#365daysofbiking

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Church worship and a great deception:

Saturday 26th February 2022 - A weary, slow second ride of the weekend, again with Pickle. I had planned this the night before with my soul full of optimism, spring energy and warmth, but as it turned out the day although beautiful, was acutely chilly and the places we visited to see spring flowers were all mostly still barren.

It was a day of churches though, and they looked stunning: Dunstall, Clifton Campville and Lullington looked splendid as they always do, resplendent in their landscapes but the best of all was Lullington which pleasingly, had a gorgeous mix of flowers and colours: Cyclamen, narcissus, some early daffs, snowdrops and crocuses.

Sadly, the cold in this fool’s spring was so sharp it was energy-sapping and the ride was curtailed by agreement, but was still a respectable 54 miles.

That’s the trouble with beautiful days in late February: They deceive you that the winter is over.

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#365daysofbiking #Clifton Campville #Lullington #Dunstall #spring #flowers #down #tired #cold #seasons #bitter #pickle

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Down from above:

Saturday 26th February 2022 - Over to Pickle.

A very unexpected 84 miles. 'We rode out through Burntwood, Shute Hill, Longdon, Armitage, The Ridwares, Rowley Park, Hoar Cross, Newborough, Buttermilk Hill, Uttoxeter, Doveridge, Waldley, Roston, Norbury, Ellastone, Wooton and my happy place, the Weaver Hills. 

It was very cold up on the hills: The bike computer recorded it as just 3 degrees at sunset. We came over Raddlepits, Cauldon Low, Threelows, Oakamoor, Red Road, Alton - the temperature was back up to 7 here! Crakemarsh, back through Uttoxeter, Willslock,  and down the main road through Bagot Forest, Abbots Bromley, Blithbury, Handsacre, Hanch, Stoneywell and Hammerwich.

There were lots of flowers but sadly I didn't get the one I wanted: We did see some spring lambs but they were too far away to photograph.

Bob had a bit of a grim tum with cramps - but he never complained and we managed 14mph average which is great for pretty much the first good long ride of the year.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Hoar Cross #Weaver Hills #Sunset #Sundown #Pickle #Threelows #Alton #Snowdrops #Spring #optimism

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Watchers of the night:

Sunday 9th January 2022 - I’ve been riding with Pickle, my 15 year old niece, for years now, as followers of my social media will know. She was always reluctant to share her images and thoughts on this journal, which she steadfastly considered to be solely my preserve. Now she’s older, we’ve debated the matter, and she’s now content to take part - after all, she shares the same enthusiasm for the places we visit and all that they contain that I had at her age, that hopefully I’ve conveyed to readers over the last decade. Sharing this passion with a youngster is contagious, and renews my fascination - not just for the places, but for cycling and life in general. Now I’m getting older, this isn’t a moment too soon.

But also being a teenager, Pickle has a full social schedule and it wasn’t until quite late on Sunday that she was free to head out. She has a new camera at the moment, and she was keen to exploit the low light features, and try out some techniques she’d read about in her continual perusal of photography forums and the device’s manual.

We needed a place that had a good atmosphere at dusk, and was within an achievable distance. I recalled that Hoar Cross church is lit at night, and the Needwood Valley it overlooks can be magical at any time of day, but especially in twilight. I thought if we headed up through Lichfield, Sittles, Croxall, Walton on Trent, then wound up through Barton, we might just hit Dunstall at the golden hour, then over Scotch Hills to Jacksons Bank and Hoar Cross by sunset.

The ride was fast, but the countryside and lanes absolutely sodden. The weather was clear and chilly, which aided in holding off twilight. Sadly, the golden hour wasn’t really happening, and the sunset had more important things to do too; but as the lass reflected, this wasn’t that kind of day.

At Dunstall Hall - a place that’s seen a number of uses in recent years - it was interesting to see the deer in the gardens before the house, and that gorgeous church on the rolling hillside was as captivating as ever. But we had another church in our sights, and we got there on time.

