#borwnhills

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking The grass is always greener...

Thursday, September 24th 2020 - This healthy horse has made me smile a few times of late. Passing it at Newtown, on the A5 Watling Street in North Brownhills, it dwells in a small paddock between the footpath and canal.

I often see it atop the steep bank, craning through the fence to get to the grass on the footpath edge.

The horse is friendly and always enjoys a nuzzle when you stop and say hello.

Gorgeous animal. But I’ll never understand horses.

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[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking - Watching the world go by:

April 27th - A brief loop around Brownhills, and I spotted this charming floof on a garden fishing platform just near anchor bridge.

Peacefully watching life go by, this gorgeous tabby would not turn to look at me for ages, so engrossing was it’s neighbourhood watch shift.

Always nice to see a puss when out and about. And this was a very gorgeous one!

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[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking The promise of green:

March 1st - Today was sunny, periodically, and when the sone shone (even though it tried to snow a couple of times) it was warm on my back and face. It didn’t rain, well not much anyway.

But what did happen was I found in the hedgerows of Home Farm at Ogley Hay fresh, bright green hawthorn leaves.

Yes, the hedgerows are starting to green up. This is excellent news.

Perhaps spring isn’t cancelled after all.

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[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Radio activity:

March 7th - Spinning over to Pelsall on at errand at dusk, I passed under the Old Cement Works Bridge at The Slough, and noted the radio masts there, the larger of which has always been a bit more than the average cellphone mast.

There since the days of analog mobile phones, it was the first cellphone basestation in the area and has been repeatedly upgraded as technology improved. I also carries on the same structure some microwave transceivers and what looks like maybe VHF telemetry antenna. It’s a busy mast for one lurking in a car park of an average, fairly remote trading estate.

Next to it of course, the three armed mast of a Tetra node, the UK emergency services digital network.

Antenna and masts fascinate me. And they never look better than against a dusk sky.

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[brownhillsbob]

March 31st -Spotted on Clayhanger Common, a touch of optimism in the gloom: one of my guerrilla seeded patches of cowslips is just coming into flower.

My favourite flowers that I spread the seeds for ten years ago now have returned, and in the middle of a wet Saturday when it seemed the sun will never shine, they appeared to cheer me up.

Spring, right there.

[brownhillsbob]

December 11th - I’d run around in the morning sorting displaced family members out and getting them back where they needed to be in the chaos of a snow-hit morning rush hour, so spent the day working from home. It was bitingly cold and with the snow a wee bit to deep to ride far in, I contented myself with getting caught up in the peace of a warm, quiet house.

Nipping out to take the air late afternoon in a lazy loop around Walsall Wood and Brownhills, taken slowly due to the conditions, I caught a lovely bit of snow day sunset at Anchor Bridge.

It caught me short for a bit. What a a gorgeous view that is.

[brownhillsbob]

January 14th - We’ve had some foreign visitors in Brownhills. They’ve come before, in other winters when it’s been cold on the continent, and they’re here again. It’s good to seem these somewhat rare, colourful fellows.

Waxwings have come to strip the trees by Silver Court of berries before - working their way west from Eastern Europe, when their traditional feeding grounds aren’t bountiful they venture further afield. 

I don’t know if they remember Brownhills somehow, or it’s just chance, but the businesses in Brownhills are getting added trade from twitchers and it’s giving the town something to talk about.

I just adore these birds. Such pretty things.

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Break the heart of Iron Man: Wednesday January 27th 2021 – I like Morris, the Brownhills Miner as I’ve posted here many times. This stainless steel, Soviet-style collier is the embodiment of the town’s history and we’re all very proud to have him on our central island.

But for what he is - an impressive work of not just art but structural engineering and welding - he’s bloody hard to get a good night photo of. I think it’s that the lighting is bad, and the nearby street lights always make getting a good angle tough.

On this misty, cold night with lingering snow on the ground, it must have been a chilly gig to be the town hero. But he did make for a better than usual photo, which pleased me.

I don’t understand why such a gorgeous piece of art should be so difficult to photograph at night. It’s enough to break the heart of an iron man. This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.