Carpet of poppies on parade
It's a spectacular view to take in for passengers on the Severn Valley Railway – a red carpet of poppies.
This amazing picture, particularly poignant with the recent 70th anniversary of D-Day, shows the beauty of the wild flowers as they come to blossom at the Blackstone Farm Fields near Bewdley in Worcestershire.
The field is a Worcestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserve and is next to the A456, nearby The Devil's Spittleful and Rifle Range nature reserves. Andy Harris, the conservation officer responsible for the reserve, explained: "Our long-term aim for Blackstone Farm Fields is to allow them to revert to heathland, the most threatened habitat in our county. Heathland plants thrive in relatively poor quality sandy soil so we're helping the reversion process by allowing fields to remain fallow on rotation, minimising the use of fertilisers and planting crops that help leach nutrients from the soil.
"A by-product of this process is that poppies and other wildflowers are once again able to flower in these fields."
The poppies at the nature reserve blossom for two weeks every June. Poppy seeds harvested from the fields will be available for a small donation from volunteers who will be welcoming people to the site.
It means visitors can create a small poppy patch in their garden at the same time as contributing to the management of the nature reserve.
Poppies are also adding a splash of colour along the side of Holbeache Road in Wall Heath.
The First World War battlefields became churned into mud and fallen soldiers, before they became covered by poppies. The flowers have since been used as a symbol of remembrance for all wars.
Send your poppy pictures to Star Witness.