Hoar Cross church of The Holy Angels is without doubt, one of the finest churches in Staffordshire, if not England. Sat in the middle of nowhere next to Hoar Cross Hall, seat of the Meynell Ingram family, it sits on a ridge above the Needwood Valley. It is absolutely stunning, was erected as a memorial to Lady Meynell Ingram’s husband, killed in a hunting accident in 1871, although like all great Victorian tragic legends, some of this is disputed. 

My memory was correct and the church is lit at night by a very orange sodium light that really highlights the stonework of this remarkable building beautifully - but not only that, it picks out the angels watching over the slain hunter’s grave in a most remarkable way. We took lots of photos here, and listened to the owls unseen in the trees seemingly having a dispute. The atmosphere was amazing, and experiencing nightfall here was truly magical.

It was getting increasingly cold and we were hungry, so rode back - not on our usual Hadley End - Morrey - A515 route, but I wanted to find the keen photographer some alternate subjects on the way - so we turned southwestwards and through Rough Park, the Ridwares and Handsacre, where we took a photo break on that remarkable old bridge, redundant but resplendent, still adjacent to it’s modern replacement carrying the main road over the Trent.

Here, the lights of the Armitage Shanks factory and Rugeley really made for a good muse, but neither of us can yet atone to the view without Rugeley Power Station. A sad loss, something I never would have thought of myself saying 20 years ago.

We returned home up past Grand Lodge, Goosemoor Green and Fulfen, cutting across Chasetown to Chasewater, where Pickle had something she really, really wanted to try: I think you’ll agree her starry night shots are stunning.

A 53 miler on a surprisingly cold day in quite challenging road conditions: But a good ride nonetheless, and some great photos. Always good of the soul.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Dunstall Hoar Cross #Church #River Trent #Chasewater #Handsacre #night photography #Interesting Architecture #churches #Meynell Ingram #Pickle #weepickle #Stars #sky #bad weather #winter

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking The thinness of the air, and turning for home:

31st December 2021 - It’s been a weird old Christmas. The weather has been the worst over the holiday period I’ve known in many years: Pretty much constant rain and drizzle for over a week.

The festive period is normally an opportunity for us to get out on some seriously nice rides - often in the lead up to Christmas, the traditional Christmas and Boxing Day rides, and there’s usually good fun to be had in the period up to and including new year.

But not this time. The ceaseless downpour has meant that although I’ve been cycling every day, it’s been for utility only; delivering presents or cards, seeing friends and relatives, going to the pub, getting shopping in or getting fresh air. Every journey has been in waterproofs, and I’ve come back sodden. It’s not been nice. But on New Year’s Eve, a day I usually hate, the rain stopped. The sun came out. But odder than that, it was warm. And I mean, really warm: 14 degrees. It was like spring out there. I set off later than I’d planned with my young pal for a loop around the local area, as we had an errand to do in Lichfield, and another in Burntwood. 

The riding was fast and easy: There was a strong wind, but frankly, it didn’t matter. Up over Stonnall, Thornes, and the backlanes into Shenstone - but as we neared the village on the hill, we realised something was different. The old, ruined thirteenth century church tower - a remnant of an older, nicer church before the gothic horror that stands today was born of Victorian hubris - was sheathed in plastic sheeting and scaffold. It seems to be undergoing renovation. This is interesting, as it’s been derelict for all of the 40 or more years I’ve been riding around here. It seems that a group have got together, raised money and are renovating the tower to save it out of charity and community spirit. Yet again, communities pay for Church of England neglect, it seems. But the plan is good and seemingly very competent. Searching when we got home we found the tower has a website here which is pretty useful on history, but not on the future. For that, we found Lichfield Live had reported plans to add a viewing platform to the tower last March. To my surprise, these have been approved.  I do hope this will be open to the public periodically. I bet the view is incredible. I salute those undertaking this project - it’s remarkable. This has largely passed me by over the summer and is an indication of my failure to ride much that ways on last year. I must rectify the neglect.

Further on, we caught a fair sunset up at Chesterfield, between Shenstone and Wall - any sunset is a bonus right now. Pickle caught it well, as she did a somnambulant, subdued Lichfield. The bars seemed busy but the streets less so. As ever, the festive lights and night sky combined with the muted, orange street lighting to make a magic that Pickle was all too keen to capture. 

