Magnificent: Enjoy the splendid bluebells in Shrawley Wood.

Britain and Ireland are home to more than half the world's bluebells, with what looks like a fair percentage of them growing in Shrawley Wood, making it an ever popular place for a springtime walk. Try to go on a sunny day, because the warmth of the sun brings out the delicate scent of the bluebells.

Enjoy them while you can, because English bluebells are threatened by theft, climate change, habitat loss, and competition from the Spanish bluebell, a less attractive plant which is grown in gardens but easily escapes from them to colonise woods and hedgerows. It's more vigorous than the English bluebell and hybridises with it, changing its characteristics.

The Natural History Museum, the charity Plantlife and the Ramblers' Association are currently co-operating in the biggest ever survey of English bluebells so that they can be mapped and studied to provide evidence about hybridisation. Walkers can help with the survey - visit www. ramblers.org.uk/ bluebells.

There's more than bluebells to enjoy on this walk, of course. The range of habitats - woodland, plantation, pasture, parkland, pools and river - makes for a good variety of birds. Perhaps the most striking species is the cormorant, a mostly sea-going bird which also frequents the river Severn and may be seen roosting in the trees beside New Pool.

FACT FILE

Start: New Inn, Shrawley, grid ref SO799663.

Length: 4 miles/7km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, Landranger 138 or 150.

Terrain: Woodland, parkland and pasture, with a few steep slopes.

Footpaths: Excellent. Stiles: Nine.

Parking: New Inn - £3 charge redeemable against food or drink.

Buses: 294/295 Worcester-Kidderminster services, Monday to Saturday, stopping at the New Inn and the Rose and Crown; Worcestershire Hub 01905 765765 or www.worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables Refreshments: New Inn, Rose and Crown.

NB: Forestry operations may cause temporary path closures. Observe any signed diversions. Note too that if you have a dog with you it should be on a lead throughout this walk.

DIRECTIONS:

1 Cross the road, walk along a track opposite to reach Shrawley Wood and turn left on entering the wood. Turn right when you come to a waymarked junction, fork left after a few paces and descend to the valley of Dick Brook. Ignore all branching paths and follow the brook to the far side of the wood.

2 Turn right and then take the first left, marked by a wooden post. Climb uphill, ignoring branching paths and eventually coming to a clearing. Fork left on a narrow path and keep climbing to reach the highest point. Ignore a path branching left and keep going in much the same direction, passing to the right of two millennium oaks planted in 2000. Descend to a waymarked junction and turn left on a path which eventually descends steps to the edge of the wood. Your onward route is through the riverside meadows, but first you may find a path on the right tempting - it runs through a sandstone cutting and is worth exploring, but you'll need to return the same way as it leads only to the stepped path you have already walked along.

3 Turn right to walk through the riverside meadows until you see a stile where you can re-enter Shrawley Wood. The path goes to the left and is level for a while before it climbs briefly before descending towards New Pool. As it starts its descent you'll see a place on the left where you can climb up a bank to access a flat-topped knoll - this is Oliver's Mound. Returning to the path, proceed to a junction and turn left past New Pool. The path then passes a waterfall and climbs slightly to enter a field.

4 Walk along the field edge, with the wood on your right. Keep right at a junction, staying close to the woodland edge. Bear right when you see Holders Pool, descending to walk past it, still close to the wood. You'll come to a junction by a stile where, as the path into the wood is closed, you must turn left. After a few paces, go diagonally right up a bank and across a field towards the road, meeting it near a war memorial. Turn right, initially on a private driveway, then go left after a few metres, away from the driveway. The path is waymarked and easily followed though parkland and pasture to the road.

5 Cross the road, turn left past Nicholls Farm and take a path at a stile. Walk up a field to find another stile at the top, left of some conifers. Proceed along the edge of woodland/plantation to a lane. Turn right, then right again at a junction, back to the main road. Cross and turn left, taking great care as there is no footway. Fortunately, it's only 100m to the next path, which leaves the road opposite the Rose and Crown. Follow it back to Shrawley Wood and keep straight on when you come to a junction.

6 Eventually, you'll come to a major junction marked by a memorial bench. Turn left before you reach the bench, on a path marked by a wooden post with a smudge of red paint on it, next to a large conifer. Walk to a cross-path by a recently felled area and turn right. Keep straight on at the next cross-path. Turn left at the next junction, then right at another. When the path forks, you can go either way, though right is best at the moment, because of forestry operations. Ignore branching paths and you'll rejoin your outward route near the turning for Dick Brook. Turn left for the New Inn.

9:19am Monday 7th April 2008

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