End of the road

This is the last post for my Birmingham Diary. At the beginning of the year, I set myself a challenge - to follow in Edith Holden's footsteps and study the wild creatures and plants that inhabit the places in Birmingham where I worked and stayed.  Edith walked through farmland and villages. 110 years later, I explored the areas around the airport, the NEC, offices and hotels. 

Canada geese gliding past Brindley Place

I found that writing my diary gave me the motivation to get out and explore. Instead of languishing at home in a draw, my camera and drawing materials were with me. 

The bright lights of Brindley Place/

Flowering Plants

To end her diary, Edith listed the flowering plants including trees that she found in the Olton area. She recorded 214 types compared to my rather less diligent 80.  Edith and I both found bluebells, although she called them hyacinths.


Bluebells near the NEC halls.

I found some flowers that were not on Edith's list - for example a friend sent her bee orchids whereas I found some just outside the office.

Bee orchids at Trinity Park.

I found some flowers that were new to me such as the dainty field pansy, the rather insignificant blue fleabane and the downright weird common cudweed.



Field pansy on a pile of rubble next to a Trinity Park car park.

Birds

Edith also listed the birds that she saw -  a total of  76 whereas I found 36.  Edith's list included both Song and Missel Thrushes. I found these too, there were Song Thrushes by the railway line near Birmingham International and, much more surprising, a pair of Missel Thrushes in the little garden tucked away behind Birmingham's new library. Edith's list included House Martins, which 110 years later were busily feeding their young in the nests that they had built under the eves of the Arden Hotel, where I often stayed.

Young House Martins leaving the nest.

My list included many more seabirds than Edith's, presumably attracted by the large Pendigo lake near the NEC. Species that I had not seen before included Common Tern and Reed Bunting.

I was thrilled to see a common tern swooping in front of Resort World.

Insects

Bug hunts were a little tricky because I didn't have my macro lens with me and I was only free to explore before and after work. However I did see a number of different types of bees, hoverflies, dragon and damselflies and butterflies. I even rescued a Yellow-underwing moth from a hotel bar.



Azure Damselfly near Trinity Park pond.

Mammals

The area round the offices, Birmingham International station and NEC was heaving with rabbits. I also saw squirrels and some disturbingly bold rats.  There was a notable absence of foxes.



Rabbits amongst the NEC daffodils.

Looking back, it's difficult to pick out the what I enjoyed most but I think it was using a bat detector to hunt for bats. I detected and watched Common Pipistrelles hunting across the Pendigo Lake.  It was not only finding and watching the bats but the encounter various people including two young men headed towards the nearest bar, who were interested in the detector and told me all their wildlife adventures.



Hunting for bats at sundown.

So that's it folks. I had a great time finding wildlife in unlikely places and will go on exploring my surroundings wherever my work takes me.

Saw the First Wild Rose in Bloom

In the June 15 entry for her 1906 journal, Edith Holden wrote:

It is very pretty to see the House Martins sitting in the roadway, collecting mud for their nests. Their short feathered legs look as if they had little white socks on.

I was quite surprised to come upon a bank of beautiful purple Fox-gloves today, - fully out. These are the first I have seen in flower.

On my journey to Birmingham on Tuesday the 14th of June 2016, I had made a point of noticing the wild flowers on the road side and railway embankments as noted on my Uckfield, Sussex blog.  The Virgin Pendelino had outrun the rain and cloud and, on my walk to the office, I was treated to glimpses of sunshine between heavy clouds.

House Martins under a heavy sky - June 14th.

Above my head a group of House Martins treated me to the most tremendous aerial ballet.  Over the next two days I checked the nests on the outside of the Arden hotel a few times but there was no signs that the birds were attending them. That said, the weather was so foul that I didn't stay out for very long. Last year I saw them taking an interest in the nests from 3rd June.  I discovered them because I had been checking out wildlife near the hotel as part of the Wildlife Trust's #30DaysWild challenge, which I am repeating this year.

After work, the weather outlook was very uncertain so, having got rid of my laptop, I explored a piece of waste ground close the hotel.

Hemlock - pretty but deadly.

Between hotel's carpark and one of the offices there is a stand of intriguing wild flowers. They looked very much like Cow Parsley but were much taller and had blotched stems.  This is Hemlock, which has been deadly to ancient philosophers and children, who made peashooters from the stems, alike.

Elder flower on the edge of the hotel carpark.

As I left the hotel grounds, I found some Green Alkanet, which was providing a free buffet for Common Carder and Early Bumble Bees. There was one, rather feeble looking Foxglove and an Elderflower bush catching the last of the summer rays.

Wild roses and office buildings.

I had also noticed wild Dog Roses blooming. They had just started on my previous visit, two weeks before, suggesting that they are a little ahead of those that Edith described on June the 16th, 110 years ago. 

Saw the first Wild Rose in bloom, - a fine pink one, on the top of a high hedge; also Blackberry in blossom. The Roses and Honeysuckle are full of bud, but they are late in bloom this year, owing to the long spell of cold weather.

Red-tailed Bumble Bee on Weld.

A common plant on the business park is Weld, which used to be used for making dye.  Here a Red-Tailed Bumble Bee was greedily feeding on the blooms.

