May 12th – Again, the local canals were thick with organic scum – not just the usual azolla bloom, which is still persisting but has mostly died back now, but detritus and dead bloom heads from sallow trees that border the canal there.
It looks awful but will soon disperse, and it just one of several reasons the canal forms natural organic layers throughout the year.
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April 25th – In recent days I recorded the the female flowering of the sallow trees in Walsall Wood. At the Old Cement Works Bridge in Brownhills, the catkins are starting to go to seed.
The spines of the flower heads split and curl away, releasing the downy, silken fluff inside, each one attached to a tiny seed, easily carried long distances on the wind or any moving thing.
A fascinating and beautiful mechanism that will see the area around these trees soon coated in fluffy down.
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February 29th – it seems odd this is the third February 29th in the history of this nearly nine year old journal, but it’s just the way the dates fall I guess.
On the canal at Walsall Wood, another subtle sign of spring – pussy willow catkins. Like the hazel ones, the male flower of the smaller willows.
Bedraggled, wind-buffeted, but in some proliferation. As I’ve noted all week, spring is coming, it’s not holding back. It just needs some decent weather to accelerate the process.
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October 30th – In Darlaston on a dull day, Victoria Park was doing it’s best to spread a little colour on the day.
That tree really is gorgeous. It would be even better in the sun…
Ah well, maybe tomorrow.
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May 1st – On the McLean Way early in the morning for a change (the old South Staffordshire Railway route from Brownhills to Walsall) I noted at Ryders Hayes that the sallow seeds were ripe and drifting on the breeze coating everything with fine white downy fluff.
Sallow isn’t the only member of the willow family to do this, nor is it the only species of tree, but it’s always fun to see, if a bit challenging to the airways to cycle through!
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April 17th – On the way to work near Greern Lane, Shelfield, I notice the sallows are flowering now, and this is one of the more interesting blooms of springtime.
Sallow or goat willow is a member of the wider willow family, and grows profusely hereabouts. After the initial pretty male catkins have passed – pussy willows – then come the female catkins that were so well on show today. Once these peculiar green flowers pollinate, they generate wind-borne seeds in a few weeks: these evolve in the form of a large cloud of fluff that for a few days will coat the canal, towpaths, woodland paths, verges and road margins.
For now though in the spring sunshine of a warm, lovely morning – they look like something prehistoric, and in reality, probably are.
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March 15th – One of the nicer, more beautiful and sadly neglected flowers of the spring is the pussy willow. I spotted this one as dusk fell on the Chester Road near Shire Oak.
These complex, pretty catkins start as grey, furry buds and change as they bloom fully to a bright yellow green bay of stamen filaments which are actually fascinating when you look close up.
Sadly, not many folk ever seem to notice…
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March 4th – Heading to work through Victoria Park in Darlaston on a grey, quite chilly and very windy day, I noticed the weeping willows were coming into leave, and providing a welcome splash of bright green.
The fine weather may have suddenly disappeared, but the early spring continues unabated, thankfully.
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April 20th – A better day, recovered now. Returning home on the canal near Aldridge, I noticed the swallows are coming into bloom. These green, spiky flowers will in turn turn into seed heads, and spread fluff over the area, irritating noses and car enthusiasts alike. A relative of the willow, they’re fascinating plants with a stunning seeding method.
May 17th – Only a short ride today, as my stomach was bad and I was busy with other stuff.
On the canal at Newtown, a familiar scum is developing, and I always get concerned mail from readers about it, who are justifiably concerned that the canal has been polluted by some foreign substance.
Well, it has and it hasn’t: but it’s nothing to worry about. The white film is the pollen and detritus from Sallow trees (Goat Willow) which bloom at this time of year and shed white fluff to the four winds – and it gathers on the canal surface, looking like some terrible contaminant.
It’s really a natural, organic thing and nothing to worry about.
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