Page 53 - br-june-2022

June 2022 June 2022
On Black Hill the edge of Mays Wood and they may come later in the season. Now in spring,
the smaller annuals are starting to flower including the charming Heartsease (a
Above the verdant vale, where cattle graze and tractors plough, small native pansy – see photo), scarlet pimpernel and several varieties of
up on that dominating hill, there is a certain wildness now. speedwell.
Where men once toiled to dig the sand and gravel from the stony ground,
have
also
now nature works to claim each flooded pit, each barren scrape and every gritty You may the prolific
noticed
mound. green ‘pimples’ on the
Lithe willows fringe the stranded pools in dips where reeds and rushes stand field above Frooms Lane
and creeping plants trail grasping stems across the sun-baked, naked land which are clumps of
while busy darter dragonflies patrol through swarms of new hatched midge Spear Thistle (see photo).
to hunt along the furze lined trails that traverse the upper ridge. The flowers of all these
plants are attractive to
Below the windswept crest, where needled gorse and bracken sway, insects, which in turn are
on northern sylvan slopes, the sika browse and badgers play, feed for small birds and
where woodsmen cropped the oaks for posts and tannin for the leather trade, mammals, which in turn
are feed for larger birds
now fungi creep to claim each broken bough, each fallen twig in every dappled and mammals – a real
glade. biodiversity and wildlife
Green mosses clad the trunks of ancient trees whose limbs and branches spread, bonus.
while twisting roots stretch underneath below the leaf-strewn, autumn shed
and nervous, raucous, painted jays hunt through the trees for season’s fare
to cache amidst the leaves and mast that shroud the surface there.

Atop the southern brow, that red barked pines and birches share,
beneath its heathy, acid soil, there is a hidden chamber where
great pumps engage to fill its void with water for the main supply
to serve the needs of each local home, each valley farm and cattle troughs
nearby.
Here rutted tracks pass by this place, past timber piles of lumbered pine,
by grassy tussocked open glades with bramble, bracken and eglantine
and far off views that excite and thrill, seen on a summer evening walk
when western light falls in the east on far off Vectis cliffs of chalk.

Above the turbulent road where traffic noise can dull the mind somehow,
up on that dominating hill, there is a certain wildness now.
Where time runs slowly as seasons pass to change the landscape hues,
and nature works to paint each shrub and tree, each open space and hazy
distant views.
Fresh breezes waft across the open trails to cool the heat of summer days,
while layers of clouds pass overhead above the ridge and gravelled ways,
above the verdant vale, where cattle graze and tractors plough,
up on that dominating hill, there is a peaceful wildness now.
Chris Nother

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