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…
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It’s a fine sunny evening – an hour beside the river at Ironbridge will be perfect for a leg stretch and some fresh air
… 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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Another blue sky Sunday! It would be good to take a picnic lunch and eat en route – let’s go to Mortimer Forest. We can walk up to High Vinnalls (there’s a bench for our picnic on the way), admire the view, then walk across the top of Hanway Common and drop down to Richard’s Castle.
The picnic place was perfect (only two other walkers passed), the view from High Vinnalls was wonderful. The descent to Richard’s Castle was not on… There’s a herd of cows with young-looking calves in the field we must cross, and one of us had read, just a day ago, of the fate of two walkers trampled in such a field – one killed and the other paralysed. “No!” We’ll retrace our steps to an alternative. The descent of Hanway Common, was pleasant; the sheep and lambs entirely harmless…
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A short evening wander around Astley Abbotts and Colemore Green. The sun is low, highlighting the undergrowth and bringing out the colours, the birds are singing – and it’s not raining!
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But will it stop raining? It was dry for a time this morning, and we almost got back to the house without getting wet… Despite the weather, the season is moving along. The wild rose is coming into flower, and there’s a yellowhammer in the oak tree.
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We’ll stay very close to home… A typical bank holiday – showery rain forecast, and (yet again) looking better in the morning. Shirlett, along the lane to the chocolate gate, will be far enough.
The last photo – we’re home again: it’s the unmown bit of the back garden, where the common spotted orchids are coming up in their dozens, if not hundreds (the benefits of benign neglect!)
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Deja vu – at 9am, the forecast thought it could be showery this afternoon, so we’re out before lunch – same route as last Saturday, when the forecast was similar too. At 2pm, as I write, the forecast showers seem to have vanished. “Sunny intervals”…
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