The best MTB trails around Astley And Dunley

downhill tracks have gone

thick mud at the moment

Looks pretty cool would have loved this as a kid

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.

The ‘Wyre Forest Line’ formed a connection between the SVR at Bewdley and the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway (S&HR) at Woofferton. The route encompassed two railways, the Tenbury Railway and the Tenbury & Bewdley Railway. Following the completion of the Tenbury & Bewdley Railway in 1864, the GWR took over the working of traffic over the Tenbury Railway section on behalf of the joint companies, with the LNWR also having running powers. As part of this process, the GWR telegraph system was extended to Woofferton; also the LNWR agreed to a turntable being installed at Tenbury to be paid for by the GWR. This turntable was moved from Bewdley and re-erected in the goods yard at Tenbury. (Some confusion has occurred in the past, as there was a small wagon turntable at Woofferton in its early days.) The completed line ran north from the GWR station at Bewdley on a single line track alongside the Severn Valley Line for a distance of about a mile before diverging to the west to cross the river Severn at Dowles Bridge (the viaduct referred to by Capt. Tyler), the remains of which are visible from trains on the SVR. The abutments where the line passed over what is now the B4194 remain in-situ. The line continued to Woofferton via Wyre Forest, Cleobury Mortimer, Neen Sollars, Newnham Bridge, Tenbury (later renamed Tenbury Wells) and Easton Court. The route acquired a number of names. A platform sign at Woofferton station referred to 'The Bewdley Branch', while passengers at Bewdley could take 'The Tenbury Branch'. Informally the route was often referred to as 'The Wyre Forest Line' or 'The Tenbury Line'. The Engineer's Line References were TBY for 'Tenbury & Bewdley' and WTW for 'Woofferton and Tenbury Wells', while the 1905 Ordnance Survey map describes it as the 'GW&L&NW Joint Railway - Woofferton & Tenbury' and the 'GWR - Tenbury & Bewdley Branch' One purpose of the Tenbury & Bewdley Railway was for freight traffic to gain access to the expanding markets of the West Midlands. However at the time of opening, this journey would require traveling to the SVR's southern terminus at Hartlebury, with a reversal to reach the West Midlands via Kidderminster. This was hampered by a lack of siding space at Hartlebury and resulted in frequent delays, leading to construction of the 'Kidderminster Loop Line' from Bewdley to Kidderminster. After the GWR built 'The Loop', the majority of services from Stourbridge and Kidderminster to Bewdley continued on the Wyre Forest Line. In January 1869, ownership of the Tenbury Railway was transferred jointly to the LNWR and GWR. It nominally remained an independent company until nationalisation in January 1948. The Tenbury & Bewdley Railway ceased to exist as a separate company when ownership was transferred to the GWR in February 1870. Both the GWR and the Tenbury Railway became part of British Railways' Western Region after nationalisation. In 1908 the Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Light Railway opened. This connected with the Tenbury & Bewdley Railway at Cleobury Mortimer and ran as a spur for 12½ miles to Ditton Priors.

Keep an eye out for forestry work and areas of protection.

currently working or places of specific protection so keep an eye out for signs

easy to miss. probably not best to drink!