HABBERLEY Valley Nature Reserve is a location many people visit over the holidays to take in the beauty of the landscape, enjoy a stroll and relax in the countryside.

What makes Habberley Valley an appealing place to visit is the number of different habitats and landscapes it possesses in a relatively small area.

There are areas of dark and shady semi-natural ancient woods with their almost spooky feel.

Then there are lush bilberry woods and meadows of scorched brown acid grasslands with their feathery stems of wavy hair grass and patches of purple heather.

There is another habitat at Habberley, which is unique to the district.

Unfortunately, it is one that cannot be visited as plants only exist by clinging to the uppermost reaches of the 120ft Ridgestone Rock.

The plants that make up this community include the deep shocking pink flowers of the cross-leafed heather that crown this massive and impressive rock face.

Also growing here is the delicate spring-hair grass. Trees cling to the rock with twisted gnarled roots. There are three main species. Oaks grow the fastest and hence live the most perilous lives.

They fight a constant battle against gravity and once they have grown so large that their roots can no longer find enough purchase to support their mass, they tumble into the wooded valley below.

Yew trees, with their slower growth and spreading roots, seem to fare better and there are some that seem to be almost taunting the force of gravity as they lean over the rock into the abyss.

The third tree, the wild service, is quite a shock to find. This tree is usually associated with ancient woodland on clay soils.

However it is found on the reserve in abundance.

Wild service trees in the Wyre Forest district are reaching the northerly-most limit of their range and are hence only able to reproduce from suckers.

This small scattering of trees may well be the last descendants of a group that lived in the Habberley area from times when the majority of the district was one large forest.

Even though it is difficult to visit areas like this, it is still a comforting thought that even in a densely populated area wildlife has found a way to survive in Habberley Valley.