Up the lane to Harnage – and then it’s almost all paths and tracks in this interesting little area threaded by the surprisingly deep valley of Coundmoor Brook. The season’s first blackberries are ripening, there are fine apples near the ford and some good-sized puffballs beside the lane – reminders that, though it’s still July, autumn is little over a month away.

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Monday: just right for the walk up to Church Preen, along quiet lanes with great views. It’s a bit too breezy for the butterflies, though eventually a gatekeeper agrees to pose for us. Returning to the start, we’re looking out for a particular bush in the hedgerow, that had a good crop of wild gages a couple of years ago – ah yes, there it is. We’ll be back when they’re ripe!

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Saturday evening: it’s windy around Willey, but it should stay dry for an hour or so. The sun shines only briefly, and up Bould Lane the hedgerow vegetation is blowing around. A little later, now in the lee of the Shirlett woodlands, it’s calmer. Down by Lower Pool, first a wren and then a goldfinch make their presence known (along with the inevitable canada goose and woodpigeon (click the ‘play’ button below), and there are grey wagtails hopping about by the water’s edge

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Another wander amongst the trees, on Haughmond Hill near Shrewsbury. There’s plenty of deciduous cover (chance of a shower…) as well as the inevitable conifers, and some great views over the Severn to the south Shropshire hills.

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Comer Woods – good tracks for walking when the field paths will be muddy (it’s been rather wet recently). At least it’s (mostly) dry today. The little froglets seem to like this weather – they’re hopping about all over the place, tiny little things barely half an inch across. We’ve really got to watch where we’re putting our feet!
Overhead, a blackcap (sometimes known as the ‘northern nightingale) and a chiffchaff politely take turns to entertain us (play sound file below).

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…can differ greatly from one visit to another. We’re enjoying a warm and bright morning’s wander around the Willey lanes – it could (it did!) rain later. Yesterday’s thundery rain has washed more mud off the fields – or is it a lunar landscape?
An unintended multiple exposure provides some mild entertainment back at home when I look at the photos (see below)

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A slightly curious, but entirely delightful walk in the wild country west of the Stiperstones ridge. Curious? We’re heading from the Bog car park to the top of Mucklewick Hill, where we’ll enjoy our lunch in a breeze which makes the warm sunshine very pleasant – but that top (a magnificent viewpoint for the surrounding country) is about 50 feet lower than our starting point.
After lunch, we’ll drop down to Nind (a few farm buildings and couple of noisy dogs) then up again through the shade of attractively mixed woodland. It opens out to wild grassland leading to the southern part of the Stiperstones, for a stroll through a prolific crop of bilberries (they call them ‘wimberries’ in these parts). We’ll nibble the odd one or two – but we have an appointment at the Bog Centre for tea and cake. Don’t want to spoil our appetites!

Bog Visitor Centre

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Everywhere seems to be exceptionally colourful now, if the Wenlock Edge between Bourton and Much Wenlock is anything to go by. There are pyramid orchids all along the roadside verges, and elsewhere all kinds of flora (and some fauna…). The weather is rather flat and grey, but that’s not a problem…

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Quiet? By urban standards, it’s silent, but those birds make a heck of a noise for their size! In the sound clip (below) there’s a song thrush, a blackbird, a wren and, towards the end, a chiff-chaff. Start it playing, then click the first thumbnail and view the slideshow – get a feel for the sound of Shropshire on a quiet summer’s evening…

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