It’s a warm and sunny Sunday, and we’re not feeling overly energetic. We’ll have a ride down to Ludlow, to walk down through the town (it’s very busy!) and over Dinham Bridge to the path leading back to Ludford Bridge. Back up Broad Street for a last look in the centre, then home again.

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An evening wander; another seasonal landmark. The wild garlic has been flowering here and there for a week or so, but not sufficiently for the nose to detect. Now there are carpets of white beside Linley Brook, and we don’t need our eyes to know it…

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…and the chocolate (it was in the camera bag. Almost suffered a mutiny…). The phone can substitute for the former; there’s no substitute for the latter.
It rained all morning, but the Met Office seems to think there will be a window between 2pm and 4pm (and perhaps this evening). So, we’re enjoying (mostly) a walk along Shirlett Lane, with some bright and warm sunshine. The air smells fresh and green, the birds are singing – what more could one want? (No, don’t say it.) As we walk back, there’s some heavy cloud in the west – someone’s getting wet, but not us. We’ve timed it to perfection – seconds after entering the house, there’s a heavy shower! (Chocolate, anyone?)

…and Hoar Edge, from Cardington. A fine, sunny Easter Sunday – can we avoid the crowds? It’s not difficult in this part of the world. The car park at Cardington might be full? It wasn’t – space for several more. We’ve walked along the lane on Yell Bank several times; today we’re walking part of the parallel ridge just a few hundred yards to the west – Hoar Edge, on a pleasantly walkable rough track.
A narrow neck of land joins the two ridges – it forms the watershed (where there is, literally, a shed – and a barn) between two local brooks – Bullhill Brook and the headwaters of Cound Brook. They join at Cound and enter the Severn very soon after. Just yards further south, beyond Enchmarsh, water flows southwards to join (eventually) the Onny and then the Teme – which will enter the Severn just south of Worcester. I think that’s fascinating; I may be in a small minority…
…and I may be alone in thinking Chatwall and Enchmarsh sound like the co-authors of a particularly dull text book.

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It was bright first thing, but the clouds are gathering… A wander around the Willey lanes, on a cooler and breezier morning than of late.

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No, it didn’t rain, though the clear blue skies have gone for now. The sun was there, and from time to time we could feel some warmth (very welcome – the wind’s cold), but it shone from a classic watery sky of thin, high cloud. Below, more substantial clouds drifted about with a threat of precipitation. Between the Harnage Grange lane and the minor road from Harley to Kenley,  at the back of Bull Farm, there’s a quiet hidden valley. The public footpath is well marked, and climbs out of the valley through bluebell woods. It’s very pleasant down here below the Wenlock Edge.

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A walk from Cound, along paths which can be unwalkable (except in waders) in wet winter weather, but very pleasant in this dry and sunny spell (will it last?).

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A walk from Sheinton, via Belswardyne to Bannister’s Coppice on yet another fine and sunny afternoon. We haven’t been that way for a while – the woods can be really muddy. Once again, there’s a cool breeze from the east, and once again there are more seasonal ‘firsts’ – a comma butterfly beside the lane to Belswardyne, butterbur and garlic flowers in the woods beside Sheinton brook, and just beyond Sheinton church there are flowers of garlic mustard beside the lane.

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More firsts for 2025: green alkanet, yellow deadnettle, herb robert – and a small tortoiseshell butterfly. Just a few days ago we read in the paper that they’d suffered their worst year on record – and there he was, feeding on dandelions as though everything was fine! We’re enjoying a late-morning walk from Willey, along the lane through the Smithies, up Round Hill and back down through the woods along Ned’s Lane, which after a particularly muddy autumn and winter, is almost dry along its length. (Please could someone dig out that spring and divert its water off the path…)

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We’ll start with blue – the year’s first bluebell, and end with white – the first stitchwort. In between, a wander through Chestnut Coppice, down to the riverbank, back up to Colemore Green, along the road and back to the start past Boldings Pools.

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