Marmalade Hoverfly on stinging nettle.

Following the road round, clumps of nettles provided resting places for hoverflies and 7-Spot Ladybirds.  As I investigated the insects and flowers I heard a loud chatter - a family of at least five Magpies was jumping in-and-out of the bushes. A nearby Rabbit looked unimpressed with their antics. As I looked up at Pine cones in a tree, I saw a charm of Goldfinches fly towards the hotel. As the sky was darkening, I followed them.

Sheltering from the rain - June 14th.

As I was passing the apparently empty House Martin nests on the side of the hotel, the heavens opened. I stood under a tree for a bit, finding the sound of the rain around me peaceful - but was mindful that there had been problems with flooding in Birmingham and that this meant worse was to come.

Went to the daffodil field again

In her entry for the 20th of March, Edith says:

Went to the Daffodil field again; The buds are just breaking into yellow. Found two Thrush's nests both in holly bushes, one nest was empty, the bird was sitting on the other, she looked at me with such brave, bright eyes, I could not disturb her, much as I would liked a peep at her speckled blue eggs.

Rabbits in the NEC's daffodils.

When I was in Birmingham, from the 8th to the 10th of March, there were certainly plenty of daffodils in full bloom. While walking through the NEC grounds one night, a colleague spotted some rabbits amongst the bright yellow blooms.

I find myself wondering what sort of daffodil field she meant. Maybe it belonged to a commercial grower. The first show for the Midland Daffodil Society (now the Daffodil Society) was held in the Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston, Birmingham 1899. The programme, available from the Northern Group's website tells us that a number of commercial growers from the area were exhibiting:

• Simpson and Son, Birmingham
• Hewitt and Co, Solihull
• John Pope, Birmingham
• Robert Sydenham, Birmingham

In her diary, Edith mentions visits to Packwood in February and July. Ragged Robin's splendid blog describes both Edith's and her own visits. Ragged Robin's post shows Packwood's lovely, naturalised daffodils. However, if Edith Packwood, I'm sure she would have mentioned it.  

Wild daffodils and other spring flowers from my Sussex garden.

I think that it's most likely that Edith's daffodil field contained the wild species. She certainly painted some on a nearby page. The Warwickshire Wildlife Trust runs the Harvest Hill Nature Reserve, which "is one of the last remaining wild daffodil meadows in the area." That tantalising "remaining" suggests there would have been more in Edith's time. 

Daffodils under an illuminated tree, Birmingham NEC.

I'm sure Edith never saw daffodils and trees lit up like this! The lights run through a cycle of red, blue, green and magenta. I find them strangely compelling to watch although I suspect any nesting birds will go elsewhere.

Resort World - there are bird boxes in the dark area to the right.

However there are bird boxes nearby, close to the Resort World hotel and, last year, I saw young Great Crested Grebes so even though I didn't see any nesting birds, they are sure to be around somewhere.

I had to carry my cycle ...

Edith's entry for 10th March 1906 describes seeing birds with nesting materials and a variety of wildflowers. She was clearly very determined to find particular flowers and says:

I had to carry my cycle nearly a quarter of a mile down a steep, muddy fordrough set thick with thorns, with high banks on each side. On these sheltered banks I found numbers of small celandine blossom ...

If you were wondering, the Topographical and Land-Use Terms page of John Morris Jones' site, tells us that fordrough means farm track. I am in awe of this young woman who, encumbered by long skirts and carrying a heavy Edwardian bicycle down a rough muddy track, explored and found the flowers she was looking for. My little walks have been far easier. This week I stayed at the Crowne Plaza hotel from Tuesday the 8th to Thursday the 10th of March, which is at the edge of the Pendigo lake in the NEC complex.

Gorse and Traveller's Joy.

I didn't have to go far to find my first wildflowers. There is a Gorse bush, smothered in its own yellow flowers and the fluffy seedheads of Traveller's Joy (clematis) just outside the hotel.  The Traveller's Joy is particularly apt as it is a friendly and well-placed hotel. I found Colt's Foot flowers while walking round the South East edge of Pendigo lake. This was first thing in the morning on Wednesday the 9th of March, 110 years and 5 days after Edith recorded finding some while on "a long walk".

Coots near the Crowne Plaza.

Coming back to the hotel, I found a pair of cheeky Coots grazing the newly laid turf just outside, having taken over lawn mowing duties from the rabbits that were there the previous night.

Sky Walk - close to the site of the former Pendigo buildings.

In Edith's time, the area was already associated with the name Pendigo. However it was a cluster of buildings, presumably a farm, rather than the lake that is there today. The buildings were roughly where NEC hall 5 is now, just south of the Sky Walk. Hall 5 is one of the halls being used for Crufts this year.

While I was staying at the Crowne Plaza, the NEC was preparing for Crufts.

My Thursday morning walk to the office was enlivened by trails of dogs, from stumpy bulldogs to tiny Chihuahuas converging on the NEC. In 1906, when Edith wrote her diary, Crufts had been running for 15 years under Charles Cruft and was held in Islington. The best champion (the forerunner of Best in Show) was a Scotch Collie called Wishaw Leader. Both Crufts and Pendigo have come a long way since then.