Images

June 26th – Returning home from work, I hopped on the canal. Everything is so green right now – the weather may be generally awful but the plants are having a ball. Overlooking the new pond at Clayhanger, its character has changed again for high summer, should it deign to arrive. The sandy pool is now surrounded by a lush meadow, verdant reed beds and gorgeous, shady trees. A joy. To think a spoil heap once stood here…

June 25th – This handsome, slightly mad-looking and somewhat tame fellow was fishing near Pleck in Walsall when I returned late afternoon. It was a lovely sunny afternoon, and the canal looked great. Everything was so green and lush… and there he stood, amongst it all. He’s clearly used to people and didn’t move until I was 10 feet away from him. A gorgeous bird.

June 23rd – I’m not sure what this is. There’s a shock of it growing on the common at Brownhills, just near the ditch to the south of the A5 Watling Street. I’m seeing lots of similar flowers in hedgerows, but they tend to be at the white/blue end of the spectrum. These are really bold and impressive. Anyone got any ideas, please?

June 23rd – I braved a very windswept Brownhills Common today, and tore around it. It’s ages since I’ve been up there, and it was fun to throw the bike around the muddy tracks. The plant life is gorgeous there at the moment. So many species, just begging for your attention. This remarkably complex flower is a common bramble. I’m not sure if this is blackberry, or dewberry, and won’t be until it fruits. Brambles like this are incredibly important, as many types of butterfly and moth feed from them. So beautiful, so often overlooked.

June 22nd – The flowers continue. With the wet weather, I’m concerned about the lack of pollinating insects. On a grey Friday afternoon, I cycled the towpath from Walsall Wood to Brownhills. Near Clayhanger Bridge, overlooking the marsh at the rear of the big house is the most amazing thicket of honeysuckle, lupins, elder and brambles. Mixed in are cornflowers, like this lovely example. Happily, the bees seem to be gradually getting out and about. Lets have some summer soon, eh?

June 21st – It was another miserable day, but I had managed to avoid the worst of the rain. I thought I’d continue with my wildflower feature, and after yesterday’s thistles, it made me think which other flower buds were interesting. In Thorneyhurst Lane, near Lynn, I spotted this poppy bud. Poppies seem such fragile flowers, yet the buds seem almost prehistoric in nature. The hedgerow and verges here are peppered with these downy buds, and with other poppies in various stages of the flowering cycle. A beautiful flower.

June 18th – The farmer who planted such a fine crop of beans seems very sensitive to wildlife, leaving wide fieldmargins and nic patches of scrub. This benefits the who biodiversity – bugs, birds, animals and flora. Still beautiful, though, however common, is the humble buttercup, here in abundance with cow parsley, dandelions, cornflower and poppy. Gorgeous.

June 16th – First time I’d been to Walsall on a Saturday for over 18 months, and I quickly remembered why. It may have just been the rain, but the lack of anything decent in the town centre, the grinding misery of the shoppers, and the general air of shabbiness the place wears just ground the joy out of me. I walked up Chuch Hill, and then cycled to Caldmore to pick up my favourite sweets and savouries, then back to Crown Wharf and Maplin. Not finding what I was after, I went for a coffee in Starbucks, and locked my bike to the railings out front, as many others were doing. As I left the retail park, I noted with a wry smile that the cycle parking provided – a large quantity of Sheffield stands – was unused. Hidden away, with no CCTV cover, you’d be mad to lock your ride there. These town planning types just don’t get it, do they?