Returning down the wonderful Chasetown High Street, Pickle noted that the Christmas lights were switched off, but it didn't matter, as it’s always festive at night on the beautifully lit, inclined High Street. I don’t really know what it is about Chasetown, but it shares the phenomena with Walsall Wood. At night, it always seems much busier than it actually is, and has a lovely homely, soft glow to it.

As New Year’s Eve rides go, this has been the best for a few years. We both enjoyed the absence of rain, and the thin, clear air. Such a change from the last couple of weeks... But as we stood at Chasewater, with nothing but the sound of water lapping against the dam, we reflected on the year gone. It’s been hard. There have been times when I wondered if I’d ever do another long ride again. But there has also been great joy: Recovery, the longed for autumn long rides, the return to the outdoors, the sharing of moments like this. 

So we turned for home feeling positive, and light with the optimism of a new riding year ahead. There will be winter yet, yes - but spring and the daffodils and cowslips. Long rides on the Moorlands and Peaks. Green on the trees and hedgerows. Summer days and cafe stops and ice cream, and even the odd pub garden. It’s all to come. It was impossible not to face the prospect with an open, happy heart. Happy new year to you all.

Thank you too for all of your messages of support and encouragement over the last week. Dry Valleys summed it up when he said you cannot serve from an empty vessel. For a while, I was empty. But now... I am feeling somewhat replenished.

Thank you to the wonderful community that support me here.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Shenstone #tower #restoration #interesting architecture #Chesterfiueld #sunset #Lichfield #Night phtography #chasetown #Chasewater #new year #optimism #pickle

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking What makes this mine:

Thursday 27th January 2022 - On my way home from work in Darlaston, I stopped in Pleck, one of the most ethnically diverse areas of Walsall to get some shopping in from one of the best international supermarkets around.

Within, I took my pick of staples and treats from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Jamaican, African and Arabic cuisines and foodstuffs, and as usual, came out with loads more than intended. I love that store.

Standing on the car park, I noticed the remnants of daylight had turned the sky a gorgeous colour in that transition from light to dark, and the skyline was  as diverse and colourful as the contents of my bulging panniers.

People knock Walsall and the Black Country relentlessly; people with divisive intent spew hatred about the diverse communities and drive poisoned wedges into any available fissure. But it’s precisely this disparate, chaotic and multi-faceted nature of this place that makes me feel at home. It’s what I love: The food, the people, the history, the complete chaos of the built environment around me.

Here are my people an this is my place... Wherever they are from.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Pleck #Walsall #Black Country #diverse #identity #ethnicity #skyline #sunset #sikh #temple #supermarket #shopping #topophillia

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Station to station: Left baggage:

Wednesday 16th February 2022 - The weather was stormy and unpleasant to ride in, and when I left Telford where I’d been working there was driving rain carried on a wind honed on Satan’s back step.

I decided to cut my losses, and hop on the train to Brum, then change for another to Four Oaks and ride from there.

This is a journey I used o do twice a day, multiple times a month, but since the pandemic made trains such a strange experience I only really travel on them one way, between Wolverhampton and Telford in the mornings. It was a strange experience - how did I ever put up with all that waiting around?

I miss it, I really do, especially the views, and the late-night feelings thing of railway stations at night I’ve written about before. Things are clearly a bit more normal now than when I stopped this time-suck of a journey at the beginning of the pandemic. Back then New Street in particular had become a hostile, unpleasant place with next to no commuters and very few services. At least it seems alive again now, and you can get a coffee.

It was while downing a double espresso to pep me up for the push from Four Oaks that I took time admiring the night view of metalwork, lights and machinery from under the access bridge on platform eight.

I’ve spent so much time here over the years, and I left it behind, barely noticing. It was strangely nostalgic and emotional to do the station to station hop once more.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #New Street #Station #Birmingham #Brum #Late Night Feelings #night photography #interesting architecture #commute

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Just this side of midnight:

26th December 2021 - I will post a fuller explanation in coming days, but I came to within two days of this journal’s ten year anniversary on March 30th, 2021, and just stopped, because I couldn’t decide what to do with it. It was a sort of creative block. At the time. But it was a bit more than that. I was very ill, but didn’t realise it at the time. It’s taken most of the year to get past those difficulties both physical and mental, and find my ease again. It’s not been a comfortable journey. Part of it will be that the nature of this journal will necessarily change.

