A Spring Start
I surveyed the glorious panorama, the sun beaming down upon the Earth, not a cloud in the sky. Thy skylarks were tunefully carolling their melodious calls from above, the recently returned Meadow Pipits were carefreely walking in the long tussocks of grass, and, of course, the birds of the bushes were warbling a sweet, heavenly song. All was well. It was Tuesday, the 8th of April 2025, and I was in my happy place. The day before, I had had a very successful twitch with an outstanding owl (see ‘Bumpy Roads and a Barn Owl), and today, I was at a breathtaking location, buried deep in West England, in the Cotswold Hills.
At first, I was reluctant to travel all this way, after all, it wasn’t a planned ‘birdwatching day’, more of just a family day (don’t worry, I love family more than birds), but when we arrived at our second stop, (beside a Costa on the way), I immediately fell in love with it. The site was called Cleeve Hill, or Cleeve Common, and it was an extensive, and very high, hill, overlooking miles and miles of fields, all the way to the Malvern Hills, which were around an hour away. The reason why we stopped here was not only to stretch our legs, but to see if I could get a life, the Ring Ouzel! If you don’t know what that is and you want to find out more about it, go to this article, Bird Focus of the Week: Ring Ouzel.
The skittish, but stunning relation of the much more common Eurasian Blackbird had been sighted there on the previous day, and it was a possibility; however, I didn’t see it. This didn’t change my mood, though, as I had a lot of other birds to occupy me, plus, I had managed to acquire a new bird for my Year list, the Willow Warbler.
In the video above, (I apologise for the heavy breathing, there was a lot of to and fro when filming the birds), it shows how many singing birds there were, and that Spring is fully here, in Britain.
Two years ago, I would have never heard this, even at the start of April; birds like the Willow Warbler would have returned by then, but they wouldn’t be so free in their appearance. But why?
Because of climate change (in this case, not such a bad thing), the weather in the UK is much better, much earlier, and so the birds, who want to breed, acquire territory, and nest as quick as possible, are using this amazing, beautiful sun as much as they can. And the sun was beautiful.
Before the great Cleeve Hill, we stopped at the world-famous Cotswold landmark, Broadway Tower, which gave me plenty of scope to represent what we were looking at on my drone. The early morning sunlight lit up the limestone tower, making the landmark completely perfect, and a slight, enjoyable breeze wisped through, all factors of this great experience. This drone video below will make the readers very jealous.
The Broadway Tower was amazing, but we had to get to Cleeve Hill, and by now, I think you know how much I loved that, but still, I’ll put in a drone video I took just to show you how amazing it was.
Here is another clip of the top of Cleeve Hill:
After Cleeve Hill, it was a forty-minute drive from the tourist-filled Cotswold Hills to the much quieter, and, quite frankly, underrated, Malvern Hills, across stunning countryside. The Malverns are much more mountainous and, to some extent, more inaccessible than the Cotswolds, however, they are also much wilder. Most of the hills were carpeted in wooded areas, and the gorse bushes are much denser than at Cleeve Hill. Let me put it this way, Cotswold Hills are more recreational and chilled, and Malvern Hills are more about long walks and trekking.
Anyway, we arrived at our third stop, in the Malvern Hills, which was much more rugged than the last stop. By this time, the clouds had set over, creating a more adventurous feel, but despite the change of landscape and weather, the birds were still as audible as they were at Cleeve. The Dunnock in the video was filmed at the Malverns, and that video is possibly the best throughout the day. Here are some of my drone videos of the Malvern Hills:
My day at the Cotswolds and the Malverns was a great representation of early spring in the UK, and I enjoyed every minute of it. This trip was one of those that I’ll never, ever forget. Great time with family, great weather, great scenery, and great birds. And, as I write this, looking over the paddocks, farm fields, and woods that surround my house, and realise that the Cotswolds are only 2 hours away, I count my blessings that I live in such a great country!
Thanks for reading, and see you next time!