Lichen Tree

I took this picture of a tree with lichens hanging from it over the weekend. It’s almost as if there were leaves on it. It stands next to a river up in the high hills. It’s quite a way from any road and more than 20 miles from the nearest busy road. So the air is clean which means the lichens can grow in a healthy state. They are often used as indicators of clean air.

Finding this tree was such a magical experience and I sat on a rock with the sound of the river falling over a small waterfall just looking at the tree. It made the long walk up to the high ground more than worthwhile. Although this is wild and beautiful place, I sat for over an hour without seeing another human. Further down, on the way back, I exchanged greetings with a couple of hikers. Then no-one else until I was nearly back to the road. I’ve never been one for hiking for the sake of it. But being able to get to such places makes the effort of hiking so worthwhile.

Birch Trees

I walked to these birch trees today. On the way the banks were all yellow with shiny celandines and I saw a couple of tortoiseshell butterflies too. It was a glorious day and though it took a long time to get here I felt elated rather than tired. I feel a great affinity for birch trees and these made me feel quite tender. I walked through them touching the smooth, white skin of the bark and feeling that I was one of them, tall, slim and pale in the early Spring. I got even more deeply involved with the place and stood by one tree for a long intense communing, tying my hair around it.

Before leaving that tree I tied a few strands of my hair to her, for something of  me to be in that place. And I left other things, personal whispers, saliva, pee (reverently given) and bits of me that I could share. I really was quite overcome by the place. I brought home with me just a few simple things. Some dry leaves, a twig, some pieces of moss that I will keep moist in the garden. These will be tokens for my affinity with the place. They will be my contact with it from home until I can come again. And again and again.

And I hope I will always be as welcome as I was today.

Coltsfoot

With most flowers the leaves come first. Coltsfoot is different. The flowers appear well before the leaves which come much later. The leaves can be used in herbal tobacco and to make cough medicines.

The flowers can sometimes show as early as January and push up through stony soil or gravel. Here are some I saw today not yet open:

And here are some more, opening in a less shady spot:

Spring is late  so they are only coming through now up in the hills. Elsewhere, perhaps further south or lower down, they have bloomed earlier. But these are the first that I have seen this year. 

Hill-Top

Last weekend I went up to the top of a hill and just sat looking out across the valley at the hills on the other side. It was a still day. Quite clear, though with some low cloud drifting on the higher hills. Lower down the grass was green in the 'improved' fields. But on the higher ground the wild mollinia grass was the colour of bleached straw after the winter.

On one slope, covered with birch, alder and other slender trees, there was a reddish-purple haze over the distant view of the bare twigs with their new buds waiting for the longer days to open. I sat for over two hours just taking in the landscape, making a few notes, and drinking hot soup from my flask.

If I were a tree I could stand here for a lifetime watching the passing seasons.