Galleries

June 20th – This old chap is someone I’m very pleased to see, for the first time this year.

This elderly, gummy old cat lives in Kings Hill, Darlaston, and is clearly a well loved companion to someone in the old folk’s flats there. I’ve been saying hello to him in passing for years now, and he’s a good natured but aloof fellow who’s proud and busy despite his clearly senior status.

His whiskers are always immaculate, and his lack of teeth doesn’t seem to impede his hunting instinct. But the reason I’m pleased to see this gentleman is that I always think about old cats, lying in the sun, enjoying the day. Never is a cat happier than summer, and I’m pleased this one survived long enough to feel another day of healing sun on his back, ease his aches and maybe stir the memories of kittenhood and a life well lived.

So pleased you’re still around old lad.

June 20th – A day of errands in the Black Country and plenty of riding the canals, green and limpid as they always are in summer, and alive with life, from the Wednesbury mother and foal to the bugs in the cowparsley. 

The pink flowers are stunning and I spotted them on the way home in Harden, just on the canal bank there. Does anyone know what they are? they’re absolutely gorgeous.

June 19th – Returning from work I noted the Catshill Canada goose commune which appears to consist of two inseparable families was thriving. They don’t seem to have lost any of the goslings, and the older set are developing apace now, losing their mousey fluff and growing adult plumage, and the first wing feathers.

They have healthy appetites and are healthy, busy birds.

I noticed not far up the bank Mrs. Mallard with her newly hatched brood, which may well be her second set of the summer.

She was very proud and relaxed. I love to follow these little families on the canal.

June 19th – I met this skinny, lithe young cat in north Walsall, flaked out on the footpath in the late afternoon heat. Grubby, like he’d been sleeping and rolling in the dust all day, clearly a gentleman of leisure.

The curious position he was in I initially feared he might be hurt, but he was fine, and obligingly rolled over for a tummy tickle and game of chew the finger.

A charming soul and a true flaneur of the summer streets.

June 18th – Another fine, high summer day and this time I headed out to North Warwickshire, going from Stonnall to Bassets Pole, on to Middleton, body moor Heath, Hurley, Baxterley, Grendon and up the canal back to Tamworth with a speedy run down the old A5 home.

It was a lovely ride on a gorgeous day and the scenery showed itself well. Merevale Hall still sits imperiously over the plains beyond the Watling Street, and over the former mining communities on the ridge, which apart from the memorials and odd preserved building, you’d never guess had ever existed at all.

It was also a day of languid animals, from the ambling rabbits who unusually didn’t have a rush in them, to lounging cats hunting shadow, rather than sun. 

Bernie the boater Birman was going for a walk with his dad at Polesworth, on a lead as he normally lives at home. He was perfectly content and a lovely cat.

A word of caution, though: if you’re planning to ride the Coventry Canal between Grendon and Polesworth, choose something agricultural to ride. The towpath is non-existent and was seriously challenging to ride.

June 17th – From Amerton, I went for a long afternoon and evening ride around old haunts; Drointon, Blithfield, Newborough, Hoar Cross, Woodmill. A lovely ride, gorgeous golden hour on one of the warmest, most beautiful days of the year.

Newborough’s elegant, Francophile church is one of the finest in the UK, and certainly gives Staffordshire’s other gem, Clifton Campville a run for it’s money.

So sad to see the Meynell Ingram pub at Hoar Cross is still closed. That could be such a good pub in the right hands.

June 17th – A ride out to Amerton Farm, the craft centre just off the A51 near Stowe by Chartley was an unexpected delight. A nice new coffee shop run by a Brownhills lad, craft shops and farm animals to fuss over. 

Most stunning were the swallows, nesting throughout the building and whose antics as they collected bugs for their young were fascinating.

A lovely place, great coffee and well worth a visit.

I wish my teeth were in as good condition as Mrs. Goat’s there…

June 16th – Summer is finally on her throne, and how glorious her reign. I slipped out after work on a circuit of the backlanes of Shenstone, and took in all the overcast but warm day offered. The hedgerows and fields are green, flowers are out (including the curious ones I found at Summerhill I can’t identify) and the view of Wall Church from Hiton was gorgeous.

Even the Victorian and decidedly austere pumping station at Shenstone looked incredible surrounded by lush pasture.

This is the time I love.

June 15th – I heard about the local poppy field on Facebook, and it being very sunny and early, I took a detour on the way to work to check it out.

The field is just on the east of the Chester Road before the Wood Lane junction and is glorious. A few snatched pictures don’t do this gem justice. I will revisit it soon.

I love to see the poppy fields at this time of year, and welcome their rise since the drop in farming use of herbicides that used to kill them.I also adore the randomnesss of the places they appear – never the same two years running.

A beautiful and ephemeral thing – get out and see it while it lasts.

June 14th – The desire-path created behind the canal overflow at Clayhanger continues to fascinate me, particularly in the way the arch has formed in the scrub. 

I don’t know who’s walking this way regularly enough to keep it so clear – it may even bee the deer who dwell on the common – but whoever it is has created a charming, odd little portal that could be to a fairy tail place, or just to Clayhanger…

Not much difference between the two, really…