Nature Features

The Stiperstones National Nature Reserve in South Shropshire covers an area of 1,000 acres. The striking hill, its heathland and diverse wildlife is looked after by Natural England and it's hoped a new scheme will help visitors make the most of the Stiperstones.

Cowberries on the Stiperstones

Cassy Clayton from Natural England has put together a rucksack which she hopes will bring the area to life. It's called Stiperstones-in-a-rucksack and contains a map with a self-guided two-mile walk: "there are lots of things that I want to show people... that are part of the Stiperstones' identity... like the cowberries".

The idea is to stop at certain points and pull items and activities out of the rucksack.  There's a pair of binoculars, rock samples and even hair from a pony's tail: "one of the Exmoor ponies helpfully left it on a fence for me. So I picked it up and put it in the rucksack".

Cassy Clayton looks towards the Wrekin

There are activities and information about the geology, landscape, wildlife, history and even literature related to the Stiperstones. Cassy says the project's been challenging and fun: "finding things out for myself at the same time... gorse for example... on a dry day in the summer... if you listen you can hear the seed pods exploding - cracking away".

Stiperstones-in-a-rucksack can be borrowed from the Bog Visitor Centre which is open 10am - 5pm Wednesday-Sunday until end of October. Over the October half term, the visitor centre is open Monday through to Sunday. Cassy Clayton says it's designed for families, but anyone can use the rucksack: "hopefully you'll go away thinking... I didn't realise that".