The bare bones of trees don’t shade the spring sunlight like the leaves of summer will. The last few days, and the forecast ones over the next week or so are a rare treat as strong sunlight reaches the woodland floor. The flowers that depend on this light to get their photosynthesis done before summer comes are out in profusion.
The merest hint of green from the opening hawthorn leaves adds a tinge of green, and the petals of blackthorn and wild wild plum cover the branches and once pollinated drift like snowflakes to the earth.
Rural Reading 
“Adrian Lawson’s moving account of a ‘paradise lost’ (Rural Reading Friday December 13, 1996) recalled to mind an occasion some years ago when, during a Kennet Valley walkabout, Adrian and I had paused on the footbridge over the River Kennet near Southcote Lock. It was an unusually mild and sunny day in in mid-November. We stood leaning against the wooden rail of the bridge, mesmerised by a Daubenton’s Bat which was hawking the shiny surface of the water for insects. Suddenly, Adrian nudged my arm and glanced towards one end of the bridge. I followed his gaze and there, standing among the reeds barely five metres from us, was a pristine young Heron. Neither we nor the Heron had noticed each other on our arrival at the bridge. Our eyes turned back to the bat still skimming the surface of the river, as we did so the electric blue flash of a Kingfisher streaked under the bridge beneath our feet to alight on the overhanging branch of an Alder on the opposite bank. A priceless encounter that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Sadly, the widely diverse wildlife of the Lower Kennet Valley is under threat once again……………..Our children and our grandchildren will not thank us if we stand aside and allow the wildlife and semi-wilderness on our doorstep to be swept away.” David Saward. Letter to Evening Post published 27 Dec 1996. Delighted to have found you Adrian. I’ve been keeping abreast of events since Ann and I moved to Devon in 1999 but have just found your Rural Reading posts, which are wonderful – must get hold of the book! Very best wishes to you and the family. David.
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