Winds Remembered

Walking up the valley thinking of the past, the old man walked steadily on until he reached the Heather covered slopes, before stopping to rest and look around the timeless landscape. Remembering how years ago he had lived on these slopes for fourteen days, whilst on Army training, living off the land, with some hundred […]

Where Do Wild Ducks Nest?

The three young boys scoured the banks of the river, risking a soaking, clambering out over the water on over-hanging trees, wading back to check possible nesting sites. They were in search of a wild duck’s nest. This was the one that eluded them all spring. All other water birds like the moor hen had […]

The Vintage Calvados

My host smiled as she handed me the bottle, ‘ Treat it with respect, use it as a medicine, not just for pleasure’, her words spoken in the strong earnest manner of the French farming community of the Calvados region of France. It transpired that this was one of the few remaining bottles, which her […]

The Tree Revisited

The last year or so of my schooldays slipped by so quickly. One or two episodes still remain as sharp as ever in my memory. Summer time lunch breaks, and a mad dash up past the station, into the fields to Carno Brook, a tributary to the River Severn. ‘Last one in is a sissy.’ […]

The Deep Black Shadow

The doorway filled with a deep black shadow, and the great figure of the huge grey stallion entered the small stable, head held high, nostrils flared, sniffing the air, seeking out whatever had invaded his space. In the hayrack above the manger the small boy drew back in fear as the huge animal ambled up, […]

Juvenile Poachers

The largest river in Wales, the River Severn, in the far off days of my youth, curled it’s lazy way through fields of Butter Cups and Daisies, it’s banks alternating between steep sides and sandy shores, from deep forbidding pools, to murmuring bubbling shallows, where cattle stood knee deep, cud chewing and their tails swishing […]

Foxed By Thought

Before explaining why I think animals ‘Think’, and my admiration for one animal, an old dog fox, it is necessary to set the scene, to make it easier to visualise his actions. The quiet and beautiful setting in the English Cotswolds, with its small fields, quiet country roads where stone walls replace hedges and fences, […]

A Place Of Safety

For more than seventy years, I have kept secret my faith in that beautiful tree and in all that time it has never failed me. In times of great stress,and sometimes great danger,i simply climb up into its branches, letting my mind absorb its magic, and I know I am safe in its embrace. As […]

The Water Meadow (A poem for two voices)

Tail flicking Wagtails, Yellow and Pied, Darting, and catching their insect food. Their young at their heels, begging for more. Tail swishing cows cropping ancient herbage, Their pollen covered hooves, and yellow lips, Fertilising the masses of buttercups, and cowslips, By disturbing the insects who help in the act. The old footpath is now a […]

The River

You lazily wander, through pastures green, Curling your way as you flow to the sea. Sand Martins, Kingfishers, live in your banks, Tail swishing cattle, stand cooling their flanks. The sunshine reflecting the Golden Gorse, In shallows you gurgle your baby talk; Why do you rush to be lost in the sea? Linger a little, […]

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