Galleries

July 19th – Another hectic day, and still not feeling exactly chipper, I spun again to Chasewater to catch a summer fair there,, and the speedboats. From there, I shot over to Wall to take a quick shufty at the Letocetum fun day – where the ancient Roman remains here were surrounded by re-enactors, stalls and activities. I wished I’d got there sooner; it looked like a fun, and very, very English summer event.

Wall is a gorgeous little place and the church overlooking the Roman site is just wonderfully historically prescient. The antiquity is free to visit and open all year round. Its well worth a visit.

July 19th – Oats are in fashion this year. After years of barely seeing any at all, this year all the best-dressed arable farms are wearing them.

I’m seeing them all over the place – the price, or subsidy for them must be high this year. They are a beautiful golden colour at the moment, and are painting the fields in shades of high summer.

These at Home Farm seem to be ready for harvest.

July 18th – Just by the factories that back on to the canal at Stubbers Green, the scent of firing bricks in the air, these delicate flowers on the canal embankment.

I believe they’re mallows – they’re fairly large, and very delicate, and rather beautiful. They make an interesting contrast with the tanks, pallets and piles of steelwork in the yard beneath them.

July 17th – I had to pop down to Shenstone on my way home; on my return through the backlands I noticed something that had largely been passing me by of late; the crops in the fields are now ripening, and the harvest cannot be far away.

At Footherly, a field of nice, plump wheat is turning golden in the July warmth. The clean, milky-tasting grain will, if the weather continues to be reasonable, make great flour.

Nice to see.

July 17th – I found these unidentified, dainty little white flowers growing on a grass verge on an industrial estate in Tipton. I don’t know what they are, but they seem related to bugle, the purple-blue flower I featured here last week. I’ve not seen either in great number before this year, but something in the season has favoured them and these wonderful little flowers are profuse.

Can anyone identify it, please?

June 16th – I was taken to task on social media the other day for stating that Telford’s cycleways were alive with flowers and fruit; this observation was scoffed at, because it seemed inconceivable that on the byways and fringes of the new town, wildlife could flourish or be beautiful.

Well, it can; and the people who care for these fine tracks, paths and trails really should take a bow – they are a credit to them, their work and their town – a virtue shared, curiously, with Redditch.

There’s beauty in all sorts of places if one is open to find it.

July 14th – A desperately grey journey home in fine rain. Totally uninspiring. Even my mates the coos of Jockey Meadows have – literally – moved on to pastures new, and the water meadow is recovering from their attentions. It looks good, although you’d not think it at first glance. But a lot of the invasive fast growing stuff has been grazed out, there’s lots of soft earth and mud turned by the lads and plenty of poo to spread the fertile love.

I love this land. It’s like a barometer of the seasons, and even without the coos, it’s fascinating.

July 14th – Called to Telford mid morning in soft rain, I was struck by how green and tunnel-like the cycleways to Hortonwood have become. The council here cut so far up the hedges, but the upper boroughs overhang and form an almost complete arch. Riding down them in even this grey daylight makes them an emerald delight, but in sunlight, they are magical green pathways, lined with foliage, fruits and flowers.

Beauty in the everyday.

July 13th – I haven’t seen these guys for a while , and my goodness, they’ve grown! These are the Watermead swan family from Brownhills, and they came over to see if I had any food as I passed Clayhanger Bridge.

I was glad to see they still number five, and interesting to see the very beginnings of adult plumage forming on the growing cygnets.

Here’s to another successful year!

July 13th – I headed to work on a sodden, rainy, wet Monday morning. It was a hard ride in humid conditions, when waterproofs leave you wetter from sweat than the rain they shield you from.

Pausing for a breather in Darlaston, I spotted the snowberry bushes in flower, spotted with raindrops. They captivated me.