse tip. Careful and brave reclamation in the early 1980s saw the lad reclaimed and planted, and this is the result. Even with autumn on their heels, still the thistle, bindweed and meadow cranesbill are flowering strongly, teasels stand tall and ripe, and the shiny black gloss of elderberries hang heavy on the boughs. This is such a long way from how this land was, and something everyone in Brownhills should cherish and be proud of.
August 28th – For some reason today, my photos were all really rubbish and these are the best of a rum lot, so my apologies. These yellow flowers are dotting the hedges and canal banks at the moment. Colloquially called ‘butter and egg’ they are common toadflax, often mistaken for snapdragons (which I did, last year). They’re a lovely, dainty little flower and make a change from the predominantly dark tones of most of the flowers around at this time of year.
July 3rd – Bird’s Foot Trefoil – which previously I’ve erroneously referred to as Vetch, sorry – is a beautiful plant. As kids, we used to call it ‘egg and bacon’ due to the crimson and egg-yolk colours. It’s growing in abundance around the canals and meadows of the area, and here near the new pond at Clayhanger. The delicate little flowers keep the bees buzzing, and are a constant delight.
June 25th – In Leicester today, and out early. This gave me chance to see my favourite patch of scrub, the embankment at South Wigston station.
I’m acutely aware that not many people have favourite patches of scrub, and this does mark me out as a little eccentric.
South Wigston is only a tiny dot of a suburban halt on a busy goods junction, and is totally unmanned. At some point, I think the green margins around the platforms and walkways were managed and planted, but haven’t been so for many years; the perennials that were planted here, plus some wild imports, run riot now all throughout the year, and reward me continually with colour, beauty and bounty.
It feels like I’m the only person ever to notice this; the only one ever to stop and watch the bees busy in the daisies, or bustling around the cotoneaster. Meanwhile, all around the sound of clanking industry, rumbling goods traffic and the joyful hubub of children from the nearby school.
It’s a wild place in the city, and I love it.
June 21st – The north end of Chasewater Dam is currently carpeted in a beautiful display of moon daisies, which not only look delightful, but smell beautiful, too. I love the fact that the rangers stopped mowing the bank and left them to bloom.
In a day riven with toothache, chaos and general bad luck, these cheered me no end.
June 19th – It’s honeysuckle time again. On the southwestern flank of the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood, a large scrub of the delightful climber rambles and spreads its velvet red love to passers by. In a few days, this will be alive with bees and insects, and smell divine. It’s actually huge, too, quite the largest, healthiest patch of the plant I’ve ever witnessed.
If you can, do go check it out. It’s stunning.
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