Category: David

The sticky buds of the horse chestnut are unmistakable.

The large buds on the end of the branch are flowers. The compact bud further back, by the scar of attachment of last year’s leaf, will develop into a leaf.

Delicate blue lungwort flowers. The name lungwort comes from the markings on the leaves, which were thought to symbolise infected lungs. The plants were used as a herbal “cure” for respiratory problems.

Former marker stone (?) now used as base of lamppost, Bradley, near Stafford.

At the back of Claverley church.

Lichen on gravestone: Bradley

This is the junction of the Staffs & Worcs canal with the Trent and Mersey Canal. A little further north and east the river Sow joins the river Trent. A little further yet, the Trent and Mersey canal also joins the river Trent.

Junction between the main line of the Walsall canal and the town arm, which bears off towards the right of the picture for its short stretch to the basin which now provides the setting for Walsall Art Gallery.

Two different lichens growing on the bark of a mature tree in Wightwick Manor gardens.

View over some of the heath and fringing woods. Taken near the middle of Sutton Park, looking towards the tv transmitters.

Probably from a damson/plum.

Growing at the edge of the Staffs and Worcs canal.

The Bratch is a set of three locks on the Staffs and Worcs canal on the edge of Wombourne. There is only a tiny gap between each lock, unlike a staircase where each lock opens directly into the next. Because the gap between the locks is less than the length of a boat, the lock flight is more complicated to navigate.

The narrow building between the lower and middle locks is an octagonal toll house. The other building behind it is the lock keeper’s cottage.

When not in flower, dead nettles look somewhat like nettles, which they are not. Hence they are “dead”, that is, they don’t sting.

This small plant was growing from the mortar in the sandstone wall of Worfield church.

For two weekends a year there is free entry to National Trust properties including Wightwick Manor. These flowers were pictured during the March weekend.