My favourite walk, British Camp, Malvern, Worcestershire

At last the rain has stopped for a few hours, so I quickly decided to treat myself to my favourite walk.

The wood looks so lush this time of year

The reservoir

A patch of wild flowers

Wild flower detail

Wild flower panoramic

Rape seed fields as seen from top

British Camp earthworks 

View down from summit looking north

Upton Ham, Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire.

River view

A beautiful sunny day is perfect for a walk along the river. Upton Ham is a site of special scientific interest, it is a wild meadow full of flowers and alive with the buzz of insects and the song of birds. A popular place to go for a walk and to take a picnic.

River Severn

Morris dancers at the Swan pub

On the way back we stopped for a drink at a local pub in Upton town and were delighted to see traditional Morris dancers.

Wild flower meadow

Orchids and Lizards at British Camp, Malvern, Worcestershire.

View of hills to the north of British Camp

Bright yellow fields of rape seed flowers

 Today is a cloudy dull day. British camp is still a beautiful place but the subtle beauty revealed by such a day you have to see first hand to appreciate. Either that or I need to get much more expensive photographic equipment. I bought my Nokia lumina expressly because it, at the time, had the best camera of any of the mobile phones, but in these light conditions it loses clarity and sometimes everything fades to dull silhouettes.

Orchid

That said there were a few decent vista shots, and somethings were just so beautiful. I came across a number of yellow orchids. They were only about six cm tall but once you spotted them and stooped down for a closer look they were exquisite.

The wood near the reservoir is carpeted in bluebells, though slightly faded and more subtle in the low light, their beauty could not be diminished.

Little violet flowers

Add to that the wildlife. Swifts and swallows feasting on flies flew overhead in great swooping patterns stunningly over the surface of both the hills and the reservoir. Their flight path undulations matching exactly the undulations of the land a mere three or four cm above the surface. Their speed though again means you need to be there to see it.

Slow worm

A slow worm, which is neither a worm or a snake but actually a legless lizard, I did manage to snap. Being cold blooded it needs to absorb the suns warmth to get itself moving in the morning. On a cloudy day such as this, that takes longer and it was trying its best to sunbathe on one of the paths. I just about managed to sneak up and get a decent shot off before it slithered away into the nearby brambles and vanished. Very rare and quite endangered spotting one is an absolute treat.

Bluebells in the wood near British Camp Reservoir Wood

View to the south of British Camp

Why are the British so obsessed with the weather ? Worcestershire Beacon.

Steps up from West of England carpark

Today is a bit overcast to say the least. I decided as the views were going to be impeded I would climb the Worcestershire beacon right to the top. I might not be able to see much once I got there, but there would probably be few other walkers out today, and for a moment at least I would be the highest thing in all of Worcestershire. I am only just over 5 foot tall, so it's a nice change to be able to look down on others for a brief moment.

The weather however got me thinking. Why are the British so obsessed by it ?

Approaching the ridge

Tsunami, hurricanes, droughts causing famine and forest fires, monsoons and tornadoes, they just don't happen here. This years winter was one of the longest and most extreme in 100 years, but really it amounted to at most two meters of snow which melted in less than a month. So why does it affect us so ?

With no great extremes foreign travellers think our weather will be monotonous, but a stay of just a few day's on these shores highlight how great the repercussions of minor changes.

Turn left and the summit is in sight

Today is just two degrees cooler that the lovely warm idyllic few days that preceded it. Rather than dense fluffy white clouds floating in skies of blue, the cloud is a uniform thin grey blanket, veiling the sun from sight.

SAD, or Seasonally Affected Disorder is a recognised medical condition which I know causes it's suffers great pain. I am lucky to usually find the beauty in all weather, but today is the rare bland insipid sort of grey that causes my inner emo to resurface and relieve my melancholic teenage angst.

That said I was rather cheered by the poem it has inspired.

Under the weather

Exquisite agony and bliss

The frustrating tender kiss

To be surrounded by beauty

The Beacon

The inscription meaning I am "top" 

On a day so dull.

Without sunshine's blessing,

A hill is just a hill,

The landscape flat and lifeless,

Incline just a challenge to muscle.

The summit becomes the goal.

Its own point limited by pointlessness.

Arriving just to say you arrived,

The plaque

A couple enjoy the natural high

And then descend.

Shrouded in the grey,

Of a dull cloudy day.

Dark moods devour

Fragile spirits tenuous joy.

Unbidden fears encroach

A soul mired by solitude,

Isolated, lonely,

The scream no-one hears.

Just give me sunshine,

A little warmth and light.

Then life will feel worth living

Because and not in spite.

 By Izzy.B.Silver

Today's cloudy view

British Camp reservoir, Malvern Hills, Worcester,

Deep thoughts

I like to sit and think,

Besides a lake or pool.

Is it the language used,

That makes it seem so true.

To reflect on life where water,

Holds a mirror to our mind.

To see the light there,

Where sun skips on the surface.

To dive our deepest depths,

Where dark weeds drag and drown.

To let our mind view ,

Great vista's and vast horizons.

And finally focus on 

That one distilled answer.

A reflective poem, wirtten beside the reservoir at British Camp, by Izzy.B.Silver