It was the most beautiful weather for walking this morning.
The air was warm and still
The on/off rain we'd experienced over the last few days seemed to have drifted away. There was no visible sun but you sensed it was there behind the clouds just waiting to appear later in the day.
Hawksmoor Woods can be found just off the B5417 road from Cheadle close to the village of Oakamoor. We set off along the designated path as it wound its way down into the valley.
There were lots of lovely wildflowers along the way
I wonder if any of you can help me identify the plant above, I can't find anything like it in my book on Wild Flowers.
Harebells, I think - edit 24/5/15 - they are in fact white blue bells thanks AJ and Sue for letting me know. I did wonder about which they were.
Bluebells
Red Campion
We'd been told that there are green woodpeckers in this wood and spotted fly catchers too. We did see what we thought was a red start and various tree creepers and a nuthatch or two. We heard a woodpecker but never saw it.
After a while we decided to follow one of the paths leading down into the valley and then further up into the wood.
This route took us right up to the edge of the woods
from where we followed the path along the edge of the fields
This is part of the ancient woodland that is so popular with artists and photographers.
This field of yellow rapeseed flowers stretched for acres - its glowing colour compensating for the lack of sunshine.
In the distance you can see the little town of Cheadle and the spire of St Giles' church famous for its elaborate Gothic Revival interior and known both locally and nationally as Pugin's Gem. I'll take you inside in a later post.
Back under the trees we made our way on the circular route
Catching shimmering glimpses of birds flitting and calling in the branches above
We had been walking for over an hour when we finally made our way back to the car park.
This is a wonderful walk and we'd like to go back again in the autumn to see how it changes through the seasons.
What a gorgeous set of pictures. It looks a lovely place. I think your 'harebells' are actually white bluebells. Harebells are a different shape - much wider - and very, very delicate flowers. (Google some pics and you'll see what I mean.) I LOVE white bluebells. That poppy (?) is an unusual colour. Is the wood known for rare/unusual colour variants?
ReplyDeleteThanks, AJ - the white blue bells were lovely and thanks for pointing out that is what they were, I thought they were at first but then changed my mind to Harebell - ah well! The poppies were orange in the first part of the wood but then we saw yellow ones too. The wood is an ancient wood noted for its trees and birds but I can't find anything about the flowers:)
DeleteAgree with above comment - harebells are common in Scotland but are not a spring flower - common on links and heath land.
ReplyDeletePoppy is a Welsh Poppy which is often common in gardens in Scotland too - its always yellow!
Love the pictures
Thanks Sue - I've amended to white bluebell now. The poppies were orange in one part of the wood and yellow in the other - quite a contrast. Glad you enjoyed the photos:)
DeleteGreat shot of the wildflowers in blue, white and pink. It looks a lovely walk through the woods.
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely colours aren't they? It was a great walk:)
DeleteLovely, lovely walk. Thanks for taking me along with you. Can't wait till our wildflowers come on. At least another month.
ReplyDeleteThank you, it was a lovely walk - just one of those perfect day. Hope your wildflowers appear soon:)
DeleteLovely, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you too - glad you enjoyed it:)
DeleteIt looks lovely in spring - I walked there in autumn but not spring when it's full of flowers. I'll look forward to a tor of the church - when I was doing supply work last year, I did a few days at St Giles school and the class popped in to the church (right next door!) to look at the font so I had a brief peek inside then, but other than that have never visited.
ReplyDeleteDo join in with 30 days wild! You don't have to register / blog to take part if you don't want to and I think it's worth giving it a go, even if you don't manage something every day - you could just do what you can!
I'm looking forward to seeing the wood in Autumn can't believe we haven't visited it before but somehow it slipped through the radar. Will put together a post on St Giles soon. I've registered for the 30 days wild. I don't think I'll blog everyday but do a once a week post with a collage of what I've done each of the 7 days:)
DeleteWhat a beautiful place for a walk.
ReplyDeleteIt was very beautiful, Janet:)
DeleteI do love a woodland walk there is so much of interest to see and the atmosphere is always magical.
ReplyDeleteAll the elements added up to it being a perfect morning for a walk and therefore, as you say, quite magical:)
DeleteA wonderful walk indeed!! So glad you took us along to enjoy it too. Lovely to see the different flowers that you spotted too! xx
ReplyDeleteThere were lots of other flowers that I couldn't identify - I must learn more about wildflowers as they are so pretty and quite fascinating:)
DeleteLovely walk Rosie, thank you. We hoped to go for a walk yesterday but it was flippin' freezing here. x
ReplyDeleteIt was cold on Sunday here too - such a contrast to Saturday so we were pleased we'd walked then:)
DeleteNice post Rosie, lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ian and thanks for visiting and leaving a comment:)
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