I still cycle, every day pretty much. But documenting every day was becoming hard. I’m a decade older. I’m well into my 50s. My health has not been great. When I started all this, I would regularly not go to bed until 4am and be up for work at 6am and be fine. Now, I don’t have that energy, and it was getting harder and harder to find things to photograph, and street photography has got harder. Again, more on that later.

Way back in the spring I was quite ill with my bowel again. This was making me tired, and getting that sorted at the height of summer was such a boon - but within weeks, while my immunity was suppressed, I caught a skin infection. My leg swollen, I couldn’t ride some days - not because of any pain, but because I couldn’t get trousers on. Sorting that out properly took until the autumn. Autumn brought me a gradual, day by day recovery: Not just of my physical power, but of my sense of mischief and desire to explore things.

Then came the debate: How do I deal with 365? I don’t want it to die. It’s been a huge part of my last decade, and it’s probably the least-read but most heartfelt writing I do publicly. I don’t want to lose that, but I can’t post every day: It’s become repetitive, I’m not sure anyone’s reading it that much and It’s too rigid a format to say things I want to say now. So this journal is going to change. But also, sort of stay the same. You’ll see what I mean in coming days, weeks, months.

As I type this on Boxing Day at just my favourite side of midnight - 1:30am in a darkened house - I post a photo taken from Ogley Junction footbridge 3 hours before on one of the most unpleasant Christmas nights I’ve known - heavy rain for hours and all was sodden, but curiously, not my spirit. I was full of a great family Christmas Day, and the subsequent evening pursuit of solitude for a while, also hoping to burn off some of the digestive load. It was, at least, warm. The nights are opening out. I survived a particularly vile Autumn suck. It’s OK. All shall be well. One of the oddest features of this year is that although this journal withered, my passion for riding bikes actually grew to a level I’ve not experienced for years. Although I was sporadic for a week here or there, I’ve actually ridden far more miles this year and had many more long rides than usual. it was rediscovering that joy that helped make me well again, a fact I am certain of.

So here I am, just on the morning side of midnight, on the light side of the dark, on the well side of ill, ready to journey onward, but only documenting rides when I feel I have something to share.  Hopefully that will work for you.  But there’s something I have to do first. Stay tuned. Please. And I beg you to accept my apologies. I didn’t want to let you all down. But something had to give. I have written a huge amount on this journal. I think I’ve earned a more relaxed role. Stay tuned.

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#365daysofbiking #Ogley Junction #Canal #Night phtography #Christmas #bad weather #self indulgent #illness #creative block #bob talks bollocks

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Season of the sunset:

Sunday 6th February 2022 - Returning from Lichfield on an errand, I caught a good sunset - not a brightly coloured one, although those always occur this time of year sooner or later - but the sort of dramatic, moody, muted skyline that bristles with what Simon Jeffes might have termed surface tension.

The skeletal trees of Home Farm looked stark and beautiful on the skyline of Sandhills, as did the trees meeting the sky in a garden at Lynn.

Winter does have it’s compensations, but they can be few and far between if I’m honest.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Sandhills #Stonnall #Lynn #Shire Oak #Home #Lanes #Farm #sky #sunset #sundown #beautiful #dramatic #winter

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Don’t go:

Tuesday 1st February 2022 - Kings Hill Park, Darlaston: A sunny, late winter day and that curious golden hour you get at about 2pm only at this time of year. The crocuses are up, and so are a few (but only a few) snowdrops. How welcome the sight, how they filled me with joy - and what promise of a new year they bring.

It’s been a dull and unpleasant winter. But this must surely herald a decent year.

Please flowers, even if the weather turns again, don’t go. You are my hope.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Crocuses #snowdrops #flowers #spring #cold #winter #Kings Hill #Park #Darlaston #seasons #commute #work #hope #positive

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Not dead, just resting.

20th December 2021 - Still here. Still riding. Stay tuned.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Not dead #just resting

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Bridge to my heart:

Saturday 22nd January 2022 - The endless rain and murk seems to be coming to a bit of a break - and a cessation in this grim period is not a moment too soon, I can tell you.

