Back to the Midlands

In her post for Sept 25 1908, Edith says:

"Goodbye to Scotland and back to the Midlands".

Birmingham International Airport - 23rd September 2015.

On the 22nd and 23rd of September 2015 I stayed at the Birmingham Airport Holiday Inn. This time I was lucky and got a room in the "Executive" area, with a good view over the runway.  There would have been plenty of people coming back to the Midlands from all over the world including Scotland and I saw some of their aircraft touch down.

Birmingham Airport - 22nd September 2015.

In this night shot a row of conifers - just right of centre. is picked out by the lights - in daytime they were often visited by Goldfinches.

Control Tower.

One sure sign that autumn is well on its way is the start of the football season. On my way to the lift, a manager swept by with a tray of breakfasts. On the way down I met a group of young footballers, who play for West Bromwich Albion. They were looking rather lost - but fortunately I was able to send them after their food and went on my way. While waiting for the bus in the hotel car park, I noticed a number of very pretty sports cars and wondered if they belonged to the footballers.

Great-Crested Grebes - 2015

I'm not so sporty but I did enjoy taking part in the company's "Walk round the world", in which groups from each office took a walk at lunchtime. From the Birmingham office, we visited Pendigo Lake at the NEC. While we were there, I spotted a Great-Crested Grebe feeding a youngster.

In her next post, for September the 30th, Edith mentioned signs of Autumn ...

"Some of the Beech Trees are quite bare ... Weather still continues perfect. Hot sun during the day, cold and clear at night, mist in the mornings".

My photos from the same time last year show that Birmingham was basking in sunshine. This year, after a late heatwave, there were thunderstorms.

Bolete fungi - 15 September 2015

109 years later, I started spotting some hints of Autumn at about the same date. Under some confers, at Trinity Park I found some Bolete fungi.

Scarlet berries

In her entry for the 4th of August, 1908, Edith noted "Harvesting Commenced". This also marked the start of the long school holidays. In those days, the pupils needed this time as the whole family was expected to help with the harvest.

Rushing past the harvest, 26 July 2016,

110 years later, harvesting is very different. Sophisticated combine harvesters do the work of many weary hands. Even the bales look different. My photo, snatched from a speeding train, shows the modern round bales. Over the last few years these have been replacing the blocks familiar from my childhood. When researching this post, I was almost shocked to find that, when I first saw these blocks in the 1960s, that they were new, having been produced by the earliest combine harvesters. Earlier grain crops and hay would have been harvested as bundles, which would have been piled into stooks.



Resorts World.

At the end of July, a colleague and I walked over to the NEC to see the new Star Trek Beyond movie. As we approached Pendigo Lake I heard the plaintive cry of a young Great Crested Grebe. It was soon fed by it's attentive parent. I spent a while watching the birds on the lake and then headed towards Resorts World.

Young Coot, 26 July 2016

On the way, I found a family of coots grazing on the Crowne Plaza's grass. This youngster was very curious about me. Some hours later, after shopping, movie and food, night had fallen and the lake was dark. However lights from the hotels highlighted white feathers on birds, which had stayed on the lake. We were able to pick out the family of Canada Geese that I had seen on a previous visit and four male tufted ducks. The latter presumably included the fathers of the ducklings I saw on the pond next to the office.



Rowen Berries, 27 July 2016

In a couple of her entries for August, Edith mentions "scarlet berries". At the end of July the only scarlet berries I found were some Rowen berries in the car park of the Arden hotel.  Other tree seeds I found nearby included the following.

Lime tree seeds with 'wings', 26 July 2016.

Field Maple 'aeroplanes', 27 July 2016

Winged hornbeam seed, 27 July 2016

sloe berries, 27 July 2016

A Bat Hunt at Birmingham NEC

After exploring the Bluebell wood and walking round the Birmingham NEC, I had a quick meal at the Crowne Plaza and then came out again in the hope of finding some bats.  The Bat Conservation Trust tells us that "Bat use high frequency calls normally beyond the range of human hearing to build up a sound picture of their surroundings. This echolocation system enables them to wing their way through the dark night hunting the tiniest of insects." I had a "heterodyne" bat detector with me, which makes these calls audible to my much less sensitive human ears. 

View of Pendigo lake from the Crowne Plaza - early morning.

The photo, taken from my hotel room gives an idea of the layout of the area.  The Resorts World hotel and outlet is on the immediate left and the big red building seen to the North of the lake is one of the NEC halls. The trees to the immediate right of the red building are the woodland that I explored earlier in the evening.  The path you can see in the foreground leads round the edge of the lake.

