Birmingham's City Centre Garden

Edith's diary for this week describes the flowers and birds she found in the last week of her 1906 Dartmoor holiday. She travelled back on the first of May.

Last week, I described my walk along part of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. After I had left the pub, I headed as directly as possible towards the Library. 

City Centre Gardens - just behind the library.

Concious that my walk hadn't been much of a nature ramble, I was delighted to find the City Centre Gardens tucked between the library and the huge blocks of flats I had seen from the canal.  

White Japanese Cherry blossom - from outside the garden.

The library peeping out from behind the Japanese cherry blossom.

It was dark and I couldn't see much. but there was a spectacular row of White Japanese Cherries.  I was tempted to explore there and then but I heard two men arguing in the garden and thought better of it. As I went to photograph the cherry blossom, I encountered one of the many rough sleepers in the city. We exchanged a few words and I gave him a couple of coins. 

Thinking about the less fortunate residents of the city, Ina Taylor's biography of Edith Holden describes the family's work with the poor children of Birmingham. Edith's father, Arthur, was involved with Birmingham's Labour Church who were involved with the Cinderella Club. This organisation organised treats and outings for the children.

The next morning, I spent some time looking out of the window of my 16th floor hotel room - it was a little strange to look down on Herring Gulls wheeling over the city rooftops.

Pink cherry blossom and the BT Tower.

On the way to the station, I returned to the garden for a better look.  Tucked between large buildings, it really has the feel of a secret garden with plenty of blossom trees and flowers.  The surrounding buildings made for some interesting views.

Colourful flowerbeds below looming buildings.

It was early so I had the garden to myself. Walking through, I spotted two Blackbirds, a Woodpigeon, two Robins, a pair of Bluetits and, surprisingly, a pair of Mistle Thrushes.  These are a bit bigger and greyer than a Song Thrush. They acted as described in Cocker and Mabey's Birds Britannica:

On the ground it is far more unapproachable and maintains a bold, alert stance or moves in a series of long vigorous bounding hops.

Delicate pink cherry blossom in front of the bold patterns on the library.

As I was leaving the park, the homeless man seemed to be dozing, his back to the wall of the building next to the park.  I paused to watch the Bluetits go in and out of Japanese cherry blossom, then gathered a few fallen blossoms. When I turned, he was smiling at my slightly absurd antics - I grinned back, greeted him and went on my way.