Now I have been walking the canal to Cornbrook with Andy Robertson.
To be more accurate Andy did the walk I have just posted the pictures.
Along the way he came up with a series of mysteries and puzzles which some have now been solved.
But today it’s less a puzzle and more just an observation on how quickly nature claims back the land.
Once and it will be within living memory the stretch of land on either side of the Duke’s Canal and beside the Ship Canal were full of buildings, docks and railway rack where industry busied itself.
All that is now in the past and the flowers are back.
I have no idea if they are the ones that inhabited the area before the first industrial development of the site or if they are modern invaders.
But someone will know.
Suffice to say, that Andy liked them and so do I.
Pictures; walking the canal to Cornbrook, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson
The flowers are a mixture of native and non-native ('aliens' in botanists'jargon). The yellow flowers in the first picture are Goldenrods which, if I remember correctly, are from North America. The purple flowered shrub in the second picture is Buddleia - which is Chinese. The small tree with orange fruits is probably a Rowan - which is native. Pomona is a typical brownfield site with a typical mixture of natives and aliens. They can be very intriguing and exciting to a naturalist.
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