June 9th – So many great wildflowers at the moment, but the one I always adore is birds foot trefoil, or egg and bacon. Here growing at the canalside in Pleck, such a beautiful, bright yellow on a dull morning.
A joy to the heart.
Images
June 8th – Spotted on the roadside on the northern slope of the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood, a remarkable and profuse purple-blue flower.
About two feet tall, it’s a riot of colour. I’ve never noticed it before. Anyone know what it is?
June 8th – Green Lane, Shelfied; fly tipping in a field gateway, a spot sadly prone to this activity.
Yet again, fridges; people leave old appliances outside from scrap collectors, who strip the valuable metal and then dump the rest in lanes and quiet spots like this.
Please stop leaving stuff for these people – it may be out of sight, out of mind, but you’re complicit in flytipping and causing this problem.
I saw this friendly chap in the garden of a cottage I was renting, he often came to sit by my wife and I as we enjoyed tea and cakes in the sun. I have no interest in bird watching and I have no idea what kind of bird he is but I will admit I did enjoy photographing him and he I’m sure enjoyed our company. He was there every day and he gave me plenty of opportunity to get the hang of the zoom on my camera. He was rewarded with plenty of cake crumbs which he seemed fond of. Taken in Betws-y-Coed, Wales, United Kingdom.
June 5th – The track around Shire Oak Hill trough Home Farm and Lime Kilns is, sadly, a private road. It would make a great route around the hill for cyclists and the weary wanting to avoid serious hills getting back to Brownhills from Lichfield and the east.
Sadly, it’s not to be and this lovely avenue of trees must only be observed from the Lichfield Road at Sandhills.
In summer and autumn, it’s gorgeous.
May 26th – Around the corner, the new housing development at Streets Corner is looking very nice. Replacing homes that had been derelict for a decade or more, this new build project has been a long time coming, but I like this modern townhouses a lot. I like the materials used, and the pleasant, traditional approach.
So much better than what was here before, and much more aesthetically pleasing than I expected.
May 26th – I had cause to visit Walsall Wood on my way home, on a surprisingly busy Tuesday evening. The sun was shining, but it was cold, with a sharp headwind; this May has had much of the wolf about it and I shall be glad to see the back of it and get some calmer, warmer days in.
I love the view up Shire Oak Hill to the northeast; surprisingly green, busting, the rooftops and chimneys, combined with a cheerful urban optimism always makes me feel good.
This isn’t such a bad place.
May 23rd – I needn’t have worried. The first century of the year took place on a warm day that was overcast in the morning, but finished in bright, pleasant spring sunshine with little wind – ideal cycling weather.
The Peak District was as it ever was – beautiful, challenging and in the places I like to ride, surprisingly devoid of people.
A great day – more to come tomorrow on my main blog.
May 22nd – I’d been planning a long ride the following day for a good couple of weeks. Up until today, the weather forecast had been excellent. As I returned from Lichfield, I was having doubts. It was warm enough, but the sky was threatening all sorts, and the wind seemed quite bullish.
At the optimistically named Summerhill, found myself praying for a break in the clouds.
May 15th – I was pleased to note while in Birmingham that a piece of public art I thought had been lost from St. Chad’s Circus subway was still extant, and had been moved. The mosaic or whatever it is – it’s more like a veneer than anything, but it’s not wood – is of trains and transport and commemorates Snow Hill Station, which was closed (I think) at the time it was created.
The work used to be on the subway wall in one of the most horrid underpasses in the city centre. When the subterranean horror was infilled, I assumed the work had been lost, and forgot about it.
I noticed the work fronting the planters outside One, Snow Hill. I’m glad it was saved, it’s a little bit of the Birmingham I remember.
Just like the horrid pub in the subway, The Brown Derby. That was a shocker.
One artwork is still missing, though, and used to stand on the grass above street level on St. Chads; it was a metal, full size child’s swing, captured and welded in multiple stages of movement as if caught in stop motion photography. It was brilliant. Anyone know what happened to that?
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