stoat

  • Nature Notes

    The Long Twilight. The domed hill is shedding chalk rivers of rain. Chains of bubbles slide past either side of the raised camber, as if there were otters beneath the slick, wet surface of this river-road. Yet, after another 12 hour deluge, the late evening is quiet and still. Blackbirds are piping alarms from the […]

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  • Nature Notes

    Chalk for Gritstone. The high winds blowing through Swaledale and Wensleydale are rumbling and rough; a sharp contrast to the smoothed out, keening swish and wail over the downs of home. This wind rolls gritstone around, buffing limestone scars and the corners of our thick-walled farmhouse at Skellgill. The sheep tuck in to line the […]

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  • Nature Notes

    The Stoat, the Vivarium and the White Owl. Summer holidays and my days are freer. There are some days when I can meander at will. A stoat pops up by the white barn, sees me and doubles back, like water through a u-bend. I wait. A triangular face appears; bright eyes, chocolate-drop nose, long cream […]

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