IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Dogberry Close, COVENTRY, CV3 3AQ

Hawthorn (and willows) coming into new leaf. Blackthorn – clouds of white flowers dusting black thickets everywhere – a riot, a joy. Bleached stems in the foreground are probably last year's nettles; the new growth is showing. The river, hardly visible, takes a sharp turn south here.

Rough grass to the south of a football pitch http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4968942 is bounded by this hedgerow. Just through the gap is a short footbridge over a ditch, part of the groundworks at the Alan Higgs Centre. Beyond is a wilderness of scrub, wetland and landscape planting to the north of the River Sowe.

The houses on the right are part of the residential development on the site of the Chase National Service Hostel built in 1941, later the Chace Hostel. It provided temporary accommodation for homeless people and those seeking permanent homes in the city. In the late 1980s (I'm guessing) residents moved into the Chace Centre on the west side of Chace Avenue as the original site was cleared and developed for housing. The Chace Centre itself is now being demolished. On the left a fine oak tree comes into leaf, at first a characteristic olive green colour.

Guessing, the mosaic of vegetation has been allowed to develop since the construction of Allard Way. The River Sowe is behind the camera. This is public open space though not much visited.

Viewed from the path at Centre level that runs alongside five beautifully-kept pitches behind the camera Image

The school is St Anne's Catholic Primary School; the anonymous building on the left may be a remand centre Image The extensive open space and playing fields to the west are bounded by scrub along the River Sowe Image

The assumption must be that this an important pipe encased in concrete. It is clearly used as a footpath. It emerges on the west side of Willenhall, crosses the River Sowe and disappears under the football pitches of the Alan Higgs Centre. It might be for sewage coming down or water going up: no knowing. Blackthorn is in flower.

The river meanders through blackthorn scrub. The viewpoint is at the rear of Willenhall Police Station Image An icy shower was moving away east.

This is on the south side of the Centre. In the distance four or five other grass pitches extend to the west at higher level. All beautifully maintained.