Out for an evening spin on a clear but cold Saturday - maybe picking up a takeaway on my return depending on how busy they were - I decided to have a punt at photographing the Anchor Bridge from the canalside adjacent to the pub that gave it it’s name. This is a familiar muse to long-term readers, but it makes for a lovely, colourful night photo and really illustrates Pickle’s fascination with bending the dark.

I’ve always loved how this bridge looks so bucolic yet is actually on the very frontier between urban sprawl and rolling countryside. On the far side of the canal, flats and houses all the way through Catshill and Ogley Hay. Behind me to my left, the undulating fields and hills of Home Farm, Sandhills. Ahead, under that bridge, the houses on Lindon Road at the foot of Shire Oak, and Chandlers Keep, the site of a former foundry.

And at the still point, me in silence, listening to the noise of traffic, the wind, the odd instance of wildlife and drinkers filling the space between them with laughter and music. 

This spot, this bridge at night are in my heart and soul. It is very Brownhills, and a part of my psyche. Bizarre, but true.

The curry was most excellent.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Brownhills #Canal #Night photography #Anchor #Catshill #pub #frontier #urban #rural #contemplative #topophillia

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking On the skyline:

Thursday 13th January 2022 - Crossing Chasewater on an errand I’d deliberately held back until sunset, my studied tardiness was rewarded handsomely. 

Chasewater is the best place locally to catch a sunset, and the gull roost was massive with thousands of birds too, so the spectacle was twofold. The deer were out on the North Heath and obliged beautifully.

I’ve said this many times and I’ll continue to do so: This place is beautiful. But you have to want to see it, and actively go look. Had I not had one eye to the skies I’d never have seen this.

There’s nowhere I’d rather have been than here, this night.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Brownhills #Chasewater #Reservoir #deer #gulls #sunset #skyline #sky #colour #sundown #silhouettes #beautiful

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking A day out of time:

Saturday 1st January 2022 - A ride out with Pickle on the oddest, most lovely New Year’s Day I’ve ever known. Sixty-five miles of absolute, total restorative riding. And not a moment too soon.

We set out early afternoon on a slow bimble on a sunny, bright but very windy day, marked most memorably by the warmth - it was at times 15 degrees out there. Everything was still sodden, and occasionally we rode through floodwater, but on the whole, the roads were quickly drying out and everything was very springlike.

We rode up through Hilton and Chesterfield to Shenstone, then over Shenstone Park, which looked even more like the set of the Teletubbies than it normally does. We went on up to the old A5 through Weeford and down into Hopwas and Wigginton to Syerscote, Clifton, Honey Hill, No Mans Heath, Austrey, Orton, Warton, Polesworth, Birch Coppice and Hurley. We came back up through Kingsbury Water Park, Bodymoor Heath and Carroway Head, Woodend and Stonnall.

The other thing that marked the day is that the normally grey and colourless light of this time of year was temporarily replaced by bright greens and a feeling of spring. It’s like all the time we were inside, or getting wet, we were earring this day: this ride. It was fabulous to be out in.

Pickle noted particularly the swans grazing on some winter crop of brassicas, which is important. We can’t feed waterfowl locally at the moment due to an avian flu outbreak that his killed many birds. People are concerned the swans that normally live in our parks are not able to eat - but these refugees from central Tamworth have flown out to dine al fresco on what farmland has to offer, and as Pickle said, they seemed very socially distanced.

Clifton Hall continued to bewilder - the twin, red brick, foursquare mansions that were apparently intended to be one, but the wings were built first, and the central part never completed. Pickle observed that it was probably a good house for a couple that were no longer communicating well, but still in love. She’s probably right.

I had no idea it had been derelict for many years and only refurbished and inhabited relatively recently. You can find out about Clifton Hall here.

