Evening Woods

IT'S ONLY at this time of year that the sun sets far enough to the west to shine directly into the quarry. The light is broken up by the dense foliage so the quarry looks like a stage set, lit by a dozen separate spotlights.

Bracken has all but unfurled its fronds on the drier, more open, slopes of the wood. Other Ferns grow on a steep shady bank above the stream.

Wood Avens is in flower alongside the paths and soon its hooked seeds will be hitching a ride on dogs and other passers by.

The vocal gymnastics of the Song Thrush contrast with the relaxed melodic line of the Blackbird. Dappled sun comes through the dense canopy of oaks onto a slope of Soft Grass.

To add to the exotic atmosphere one of our strangest looking moths drifts by at eye level. Both pairs of pale wings in the Plume Moth are like delicate feathers.

I take closer look at the flower amongst the towpath grasses. It's got tendrils growing from between pairs of leaflets, a square stem, leaves that clasp the stem shaped like Tudor spears (with points at the base, I mean) and an arrangement of flowers that reminds me exactly of Sweet Pea. It's Meadow Vetchling, Lathyrus pratensis.

Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail; 'richard@daelnet.co.uk'