Tag: woodbine

May 29th – Just over a week ago I noted that the honeysuckle bush overgroing the barrier at the Black Cock Bridge was in bud. Today, on another wet, grey commute, I noted that the shrub was now coming into flower. Already, it smells delightful, and is becoming a riot of colour, from yellows to dark, dark crimson, and every shade inbetween. 

Honeysuckle grows like a weed these days in many hedgerows, scrubs and canal embankments. It’s delightful, and the insects love it. It fascinates me and always looks a little prehistoric.

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!

September 4th – Interestingly, the honeysuckle thicket on the approach to the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood is in a second phase of flowering. Lots of plants seem to be; the trefoil is showing strongly again, dead nettles seem back in bloom, and I’ve even seen a few fresh poppies in the hedgerows.

This doesn’t seem normal to me. It must be the sign of a good season. Long may it continue.

July 2nd – The honeysuckle at the roadside by the Black Cock Bridge I pointed out a couple of weeks ago is now breaking into full bloom. It smells heavenly, and looks gorgeous in that dishevelled, almost threadbare way that only honeysuckle can. Despite the steady rain and grey skies, bees were busy in the flowers, and the bush hummed busily. 

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.

June 11th – Summer’s cauldron continues to simmer. I noticed whist climbing the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood that the wild honeysuckle – or woodbine – I talked about choking the lupins was growing over the guard rails on the souther flank of the bridge. A riot of colour, these gorgeous blooms, when fully open, will smell wonderful. I never thought I’d see such a thing growing wild in this post-industrial landscape.

June 8th – Returning from Walsall via the canal (it seemed to be drive like a moron day, and yet again, nobody had informed me), I noticed that with all the rain, the lupins were out. I love these flowers, and they used to grow with greater profusion here than they do now. On this bank of the new pond at Clayhanger, they seem to be being choked by a somewhat voracious growth of honeysuckle. The dilemma contemplating this is somewhat delicious considering the scarred industrial heritage of this land.

This, of course, was once the foot of a spoil heap.