Galleries

July 6th – It rained. Possibly not the biblical deluge forecasted, but my, did it rain. I braved the start of the storm in the morning, and it rained steadily all day in Birmingham, where I was working. Leaving at 5pm it was still pouring, the short, soggy dash to the station I considered a foretaste of a grim journey home.

The weather surprised me, though. I got to Walsall and the rain was stopping. After a short hop to Caldmore, the skies cleared, and blue sky was in full effect at Shelfield as I passed through. Stopping at the Arboretum Junction, however, I was shocked at the amount of surface water still present. Is it the surface, or what? Mystifying.

July 4th – In High Summer, every year, a sad but necessary thing happens. The verges on the major country lanes are trimmed. This is for visibility, and ditch maintenance purposes, and while the loss of a crop of wildflowers is sad, I recognise the necessity. I was amused, however, to note that on Lynn Lane, Lynn, near Stonall, the man (or woman) who went to mow, couldn’t bring themselves to execute this clump of poppies, and had neatly mown around them. Love it. Do something beautiful, every day…

July 3rd – Not half a mile from taking the rain sodden, misery-laden pictures in the last entry, a couple of things cheered me up. Cycling is a very effective antidepressant and I almost always finish a ride feeling happier than when I started it. I was cycling down Gravelley Lane towards Lower Stonnall on my way home, and movement on my left caught my eye. Turning to look, there was a young calf frolicking in a field of fresh grass, having an absolute ball, presumably with the rest of her herd, just having been turned out there. I headed for a gap in the hedge to take a picture, but sadly, the view was blocked. I adore cows, they’re so nosey…

Further along the lane I spotted the snapdragons in a field gateway. Antirrhinum are not, I believe, native to the UK, but garden imports from warmer climes (although I could be wrong and feel free to correct me). One often sees them in the countryside at spots where flytippers have dumped garden rubbish, and I suspect these delightful blooms to be of that category. However they got here, they’re gorgeous, and very welcome on such a dull afternoon.

In case you’re wondering, they’re called snapdragons because the flower allegedly looks like a dragon’s head, and if squeezed gently between thumb and forefinger, they open like a mouth.

July 2nd – Not far way, at Springhill, between Brownhills And Stonnall, there’s a fine crop of wheat, also doing well. I can’t get used to these modern, dwarf varieties. When I was a lad, the wheat was much taller, but now, the crop has been bred such that maximum growth is put into the grain and less into a tall stem. Although we don’t really accept it, crops like this have been genetically modified for centuries, usually by interbreeding and cross pollination. There’s nothing new under the sun. Or the lack thereof…

July 2nd – despite the abysmal weather, the business of summer continues, somewhat surprisingly. The farmland around Stonnall is host to a variety of crops this year. Oilseed rape, potatoes, beans, barley, wheat are all growing – and ripening – well, despite the lack of sun. This fine crop of barley, maybe destined to make the malt for local breweries – is well on it’s way to harvest. Such uniformity.

July 1st – One bonus of the huge amount of rain has been the refilling of Chasewater. Steadily, almost imperceptibly, the water has gradually crept up. Now, it’s inches from the foot of the dam in one spot. The little pools – so long a characteristic of the stricken reservoir – have now mostly joined the main lake again. A wonderful sight. Nice to see the toe of the old pier in the water at last, too.

According to Graham Evans of Chasewater Wildlife Group, the water is currently at the levels it was in 1976. After a winter of almost constant rain, it was full by summer, 1977… yet, I can’t see that being the case here, somehow. I was hoping for a little summer…

July 1st – I took a spin up from Brownhills to Chasewater – new month, same old bad weather, sadly. It was windy, and those short, sharp showers of the day before still skulked, ready to pounce. At Anchor Bridge, on the towpath on the Catshill Junction side of the bridge, there’s a hazard caused by the rain. In the recent storms, surface water coruscated down the bank, and washed the grit blast path out from this culvert housing. It’s big enough to swallow a foot or bike wheel. Most of the removed media has just been washed down the footpath. This is the responsibility of the Canals and Rivers Trust, formerly British Waterways, rather than the council. I’ve shot them an email. In the meantime, watch out…

June 30th – The sky was grey and rain showers stalked me as I headed out for a spin around Chasewater before tea. There was rain in the distance, over towards Lichfield, but it hadn’t got here yet. Instead, in mingled with shafts of distant sunlight and formed fragments of a rainbow. Never a whole one, the weather just teased me with pieces. The bad weather is so mean this year – it won’t even be beautiful while it’s being grim.

June 29th – It must be high summer , as the water lilies are in bloom on the local canals.These were near the Black Cock Bridge, in Walsall Wood. I don’t know if this is an invasive species or just a resurgent resident one, but they’re very lovely. We never used to see them when I was a kid, as the canals were too filthy to support much apart from sticklebacks and algae. The yellow variety – there’s a white lily too, which is also extraordinary – is fascinating to study. The flower heads are very complex. I’m quite fascinated by them.