We have beautiful hill to ourselves (except for abundance of flowers)

WHAT weather we’ve been having recently. The temperature soars then drops, the wind is stilled then returns and then all that rain. What is going on?

My week gets off to a good start as I walk into Caversham and notice a few of nature’s developments on my way there and back.

There is lovely view through two patches of trees with Priest Hill in the background.

It is only the beginning of July but what I see seems to be a bit on the early side — the berries of rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) in full flush and the “helicopters” of sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus), “helicopter” deriving from the Greek “helix” for spiral and “pteron” for wing.

On a steep dip the lovely-scented, white umbels of hogweed (Heraclium sphondylium) are gradually replacing the attractive ox-eye daisies.

The hedgerow looks to be in fine fettle and there is a host of white-flowered yarrow (Achillea millefolium).

The next day my good friend Matthew Coome comes to pick me up for a good stroll around Whitchurch Hill.

From the busy A4074 we head west into Deadman’s Lane and on to Crays Pond via Pennyroyal.

From a pond obscured by vegetation, Matthew drives past Blackbird’s Bottom and Great Oaks until we meet a sharp left turn where we intend to leave the car by the local green.

However, there are so many parked cars and not a single space that we have to drive on a little further past Butler’s Farm to find a parking spot. As it turns out, this is a blessing in disguise.

Our intention was to walk eastwards along part of the Chiltern Way, then back north towards the Sun Inn. In fact we perform the walk in reverse.

After passing a famous old well and a bus stop, we head south along a little-used public footpath which neither of us has walked before. The going is dry and firm underfoot but it’s somewhat difficult as the greenery on either side is fast closing in.

With extensive views to both east and west between broad-trunked oak trees, I’m in my element.

I see black horehound (Ballota nigra), rampant bracken (Pteridium aquilinum), honeysuckle or woodbine (Lonicera periclymenum) crawling up tree boughs with a promise of night-time perfume, black bryony (Dioscorea communis) with its anti-clockwise twining stems and hedge woundwort (Stachys sylvatica), its flowers a radiant purple.

I come across a white-flowered plant that I know is a form of rubus, a bramble. It may be a dewberry but I’m not sure. Several other subspecies of the genus are present, one with exquisite pink flowers.

On either side in open farmland we hear the cadences of skylarks (Alauda arvensis).

A meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis) raises its voice not too far away and chirrups soothingly. Blackcaps warble away out of sight.

Our path lurches east then suddenly south. Within a few minutes we’re back in the open to behold a beautiful view way across the River Thames to the Berkshire Downs.

On a clear, bright day such as this it is possible see a long way. I can see more elevated hills far beyond the relatively close elevations. The Malverns perhaps.

So far I’ve not taken a single break from walking and think this is because of my new pair of lightweight summer boots (not that expensive either).

We walk down a slight incline towards Boze Down and, with a slight breeze on our faces, find a highish point with an even better view.

A carefully planted line of trees marks out one part of a grander exposition of this part of the world. It is a wonder.

I scan the sky. A red kite rides way up above but I see no swallows.

An eager linnet — a smallish finch that I’ve not seen in a long time — scurries at head-height and disappears into a hedgerow. That’s a positive.

Stopping briefly to look around, Matthew and I can make out certain landmarks, local trees, the water tower in Tilehurst, the way to Path Hill and west to Hartslock and Coombe End Farm.

We head westwards and pass through a sturdy metal kissing-gate.

In a tiny gap in a hedgerow, I spot an abundance of common poppy (Papaver rhoeas), the flowers shining a blood-red, surrounded by white-petalled scentless mayweed (Anthemis arvensis). Lovely. Turning left from the gate, we are presented with yet another great panorama, my field of dreams.

A dominant, attractive grass here is red fescue (Festuca rubra). It sways as if in a fantasy.

Field scabious (Knautia arvensis), a lilac-blue, adds additional colour as do the tiny yellow flowers of lady’s bedstraw (Galium verum) and the equally prominent flowers of Lotus pedunculatus, greater bird’s-foot-trefoil, a local rarity that stands around 2ft 6in. The hogweed is even taller.

Adding to all the vibrant colour, purple-flowered common mallow (Malva sylvestris) is out in force along with pink-flowered yarrow and swathes of yellow-petalled perforate St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum). What a lovely walk under an azure sky.

We wander with languor back to Matthew’s car. My friend is as fit as a fiddle and I’m improving greatly, having covered well over a mile.

For the first time in a long while on these walks we have not encountered a living soul.

Matthew takes a different route home along a tight but scenic route passing Copyhold and Ladygrove farms, Goring Heath almshouses and on to Chazey Heath. He drops me off in Caversham centre.

What a fine, largely sunny, day.

vincent.ruane@hotmail.com