Beautiful Arboretum

With an hour and half to kill while waiting for my Mom to have her acupuncture appointment this morning I decided to have a walk round the Arboretum. I'd heard they had a lovely patch of meadow flowers by the lake and along the brook and I wasn't disappointed.

 

There was a gorgeous big blue sky over the lake.

In the Gallery Garden there was a lovely display of photographs from the Short Heath photography club that meets at Holy Trinity Church hall in Cotham Road. After enjoying the photos I walked round the garden and spotted this gorgeous flower...

I loved the sunlight catching this grass...

and how have I never seen this before?

There is a new art sculpture by the new Visitors Centre that is just waiting for surrounding planting.  I took the photo with steps to give a sense of size,  if you are interested in the poem you can find it here.

It won't be long now until they've finished laying grass and can open up the space between the lake and visitor centre. They were working hard at lunchtime.

The splash pad was really busy with children having so much fun, the skate park was full, and the extra play area was popular too. The icecream van was in it's usual spot and they even had a hot dog/burger van in case you didn't take a picnic and got peckish (you could also walk up to the new centre for food too). All in all, it was a lovely Summer's day.

The train went past and it was good to see it being used.

Here are just a few more of my favourite photos from today....

Hope you enjoyed my photos, thanks for looking :)

Buff-tip Moth

For the last week I have been sweeping up little black balls from the patio each morning and night, I thought they were probably coming from the Silver Birch tree but didn't know what they were as I'd never seen them before. I crushed one on my palm, they were firm but crushable and left a dark green stain. Two days ago we spotted a caterpillar walking over the patio and we moved him to a leaf in the border, we saw what we assumed was the same one going in the other direction, and then again and again! Groundhog day for the caterpillar!!

Photo by Phil Griffin

A friend thought it looked like a tortoiseshell butterfly caterpillar, I liked that idea, they are nice.....

Photo by Bracken B courtesy of BBC

But, upon closer inspection and a little research....

 (and after one fell down right in front of me!) ...we decided it was likely to be the Buff-tip moth caterpillar!!!! I do not like moths at all! Especially ones with a wing span of 6cm!!!

The moths lay their eggs in many different trees, one of which is a Silver Birch, and the caterpillars eat the leaves often defoliating whole branches......

My youngest daughter and I noticed this branch yesterday whilst lying on the sun lounger....
the very same spot the caterpillar fell to the ground!!! That could have been my face!!!!!

After feeding they pupate in the ground and overwinters as a chrysalis. Not looking forward to next May when it warms up and they dig their way out!!! Oh, and that black ball crushed on my palm? Caterpillar poop!!! Gross!

Palfrey Park

It's not very often that I go into central Walsall but it has some beautiful parks, the ITV program Love Your Garden briefly featured Palfrey park, and it got me thinking about the few times I've been down there.

As a park it has a lot of charm, what with it's popular public art (popular public art, a very rare thing indeed), a marvelous Victorian bandstand, a modern outdoor fitness area, football pitches, cricket pitches, a bowling green, and a nature conservation area with a pond it really is a little haven right in the middle of a busy and otherwise overcrowded area. 

Map courtesy of Walsall Council website
 http://cms.walsall.gov.uk/index/palfrey_park.htm

The Palfrey Horse I didn't know the name Palfrey came from the Latin paraveredus meaning well bred light horse as Palfrey was famous for horses way back when...

See, I'm not making this stuff up.

OK, this isn't Palfrey but it's a cracking looking oss.

Come back sun!

The weather has taken a turn for the worse today, lots of rain in the middle of July, so sad. I hope it clears up for next week as it's the start of the six week Summer holiday, we need some nice sunny days to visit parks and go on walks. 

Here is a lovely photo taken at the Arboretum last September to brighten up our day...

And 2 lovely residents Mr Canada Goose and Mr Duck :)

Have you seen the sun?

I didn't take it!

Up on the roof

Getting away from the noise and the crowds in Walsall really doesn’t take much effort, just by climbing up a few stairs (15 flights and a ladder) you get uninterrupted views of green spaces and acres and acres of trees.

Getting up onto the giants of Walsall’s buildings really gives you a new perspective on just how our town is pieced together, from any one of the high-rise blocks you can see every other block and where it sits in relation to everything else.

Humphries House stands out in isolation generally towering over its little sister block, the white render on both reflecting the sun like one of Don Quixote’s Windmills, Lower Farms tower blocks are harder to spot and from Willenhall are barely visible other than the very top couple of floors.

BT Tower and the Birmingham skyline,
as seen from Caldmore

From Birmingham to the South & Cannock to the North, every part of the borough is brought into view but you're so distant from it all at the same time.

Pye Green transmitter in Cannock
 with Lower Farm twin towers.

Lichfield Cathedral from Brownhills.

Views from Humphries House.

Views from Humphries House.

Views from Humphries House.

Don't look down!

Do look out though.

My old school following some light remodeling
 (it was demolished and rebuilt from scratch).

Views over Lower Farm.

Lower Farms twin towers from Willenhall.

A favourite tree

I love trees and this one is in a neighbour's garden diagonally from us, the sun was hitting the trunk beautifully back in April and then you can see it now in full Summer leaf. I love the sound of the wind rustling through, it reminds me so much of the ebb and flo of the sea, such a peaceful, tranquil sound. I've no idea what sort it is but so happy we live by it :)