WME Flickr Focus: July 2012

As another month ticks by, its time once again to put the West Midlands Exploration Flickr photostream under the microscope and see what manner of updates I managed to cultivate in July...

Sprouting forth quite considerably was WME Staffordshire, building on June's initial germinations with a real burst of growth. The bus stops and stations made their presence felt as Codsall terminus and the former Green Bus Service depot at Landywood both featured, whilst the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal arrived on the scene with some views from Awbridge. However, the most dominant strain has to be the Shropshire Union Canal which came through strongly with pictures from Norbury Junction, Gnosall, Brewood and Wheaton Aston.

Focusing in a little closer, it is possible to detect activity from some of the photostream's other subcultures, including those that had gone a bit quiet recently. Take WME Birmingham for example, putting on a spurt thanks to gains from the Worcester & Birmingham Canal (Edgbaston Tunnel), the Tame Valley Canal (Perry Barr Lock No. 2) and Sutton Coldfield Station (the elegant station frontage). WME Dudley was equally keen not to be forgotten so it coughed up a shot or two from Oldswinford (the Retreat bistro) and Stourbridge Town (a look at the Dodger).

Intense magnification reveals further species that need to be duly noted, hence from WME Sandwell there is a Guns Village Metro Stop scene and a glimpse of the Railway Inn from Oldbury. Scrape away at individual cell level and a tiny fragment of the number 13 bus at Prologis Park can just be spotted clawing its way onto WME Coventry, then zooming back out a little shows us that WME Solihull has been active with evidence of Marston Green Station (footbridge steps and a Class 323 train) alongside a brace of 169 buses posed at Solihull Station. In conclusion, my investigations show that July was a more progressive experiment than others of late, so if I maintain a similar apparatus and method for August then we could be looking at some suitably scientific signals of success...