Galleries

May 30th – This is always a lovely first sighting of the summer – the first orchid. Small, light purple in colour and growing in a solitary position next to the cycleway at Ryecroft this small, pretty flower reminds me that summer is here.

I’m not proficient enough to tell one orchid from another – there are so many different but similar types it can be very hard to tell – but they are all gorgeous, and like cowslips, are one of my favourite flowers.

Look out for them in wetland meadows, towpaths, marshes and the edges of ponds and streams. The more you study them, the more beautiful you will see they are.

May 29th – A dreadful day, and an awful ride.

Being bank holiday, I wanted to get out, and checking the forecast, convinced myself that the heavy showers predicted wouldn’t come to much. I needed some bits for the bike, so decided to ride into Birmingham along the Stockland Green/Brookvale route and on to the canal, then ride back.

The rain started as I left home and didn’t stop. I spent 45 minutes waiting for a break in the rain in a subway under the m6 at Witton. I was soaked to the skin, my feet were wet and I was miserable.

Arriving in Birmingham the rain eased off a little, I got what I came for and had a coffee and something to eat. I decided to get the train back to Shenstone as the rain was coming on again.

It’s a long time since I’ve seen such a bank holiday washout. I really felt for anyone who’d organised an event. A wet, soaking and sodden afternoon.

May 28th – I got to the floating market at Fazeley about 3:30pm, when the sun was out and conditions were good. It was a much smaller event than the year before, but still quite lovely, but I was struck by the lack of visitors. I have no idea why folk weren’t here; maybe the local advertising was poor. Perhaps earlier showers had put them off. Perhaps previous years had been disappointing.

Whatever the cause, it was sad as it was a nice event that I think potentially could have been larger and better attended. As usual, the boater dogs were the stars of the show and were charming and funny.

The boaters too were welcoming and friendly and I’d love to see this event prosper, but serious work is going to have to be done somewhere to make it happen.

May 28th – I set out on a sunny afternoon to pay a visit to Fazeley floating market, and on the way, hopped on the canal from Brownhills to Newtown to see if I could spot the Watermead swan family, just to see how they were doing.

I found them, unusually, near Anchor bridge; still six cygnets in umber and mum and dad still very, very attentive – but my, they’re growing – and they’ll soon be losing that characteristic fluffiness.

Nice to see the family prospering.

May 27th – I was busy all day and escaped after nightfall for a spin around Brownhills in the dark; it had been squally all day with a strong wind, and the weather was finally calming. 

It’s new camera time again and I’ve been loaned a new Canon SX730 to try out – for a brand new model 40x zoom compact I’m not terribly impressed. It loves bright sunlight, but as these images show, the night performance on automatic is woeful. There are not many helpful scene modes either like the Panasonics or Nikons I’m used to. For a £400 camera I’m not terrifically impressed, if I’m honest. The user interface is horrific, too.

Build quality is decent, though, it has to be said, but again, I think I find myself leaning to the new Lumix even though it has less zoom.

Cameras, like bicycles, are never quite just what you want.

May 26th – This chump of flowers seem to show every year, growing just on the edge of the Southwest parapet of the railway bridge at Hollyhill Lane, Shenstone. I’m fairly sure they’re aquilegia, or grannies bonnets as Susan Marie Ward has no doubt told me before, and they’re absolutely gorgeous.

I presume they’re garden escapees, as I don’t think I see them wild anywhere else, which makes me wonder why there are the two different coloured plants here. 

Maybe it was guerrilla seeding, or made just seeds present is someone’s dumped garden waste – whichever, they’re a delight to the heart.

May 26th – A lovely, warm shirtsleeve ride to work on a gorgeous morning, with the wayside wild roses fully in bloom and bees busy, even at an early hour.

I know I keep saying this, but this is what I look forward to all year. I know many don’t enjoy the heat and humid conditions can be wearing, but this really is the best kind of day.

May 24th – Sorry for the surfeit of wildfowl chick photos, but the families are fascinating me more than usual this year, and they make a lovely distraction from some of the awful events in the human world.

The Canada goose family at Catshill Junction is thriving, with the goslings growing every time I see them. This week they have very nearly doubled in size, and as they grow larger, they’ll be out of prey range for most predators. This group have fared well, and still number 12 chicks.

I love to see this little guys dozing. You can’t not adore them.

May 24th – One of the more strikingly beautiful wayside flowers that grow pretty much as weeds along the cycleways and towpaths is Hawkweed. Ranging in colour from yellow to crimson, these are gorgeous flowers that some would view as invasive.

I love to see these every summer, and the Goscote valley is lined with them. They are a joy to the heart.