July 23rd – I returned in steady rain, from the old cement works bridge down the canal to the heart of Brownhills. This part, near Pelsall Road with the old South Staffordshire Railway Railway bridge in the background – one of only two listed buildings in Brownhills – looks particularly beautiful, especially on a grey, rain sodden afternoon.
Beauty lies where you find it…
June 19th – Spotted in appallingly bad light way off near the back of the bean field at Jockey Meadows, I noted this small herd of red dear, three females and two of this year’s fawns. I was pleased to see them as I haven’t seen deer up here recently.
They were skittish, and probably displaced by the recent arrival of the cows. But they looked healthy and content and it’s good to see the little ones thriving.
Still can’t get over the fact that I see these magnificent beasts on my way to and from work. How lucky we are to have this on our doorsteps.
July 16th – I seem to have it with a cold. I’ve been feeling a bit peaky all weekend with a headache and sinus trouble, and today I couldn’t raise any energy to move until evening – but a short ride in a terrific warm, sunny golden hour was well worth what seemed like a superhuman effort.
In the backlanes of Stonnall, a shed, fallen spent marble oak gall. Spongy, expanded and very different to the marble-hardness of the fresh variety, this had maybe a couple of hundred holes drilled in it where the emerging wasp larva had bored their way out to freedom.
Galls are fascinating and gruesome at the same time. They do captivate me so: I wonder what the tine wasps look like?
July 13th – One of those rare posts when I feature something that isn’t actually here. But was. Recently.
The spring and early summer were marked by the lack of cattle in the water meadow at Green Lane, Walsall Wood called Jockey Meadows. Every year in recent times cows have spent a few months grazing here to maintain the meadow, eating the more voracious species of undergrowth, churning up the soft ground with their feet and spreading the sloppy, fertile cowpat love.
I like the cows. If they’re there, I often stop to talk them, and I always will, because they seem to listen. I’ve missed them this year.
Well, I passed this morning and the cows have been here recently. The meadow and scrub are trampled. There are makeshift cake troughs. But no cows.
I hope they return…
July 5th – I needed a break mid morning to have a think; so I slipped out of work on an errand and headed to Kings Hill Park, where I met this fellow.
This park has it’s share of cheeky grey squirrels, but this one was definitely posing for me. What a little star he is.
He didn’t help me with my train of thought, but he did provide some amusing light relief from it.
July 4th – Also out, but altogether busier was this juvenile heron. A lovely bird, clearly maturing and in very good condition, although still small for an adult.
This is a healthy, native heron fishing in a waterlily-swathed canal in the shadow of a huge scrapyard in the heart of the industrial Black Country.
Tell me this place isn’t wonderful and surprising. I dare you.
June 25th – I wasn’t expecting much when I headed to Chasewater; battling a strong wind and drizzle, the place was all but deserted and my circuit of the lake looked set to be dismal.
However, I was to be proven wrong; first of all I spotted a group of three red deer browsing the north heath contentedly, and they were happy for me to take pictures, even seeming to pose. But the real treat was waiting on the brow of the hill.
There was an adult female plucking greens from the trees, and after stopping to photograph her too, I noted she had another adult and two fawns with her. They progressed down to the marsh and loosely joined with the earlier three.
The antics of the fawns – never still for a moment – were lovely and the deer weren’t a bit shy or skittish. I watched them for a long time, even thought the rain was pretty steady.
However used to these gentle, beautiful beasts I become, I still can’t remove myself from the shock that we have them here, living on our green spaces. A wonderful, beautiful spectacle.
June 21st – Another high summer day, the longest as it happens, and from here on in, the days shorten to darkness; but there’s plenty of summer left and it’s been glorious so far, so I’m not too sad.
On the Walsall Canal heading for Darlaston, life is busy hunting, blooming and multiplying, with herons hunting on the far bank, families of geese making their way through dense waterlily beds and flowers looking gorgeous in the hot sun.
A Walsall Top Lock, basking on a piece of drifting wood, I even saw a terrapin, about the size of a saucer. Sadly, it slipped away before I got the camera out but these poor creatures, often released into the wild when too large for captivity are becoming a common sight in canals and pools of the UK.
A great day to be on a bike in the place I love.
June 19th – Returning from work I noted the Catshill Canada goose commune which appears to consist of two inseparable families was thriving. They don’t seem to have lost any of the goslings, and the older set are developing apace now, losing their mousey fluff and growing adult plumage, and the first wing feathers.
They have healthy appetites and are healthy, busy birds.
I noticed not far up the bank Mrs. Mallard with her newly hatched brood, which may well be her second set of the summer.
She was very proud and relaxed. I love to follow these little families on the canal.
June 12th – Here’s something to gladden the heart.
It was sad to lose one of the Watermead swan brood, but a lady who’s been nesting for an awful long time in a Walsall Wood canalside garden has finally hatched a pair of chicks.
As I returned from work, mom and day were proudly taking to the water with their two cygnets – one for a while tucked protectively under mum’s wing.
Watching it emerge and swim excitedly with it’s sibling was a real joy.
I honestly thought her eggs were not going to hatch. A wonderful sight.
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