The Bluebell

There’s something about the blueness of bluebells that goes right to the heart.

I’ve been visiting some of the best local woods for bluebells since late April, and now in the second week of May they seemed to have reached their peak.

We have somewhere between a quarter and a half of the world’s bluebells in the UK, and each flower can take 5 years to grow from its bulb. And Ann Bronte wrote this lovely poem about this wonderful wild flower:

“A fine and subtle spirit dwells
In every little flower,
Each one its own sweet feeling breathes
With more or less of power.
There is a silent eloquence
In every wild bluebell
That fills my softened heart with bliss
That words could never tell…”

from ‘The Bluebell’ by Ann Bronte

Beautiful Trees

I was recently walking early one morning in the tranquillity of the beautiful hill The Lawley and was struck by the spring beauty of the trees…

In these days

We still have trees

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Whose beauty raises

All who see

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Outwards

Towards infinity.

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Staring in Wonder

The pure white face of a lamb stared at me in wonder in the spring sunshine as I reached the top of The Burway, Shropshire’s highest public road…

April on The Long Mynd changed from bleak to beautiful.

On a subsequent visit, I came across more four-footed friends posing dramatically…

Now I was the one staring in wonder.

To be amongst such beautiful company was nothing but blessing.

We Live Amongst the Birds

On a recent walk by the River Severn in Buildwas I managed to photograph this chiffchaff singing, and I thought it went well with something I had previously written about birdsong in April…

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We live

Amongst the birds

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Their noisy calls disturb

The silence of the morning

~

But this is their dawning

Of another day

~

And it is not for me

To say

That quietness should prevail

~

Because I see

How empty life would be

If they should ever fail.

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Many bird species are in decline in the UK, so please do what you can to feed birds and live a nature-friendly lifestyle!

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The Freedom to Fly Wild

Shropshire has many wild places, and The Stiperstones feels particularly so.

On a recent visit on a beautiful sunny spring day I was lucky enough to encounter a ring ouzel (relatively rare in Shropshire), making harsh “chack chack” calls, just like a stonechat, before dashing out from the undergrowth, just like a blackbird, and going to perch in a nearby tree.

I heard (but did not see) a curlew, and there were some other wonderful close encounters with the inhabitants that grace the skies over this wonderful hill… A kestrel was hunting overhead at the start of my walk:

And it was quickly followed by a raven, also enjoying the spring sunshine:

Just a few days earlier we had given some ex-battery hens a new home – and it all got me thinking about wildness, and freedom, and what we and the birds share…

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The freedom to live,

The freedom to think,

The freedom to be,

To fly in the wild;

This, I and the birds,

We all receive.

Blackbird Sings

Spring has arrived in the UK, bringing birdsong and occasional warmth and sunshine! Everywhere blackbirds are singing, and one bird singing outside my window in Shrewsbury inspired these few lines..

Blackbird sings

And it rings

Through my world

With happiness.

This particular blackbird was photographed at Atcham, a small village just outside Shrewsbury, in March 2022

The Glory of a Missed Turning

I often write about the hidden glories of everyday things we do not always appreciate but every once in a while something quite unusual comes our way, and this was the case in a recent unintended trip I made to a fairly wild and deserted moorland and forest.

It was unintended, because I would never have even been there if I had not missed the turning I meant to take!

As Robert Frost wrote:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

As I pulled in on a parking area on a bleak moor above Llangollen in Wales, four or five red grouse were picking the way through the short grass. I had never encountered these birds before at such close quarters.

I re-visited the spot a few days and followed the ancient trail of Offa’s Dyke Path marked by slabs of stone to nearby Llandegna Forest.

All was peaceful and I was passed just by the occasional cyclist. Then suddenly a flash of red flew up from the part and perched on a conifer by the side of the track. A crossbill!

This was another first for me. I stood absolutely still as it stayed perching on a branch in the sunshine, feeding every now and then on the cones.

Nature surprises us, and especially, it seemed, in the glory of a missed turning!

The Blue Tit and the Moon

I did not expect to see this beautiful coinciding of a common blue tit with a daytime moon when I headed up Haughmond Hill recently.

February is an unpredictable month for nature in the UK but every time we step outside we are entering a world of beautiful biodiversity.

“It is an illimited field of variety and beauty where you may lose yourself in the multitude of wonder and delights”

Thomas Traherne, Centuries

Today was a day to appreciate “ordinary” beauties – like this female chaffinch.

Puffed up and cold she looks, but also resplendent in her colouring.

But the wonder and delight of the day most definitely belonged to the beautiful blue tit, happily hopping around from twig to twig feeding, and completely oblivious of his heavenly backdrop.