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

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

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

Reservoir, British Camp, Malvern Hills

 It was a delightfully misty start today. Decided again to try and capture the beauty of mist rising in gentle spiralling curls from the reservoir. I think maybe to get that effect you need the water to be warmer, but I am rather happy with these shots.

It felt less like Worcestershire and rather more like a romantically bleak Scottish loch side. If you look carefully you can just about make out the lone coot that was swimming about on the reservoir. (A coot is a black water bird with a single white splodge just over it's beak.)

Sunset

 Today is quite chilly, so I thought I would share some pictures I took on Tuesday. In the summer and autumn here we have the most spectacular sunsets. Winter and spring though the sky is usually quite unremarkable. Tuesday evening we had the first decent sunsets of the year. There is just twenty minutes between the two pictures. The last shot is one I took during the day during the walk at British Camp. The blue of the water is so vivid it almost looks unreal,

Reservoir as viewed from British Camp