Meadow Pipits & Pignuts on the Malvern Hills

by Sue Bramall

One of the great things about going on a walk that someone else has organised, is that you don’t need to worry about the navigation. Rather than stopping to consult your map (or phone), you can simply take in the views and look out for things that interest you.

Even on a well-marked and well-trodden route, such as the Malvern Hills with its distinctive landform where you are unlikely to get lost, it is a treat to walk with someone who knows it well enough to share the details that you might miss. Such was our luck when we signed up to the AAC(UK) day walk with Ged Elliott in June 2023 – a chance to complete an eight mile end-to-end traverse, with a bit of car shuffling between members.

The day before the walk, Ged had emailed us to ask whether we were most interested in geology, botany, or ornithology – what choice! We were just glad to go somewhere different and meet some new people; anything else would be a bonus. In fact, we ended up getting a bit of everything as Ged was a veritable mine of information.

Having left cars at Hollybush (HR8 1ET) and relocated to the start at Malvern North Quarry car park (WR14 4LT), we headed into the trees behind the car park to explore a fault in the rock formation which had been thrust up from the earth’s core thousands of years ago when the land masses had been pushed together. Astounding to think that over the aeons some of this terrain had made its way up from the South Pole.

Heading up onto the crest of the hills, it was not long before we arrived at St Ann’s Well where we were able to sample the Malvern mineral water which is filtered through the granite rocks, escaping via the springs at a steady rate of around 60 litres a minute (never known to cease)

Birding and spot the plant
It was a glorious day with clear blue skies, a welcome breeze, and just the slightest haze floating on the plains of Worcestershire and across to the Black Mountains of Wales. Although we didn’t manage to sight a grayling butterfly or the peregrines which are known to be there, we scored well on the birds with a meadow pipit, tree pipit, willow warbler, greater whitethroat, chiff chaff, skylark, blackcap, stonechat, wren, and a red kite.

Turning our attention to the ground, we saw lots of small wildflowers: pignut (a very dainty umbellifer), climbing corydalis, sheep’s sorrel, and heath bedstraw. Then onto Broad Down beyond Clutters Cave where we saw wild thyme, rock rose and mouse-eared hawkweed, finally arriving at the cars at Hollybush.

Ged had very kindly volunteered to organise the day walk as his way of “paying it forward” after having benefited from some AAC(UK) sponsorship for a recent mountain skills course in Scotland – we’re so glad that he did!

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