BURLISH Top is one of the districts' heathland nature reserves. On a recent visit I was rewarded with a beautiful and yet completely unexpected scene.

The last few weeks have, in my opinion, produced one of the most spectacularly beautiful autumn landscapes I can remember.

Nearly all the countryside was transformed with the fantastic golds, reds and browns of autumn.

However, most of these colours have now been lost, as trees have shed their leaves leaving bare, drab skeletons braced against the full onslaught of winter.

This was very much the case as I set out to visit the heath at Burlish.

In addition to the heathland with its typical tussocks of purple flowering heather, Burlish has several other habitats.

Walking from the Kingsway entrance in Stourport, I trailed my way through an open oak wood which is mainly composed of trees of around 20 to 30 years old, with just a few much more stately oaks who add greatly to the woodland atmosphere.

Following the wood west to a path through the scrub wood, I came across many fruit trees amongst the young oaks and silver birches.

The fruit of these trees could still be seen lon the ground as the wind blew around the now bare trees.

The drabness of this area was amplified by large stands of bracken next to the path. Their fronds are now brown and weather beaten.

From here I entered the areas of thick gorse scrub and it was here that I got my surprise.

I was very much expecting to see the twisted skeletons of wild roses with their dangling, tattered looking rose-hips occasionally brightening up the scene among the otherwise drab sea of dark green and burnt brown gorse needles.

However, to my surprise, some areas of gorse were in full bloom, transforming the winter landscape into a scene that felt like spring.

It was nice to stand, stare and just take in the beauty of the masses of sunshine-yellow gorse flowers.

Our native western gorses do not usually flower until July but Burlish has large quantities of the European gorse that begins flowering in January.

I feel that the milder autumn conditions have probably fooled the European gorse into thinking spring has come early and produced this beautiful bloom of flowers ahead of schedule.