There may be no sunshine but the hedges beside Stanley Lane and the old railway track are colourful this evening

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… because it’s going to rain this afternoon. As ever at this time of year, there’s plenty of colour in the hedgerows around Willey

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Up here, on the Wenlock  Edge, it’s predominantly at the blue, indigo and violet end of the spectrum. There are pyramidal orchids by the dozen, along with hairy bellflowers, vetch and some rather flamboyant knapweed. It’s a colourful month in these parts.

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It’s a fine July afternoon, occasionally warm in the sunshine and very pleasant in the lanes up to (and down from) Church Preen. There are one or two signs of the coming autumn (though it’s some way off yet) – swelling wild greengages and damsons, and the remarkable red leaves of herb robert.

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Quiet lanes – apart from the birds. They were singing merrily near Hazel cottage – Merlin says my recording includes chiffchaff, blackbird, thrush, goldcrest, wren and chaffinch. I think his ears are better tuned than mine…

Merlin

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… and maybe bees? Around this time last year, we walked this way and found a bee orchid, the first we’d ever seen (https://geoffspages.blog/2023/06/08/the-bee-that-did-not-buzz/). Perhaps we can repeat the trick? Perhaps not… There would be some pyramid orchids, surely? Yes, but only a few. I think it was warmer in June ’23. Plenty of other things to see, especially now the wild rose – it’s really in the pink…

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We’re heading for Shrewsbury (a quick shopping trip) – “we could go before lunch, and have a walk in the woods on Haughmond Hill” (and we could lunch at the café – excellent bacon sandwiches). Shopping? The Oxfam bookshop in Dogpole was possibly the most fruitful bit, certainly the most interesting…

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A fine afternoon in a quiet part of the county – starting from the end of the Hurst Farm lane, we’re heading up Round Hill, down Ned’s Lane and around the Willey loop. We’ll start with the cows – the Round Hill belties – and end with sow thistle and cow parsley…

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