Pendigo lake from the South end of Pendigo lake - about 9pm.

At about 9pm, about half-an-hour after sunset I left the hotel. I turned right and followed the path round the South end of the lake. I had set the bat detector to 45, which is the frequency that our most common bat, the common pipistrelle uses to echo locate its prey in the dark.  While walking, I held the detector up and swept it round. Just a few metres from the hotel I heard some clicks coming from one of the trees at the lake edge. I couldn't see anything and swung round. There were louder clicks coming from a group of trees on a grassy bank between the lake and the car park. As I watched, I could see two and then three bats dancing in the air.

View of Resort World from the South end of the lake - 9:20pm.

They left the trees and flew in the direction of the lake. I watched for a moment then walked to the end of the lake-side path. From here I took nearly an hour to follow the path anti-clockwise round the lake, ending up at the entrance to the wood I had explored earlier.  I detected hunting bats nearly all the way round. The only gaps were in front of the Resort World hotel and the shingle beach at the North West end of the lake. The absence of bats in front of Resort World fits in Bristol University's web page, which tells us:

"Warren et al. (2000) found that when foraging over water, common pipistrelles prefer areas of smooth water surface with trees on both banks. These areas were found to be abundant in flying insects and low in acoustic noise."

Resort World from the North end of the lake - about 10pm.

Just before the end of my walk I encountered two young men who wanted to know what I had in my hand. I explained about the bats and pointed the detector over the lake so they could hear it click. They were exited to hear the bats and told me about the wildlife near their own homes - one had owls nearby and the other had foxes that visited his garden.

Wednesday evening

Sun dipping below the horizon - approx. 8:30pm.

This time I wanted to find out when the bats emerged so, before the sun set, I waited by the trees where they seemed to gather on the previous night. The sun set at approximately 8:30pm and I waited about half-an-hour for the bats to appear.

View from the South end - 8:45 pm

9:04pm - First clicks. One bat appeared and flew round the trees  for about 5 minutes before disappearing over the bank separating the lake from the car parks. A few minutes later it returned.

9:17pm - Second bat appeared and joined the first.

9:22pm - They were joined by a third and then all three went hunting over the lake.The bats are not the only ones hunting the insects that fly over the lake. Every minute or so I hear a plop and see rings spreading out over the water - presumably from hungry fish.

Great-Crested Grebe - 9:09 pm.

Birds were still active too. In the time that I was waiting, a heron flew over the lake into the woodland on the East side. A Great-Crested Grebe glided past and I decided to leave the dark lake to the creatures of the night.

World made up of sky and gorse

When I took my walk near the Arden Hotel and Birmingham NEC on the 5th of April, I was in search of blossom. This was because, in her entries for the 7th and 9th of April, Edith had mentioned seeing blackthorn, Damson and Plum. I started well, spotting some stray twigs with early blooms at the foot of a tree in the hotel car park.

Cherry blossom outside the Arden.

However, the huge trees between the A45 and the Birmingham NEC were not yet in flower. Luvkily there were other flowers to see. On 11th of April, 1906 Edith wrote about her time in Dartmoor:

Up on the moor the world seemed to be made up of sky and gorse - such acres of golden blossoms under a sky of cloudless blue.

Gorse, the great survivor, by the A45

I saw gorse too, although it was enlivening the side of the A45 under a leaden sky. Just round the corner, a great river of gold cascaded down a bank to one of the NEC car parks. I followed the bank round and cut across a road on my way to Pendigo lake.

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A quick walk through a grassy area with trees took me to the lakeside. 

My sketch of a cormorant - Pendigo lake, NEC

I perched on a seat in front of the Resort World hotel and watched the birds.  I saw 5 Canada Geese, a coot, 2 moorhen, 2 black-headed gulls and a cormorant, which obligingly sat on a post while I drew it.  Sketch finished, I noticed a cloud of white blossom near the lake side and hurried towards it.

Great-crested Grebe  - Pendigo lake, NEC

As I scurried along the lakeside path, an indignant flurry of feathers shot out from almost under my feet.  I had startled a Great Crested Grebe.

Puffs of blossom - NEC

Once I reached the tree, and looked up, I found it it had lovely puffs of blossom on a tracery of branches silhouetted against the now clear blue sky.  

Blackthorn blossom - Station Link Road.

On my way back to the hotel, a froth of blackthorn seemed to echo the clouds overhead. Just 10 days later I read, in the Birmingham Mail, that it has been snowing in Birmingham. I hope that the blossom isn't spoilt.