The best MTB trails around Cleobury Mortimer

Brown Clee is the highest hill in Shropshire and it's isolated position affords excellent views in all directions.

Nice route to the Clee Hills. Parking to the north as well at the excitingly named Cockshutford

Hidden Gem! Best on a gravel bike, but once through the initial 50m of bumpy stuff a road bike will be ok.

thick mud at the moment

Looks pretty cool would have loved this as a kid

Discover this tranquil little lake tucked away in the Shropshire Hills. The lake makes a great picnic spot, or if you're feeling daring, a wild swimming spot, too.

First enshrined in law in the Magna Carta in 1215, Common Land traditionally sustained the poorest people in rural communities who owned no land of their own, providing them with a source of wood, bracken for bedding and pasture for livestock. Over one-third of England’s moorland is common land. Common Land now accounts for just 3% of England, but this includes large tracts of our most well-loved and ecologically rich landscapes including where you are standing in the Shropshire Hills but also in the Yorkshire Dales, on Dartmoor and in the Lake District. Common Land is privately owned land with ‘Rights of Common’ over that land, most commonly to graze animals. Visitors have a right roam the commons while recognising and respecting the wildlife, landowners and farmers who work tirelessly to maintain it. This includes making sure all visiting dogs have their owner with them and are under close control. Our nesting birds, sheep, lambs and other stock will thank you for it. There are 86 pieces of registered common land in the county of Shropshire. Many of these and certainly the largest ‘working’ commons, can be found within the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Clee Liberty, known for its Iron Age Hill Fort and extensive industrial quarrying activity is part of Shropshire’s highest hill, the Brown Clee. This common is owned by the Parish Council of Clee St Margaret. Local residents enjoy common rights on the hill, several commoners turn out sheep and one also grazes a small herd of ponies. For this walk, we access the common from ‘the Yeld’ where there is parking for a small number of cars. To start the walk, go through the gate onto the common and follow the track straight ahead.

Welcome to the Wyre Forest Butterfly Trail. This 3.5 mile trail takes 2-3 hours to complete and has been designed to introduce the amazing diversity of butterflies found in the Wyre. The Butterfly Trail now continues along the Dowles Path to Coopers Mill. The track that you have walked along from the bridge over Dowles Brook is a good area to spot the bright yellow Brimstone butterfly. The Brimstone hibernates as an adult through the winter and is often the first butterfly seen each spring. Some people believe that the insect's original name of 'butter-coloured fly' was the origin of the word 'butterfly'. It is only the male that is bright yellow in colóuration; the female is a more greenish- white and in flight might be mistaken for a Large White. The reason why the Brimstone is generally numerous here is because of the presence of several bushes of alder buckthorn between the track and the brook on which the female lays her eggs. If you look carefully during May and June you can often spot the yellow skittle-shaped eggs on the undersides of leaves and sometimes also the caterpillars which are extremely well camouflaged against the green of the leaves. The caterpillar goes through a number of skin changes. as it grows before eventually pupating away from its food-plant to emerge as an adult butterfly in late July. Brimstones can then be seen visiting flowers like teasels and thistles for several more weeks before going into hibernation to emerge the following spring. It is often regarded as Britain's longest lived butterfly with some adults surviving as long as 11 months. Only a handful of our butterflies hibernate as adults in this way, most species pass the winter as an egg, caterpillar or pupa. Consequently, their adult stage may only last for a few days but, nevertheless, long enough for courtship, pairing and egg-laying to take place to ensure the survival of the species for another year. Other species to look out for include the Comma, with a distinctive ragged edge to its wings; the Common Blue, on the wing in May and June with a second generation from July to early September (if you see a 'blue' butterfly before May then it is almost certainly a Holly Blue which is similar in size and colour but lacks the orange markings on the underside of the hindwing); and the Gatekeeper, which is generally brown in colour with orange splashes across its forewings. The Butterfly Trail now continues to Coopers Mill. Two butterflies to look out for on your return journey are the graceful and very beautiful White Admiral, which has only colonised Wyre in recent years and is still something of a rarity here; and the Speckled Wood which is on the wing for most of the summer in a series of overlapping broods and is generally found in shadier spots along the Trail.