Galleries

October 11th – An early morning trip into Lichfield for a meeting resulted in getting the train from Lichfield City to Redditch. Whilst waiting for my train, I studied the bikes locked up on the platform – there are usually loads here. Amongst the stovepipe chainstore mountain bikes and a rather lovely battered old road bike, a huge – and I mean massive – Pashley stood tall. I can only assume that the Jolly Green Giant commutes from Lichfield. Note the odd angle of the saddle – that really would lift and separate. The double crossbar, flying bedstead design must make for a very heavy steed. Impressive, if not absolutely sensible. 

October 10th – a bit of a grim landmark – this is my first normal-time homebound commute of the season on which I needed lights. A depressing milestone indeed. It seemed fitting, therefore, to feature this odd, unsettling landmark. I’ve been passing this derelict, abandoned and decaying house for several years. Situated in the plush, posh hamlet of Mill Green near Little Aston, it’s a huge house that would, at one time, have been worth at least £500,000. It’s rotting away, unloved and not evidently for sale. I have no idea how it came to be in this state – you surely can’t just forget or abandon a house of this value – yet someone has. This former home, between other, occupied houses of a similar value has lain like this for years. Does anyone know the story?

October 8th – It seems to be a good year for fly agaric, the classic fairytale toadstool. They grow near birches and I’m usually lucky to see a handful or so – this year they’re all over the place. These excellent specimens were spotted on the heathland near the spillway at Chasewater, between the canal and the dam road. Considered toxic, and used as a hallucinogen in some cultures, these bright fungi have an otherworldly aurra, even odder when you consider that the white spots drop off as they age. Nature: always doing stuff just to get attention.

October 8th – Chasewater. It’s all a bit sad. Yesterday, there was a media binge by Staffordshire and Lichfield Councils, who have been working on repairing the 212 year old dam at the currently drained reservoir. Celebrations were afoot because, apparently, the ‘plug’ was going back in and the reservoir would now be allowed to refill naturally. Sadly, the weather has to do the rest and we’re in the driest of dry seasons. The tone of the press releases and media focus was such that whilst stood photographing the unfinished works, several people came up to me and expressed their dismay at the clearly unfinished works. They thought the dam was repaired and the lake full again, which is very far from the truth.

As these images show, although the work on the outlet culvert is now complete, the dam bridge, spillway and other works are still to be finished.

The old outlet culvert is now chambered, and had been built up behind the sectional piling that made up the cofferdam. Slowly, it’s filling up with water.Those square section pipes are what, at the moment, passes for the old bridge, and the dam road is still closed off and impassible. Work here will continue for some months, and a large part of the park will remain inaccessible.

I have real concern for the clubs and businesses that rely on Chasewater for their livelihood. This situation has gone on too long.

October 7th – Sure enough, five minutes later I was pottering through Highgate to Six Ways. I love this bit of Walsall: Victorian foursquare townhouses, tree-lined streets, wedged in between the Birmingham Road and edgier Caldmore. The sun was out and the sun is always kind to these old, old streets. Forgetting the asphalt and cars, I should think they’ve change little in the last hundred years.

October 2nd – I spun out to Hoar Cross, one of my favourite autumn rides. The church here – next to the hall, but otherwise detached from the village by a mile or more and a very large hill – was built as a memorial. 

Built at the behest of the Late Lady Emily Charlotte Meynell-Ingram, the Church of the Holy Angels is a loving and devotional memorial to her late husband, killed while hunting. It stands high above the village overlooking the Needwood Valley, adjacent to Hoar Cross Hall, and it is said that one of the carved angels looking down from the beautifully decorated stonework is carved in the likeness of the unfortunate hunter. This church and grounds are a hidden gem and deserve a greater appreciation.

October 2nd – A bit grisly, this, but I feel it needs saying. Myxomatosis never really went away, but it seems to be sweeping through South Staffordshire again. This wild rabbit – spotted wandering helpless on a grass verge in Chorley, near Burntwood – is blinded by this dreadful rabbit plague. Introduced from Venezeula to Australia in the early 20th century to control the burgeoning rabbit population, this pernicious disease was accidentally imported to France by scientists. Soon it came to the UK. Causing blindness and tumours, it’s a horrid disease and a prolonged, hideous death. I’ve seen five or six bunnies in this state recently – this one so impaired that it was unaware I was a couple of feet away. I can’t bring myself to kill animals, but I hope foxes or the buzzards strike soon.

There is a light on the horizon. Studies show that the rabbit population – increasing, currently – is becoming gradually immune. Next time you see some agribusiness wonk on TV telling you that science is the solution to agriculture issues, remember this rabbit.

If you keep pet rabbits, take care if your garden backs onto open land, or where they may come into contact with their wild cousins. 

October 1st – We’re in the season of great sunsets. These, taken from around the Handsacre area, feature my favourite obsession – Rugeley Power Station. I love a good sunset, and they’re taken by putting the camera on timer release and standing it on gateposts and bridge rails. Plenty more in the coming weeks, hopefully.

October 1st – I’m really enjoying Cannock Chase right now. Exploring again Brockton and the Sherbrook Valley, I found Freda’s Grave, the memorial to the mascot of the New Zealand Rifles, stationed at Brocton during the first world war. I also crossed Shugborough again, but this time I headed up through Hixon to Blithfield and back through Handsacre. This indian summer has been a great tonic and I savoured every minute.

September 30th – hot and bothered from a day in the crowds of Birmingham, I escaped in the early evening and took a spin over Castlehill. Ducking through a hedge at the summit into a field of carrots, the view of South Staffordshire was hazy, autumnal and gorgeous. You can knock our area in all manner of ways, but be honest, this is a cracking view over a rolling, historic, beautifully rural landscape. What’s not to love? Open your eyes, folks…