Our stay in the Somerset Levels

During May we stayed for a week on the levels near Glastonbury. On this visit I actually climbed Glastonbury Tor. It is many years since I last did that. It was exhilarating at the top as there was quite a wind blowing. The view from there is amazing and I lay down on the ancient ground and remembered the goddess, it is easy to feel close in this sacred place. On the way up there was a kestrel hovering and at the top was a crow and inside the tower was a white dove. I had the feeling that these were souls who had a long connection with the place, I especially felt that with the crow, I know I may have been getting carried away with the romance of the place but these are the thoughts that came to me.


Below is the view of the Tor that greeted us as we arrived, the rainbow was right in front of it. This picture shows beauty and hope but also the destruction - there is a digger to the left and in front is some of the peat that has been excavated. Some of the levels are now preserved, it is such a unique landscape and important for the wildlife that lives there and I give thanks for the people who are working to protect this area, including the RSPB and Somerset Wildlife Trust.


This next picture shows another view of the tor looking across a buttercup meadow


Here is another rainbow with the Tor right in the distance. This was taken from a bird hide at Catcot. We saw many rainbows during the few days we were there.


In this next picture is a roe deer, hardly visible in the long grass and reeds and as I haven't got a long zoom this is the best I could do. There are many roe deer living wild in this area, usually seen on their own like this one. They are very shy and as soon as they notice you they bound off to cover.


The picture below is taken from another bird hide of a large area of water we named Silver Lake as it shone with a silver light. It made me think of the Lady of the Lake in the King Arthur stories, perhaps Excalibur is down there somewhere. Such a beautiful and special place, so peaceful.


Another view across a nature reserve towards Glastonbury. In this reserve we saw and heard bitterns which are breeding there.


Willows are a big feature of this landscape, many of them very old and quite often they have been pollarded. There is a Willow & Wetlands Centre at Stoke St Gregory, showing the history of growing and using willow to make baskets and charcoal. It is an interesting place for a visit and has a cafe which is always a good thing!


Here is an old man willow, he looks very old from the size of the trunk and has probably been pollarded and had his branches used to make baskets many times over the years.


Towards the end of the week it got sunnier and lots of dragonflies made an appearance. This is one I managed to get quite close to.


I love our stays in this area. We have quite a good arrangement, Andy goes off for hours with his binoculars into the wilds and I go off to Glastobury and spend time in places such as the Chalice Well Gardens, or cafes of course. We go for many walks together but I'm not quite up to the long walks that Andy sometimes does.