Somerset Levels and a Murmuration of Starlings

Payment is in advance for this tour. Once you have booked your place on Meet Up, Steve will be in touch about paying the walk fee to secure your place.

The wetlands of the Somerset Levels are at their most magnificent at dusk in winter.

On our walk today we will explore the history of this remarkable landscape and how it evolved from an ancient lake land to a productive agricultural and industrial landscape and on to a stunning haven for wildlife.

Five thousand years ago our ancestors were building mile upon mile of raised wooden pathways across this watery land. These may have been used simply to get from place to place, but there is evidence that the ancient trackways were also sacred routes into places where offerings could be made to the gods.

During the Iron Age the margins of the lakes were populated with villages of stilted huts and the highways would have been navigated by boat. Remarkable archaeological excavations from 1892 onwards help tell this story.

Over the last five hundred years the wetlands of central Somerset have been drained and ploughed and sown and reaped, with farmers drawing on the richness of the black soil. That same black soil has been harvested for fuel and garden products. We will explore the fascinating story of peat.

And now the levels are increasingly being returned to semi-natural wetlands by national nature conservation bodies such as the RSPB and Natural England. The wildlife is flooding back in with flocks of up to a million starlings gracing the skies at dusk, bitterns booming in the reed beds and cranes once more breeding here.

As the sun sets over the Somerset Levels we will be at RSPB Ham Wall Nature Reserve where we will, hopefully, watch countless starlings arriving and displaying their murmeration before settling for the night in the extensive reed beds here.

On our walk back into town we will (hopefully) see the full moon rising over Glastonbury Tor

Join us for a remarkable walk into a place where the rich story of Somerset can be seen in the very shape of the land.

A Walk in the Past is a friendly group where regulars and newcomers are always welcome. Our aim is to combine a good walk with pleasant company in historical landscapes.

As is our custom a historical travelogue style article based on Steve's research notes will be sent out to participants after the event. These will allow you to hold onto what you have learned of this remarkable place.

If you would like to lift share from Bristol or Bath then please use the comment board below to make the arrangements.