Today was walk B of Joyce's 2025 alphabet of walks.
This was the invite from Joyce...
"Berners Heath Thursday January 2nd. We will meet at West Stow Country Park at 10.15am for coffee. It costs £3 to park or (if you can drive 300 metres past the entrance and find an entrance to off road parking under the trees).
If you wish to utilise Bury Train Station then do get in touch and I am sure someone will facilitate you to the start and back. Lunch will be on a tree stump as before so pls come prepared. The route is about 9 miles but can easily be extended if you want a longer walk – let’s agree on the day."
Alas I had a date clash and went on the U3A Longer Walks group walk instead today (more of which anon), but I have done this walk several times before, most recently in December 2023 (see here). But Joyce sent me the photo at the top of the post to show who was there (Nick was behind the camera). It was a lovely day for it!
This was our route in December 2023.
Here is an aerial view of Berner's Heath itself.
This article (from which I took the photograph at the top of the post), says it was used in the second world war for target practice by bombers, but a commenter last year on my post about an earlier version of the walk post said....
" Sorry its a bit late but I feel I should point out an error in the Daily
Mail. That cross of trees was only planted post war so was never used
as a bombing target. The real targets were a large circle and a large
triangle, both of which are still visible from the air. The triangle was
post war though. The bombing range was actually used by the army for
most of the war."
You can see the shape best from an aerial photograph like this one from the
Defra Magic site.
"The heath is the largest remaining area of heather dominated
heath in the Brecks. It contains blocks of heather of different ages as a
result of rotational heather burning conducted as a management
strategy. Heather dominates the heath, achieving almost 100% coverage
with blocks divided by rides. This allows a variety of different ground
cover species to develop in different areas of the heath. In the areas
of younger heather this includes species such as sheep’s sorrel and
mosses, although in areas where heather is slightly older and growing
quickly ground cover is restricted. Older, established blocks of heather
have greater biodiversity and include lichens as well as flowering
plant species such as heath bedstraw, lady’s bedstraw, common speedwell
and sheep’s fescue. These areas also support a wide range of insect
populations." This is why it's a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
There is some old heather (as you will see below), but I don't think the
Wikipedia article's claim that there is nearly 100% coverage is true.
For more pictures see
this album from last time (including shots of some lovely red deer) and my earlier posts about the walk. It is the most recent among a number of related walks you can find on my blog, which include:
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