As we reached the crossover point between day and night - I love the concept of civil twilight - we laboured up Honey Hill, on the road out of Clifton towards the junction of four counties at No Mans Heath. Honey Hill is a hard climb, windswept, and generally a summer place: But today it was just right. The views commanded were beautiful, and the ride had really encouraged a spirit of optimism for the year to come.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #New Years Day #warm #unseasonal #good weather #windy #Pickle #Shenstone Park #Swans #Syercote #Clifton #Hall #Campville #Honey Hill

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking A ghost of a chance:

Thursday April 1st 2021 – Riding home late afternoon, I spotted this amusing tribute to science by local street artist Ghost on a canalside wall in Pleck, Walsall. It’s beautifully executed, and marks a trend of the pandemic often inspiring street art. I think if covid has done anything positive, it seems to have engaged street art and counterculture in a way that current affairs have generally failed to do for two decades.

But that’s a bit of a side issue. This post was suck in draft from April until Christmas because I was so undecided what to do with this journal. As I noted in my last post, I was tired, and ill. And not able to raise the energy to continue it at the time with the passion it needed. So I entered three quarters of a year of writers and creative block.

The reason for April 1st being significant is that on this day in 2011, I started this journal as part of the worldwide #30daysofbiking project, prodded into taking part by fellow utility cyclist and top Dutchperson Rene Van Baar on Twitter. 30Days was a commitment to ride every day of April. It still happens, and one thing that’s always amused me is that the organisers over in the US, upon hearing that I just carried the project on for years, showed nothing but indifference. I never quite worked that out.

I didn’t quite do a decade continuously though, over new year the following Christmas I missed two days due to a really nasty bout of food poisoning - but other than that, I rode every single day for a decade, and documented every day with a photo post (or occasionally, a bit of video). I’m proud of that. There are a lot of words in the archive. A lot of images; a lot of my life, and this area as well as others I visited along the way.

My first post was matter of fact, and terse. It took me a month to develop my style. You can read it here.

Since then there have been 6,955 entries, and somewhere around 11,000 media items - mostly images, but around 70 videos and even the odd bit of audio.

So with all that behind me, where am I going now?       ...Nowhere, that’s where. 

I’m just going to post when I have something to share. So it’s be less frequent, but I will be aided by a riding companion whom many of you will already be familiar with, who deserves a voice and to be heard too.

This means hopefully there will be less filler, and more passion. I think you’ll prefer it in the long run, And it’ll be easier for me to keep up.

One thing that has changed in recent years is street photography has got really hard. Nobody used to bat an eye if they saw you with a camera. These days, you get noticed. Curtains twitch. People ask what you’re doing. You half expect to be on the local neighbourhood watch group as a suspicious individual. So the new format will be probably more picturesque stuff I think.

I find that a bit sad but it’s the way the world is at the moment. 

So, are you coming with me? Let’s ride into the blue together... Hopefully it’ll stop raining soon.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #creative #writers #block #covid #poandemic #ghost #street art #canal #Pleck #walsall #anniversary #decade #change

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking Defying gravity:  

Sunday January 31st 2021 – Some trees have a property, and it’s mostly, but not exclusively oak trees - that they do not drop lair leaves when they die off in autumn.

Instead, the tree keeps the leaf attached, shedding it the following spring.

The behaviour is called ‘Marcescence’ and scientists don’t really know why it occurs. It may be to protect leaf buds from browsing animals like deer, or to faster recover nutrients from the dead leaves by absorbing them back into the tree directly, rather than through the soil.

Whatever the reason, it’s very curious.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Brownhills #Clayhanger #common #marcescence #trees #botany #science #puzzle #seasosns #autumn #leaves #winter #spring

[brownhillsbob]

#365daysofbiking To orangey for crows:

Saturday February 27th 2021 – Another decent sunset which I caught near Haselour on a fast test ride around Harlaston and Whittington - but the real star was the moon, as viewed here from the old ROC bunker by Willow Bottom Lane.

It was the most stunning orange colour - the camera doesn’t do it justice and it was really, really breathtaking. I’ve never seen such a beautiful, large coloured moon before. 

The effect is caused by pollution and moisture in the atmosphere, and faded as it rose.

Another I was very glad to catch.

This journal is also on Wordpress, where the pictures are in higher resolution and the search box works! Click here.

#365daysofbiking #Haselour #Harlaston #sunset #sundown #willow bottom lane #roc post #moon #rise #orange #sky #astronomy #beautiful