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 Not the easy way for us, we like adventure, and solitude. So we do not cross the Ponte della Pia, a medieval bridge spanning the Rosia, the short route monks took to the hermitage of Santa Lucia. On a moonless night you may encounter a veiled figure, a Sienese lady murdered by her husband. She appears in Dante’s Divine Comedy where she begs the poet to pray for her soul, prayers to release her from purgatory. She is Pia de’ Tolomei and Ponte della Pia is said to be named after her.
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 Looking north to SIena from our olive grove
Good Government ‘ is nowhere to be found. In turbulent times, in 1338 when Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted his ‘ Allegory of Good and Bad Government’ his frescoes reminded the Sienese of the importance of shared values and the interdependence of town and countryside. Frescoes show scenes of artisans and craftsmen working within the town, tilers up on the rooves fixing pantiles, shoemakers, a doctor tending a patient.  Witche's broom On a winter's night, Burns' night, what better way to celebrate than with Tam o Shanter and a tot of drambuie. Now it's spring and Burns' haunting poem poses more and more questions.
The crux of the drama is set in the ruin of Auld Alloway Kirk where Tam encounters the devil playing the bagpipes as witches dance wildly. The young witch, Nannie, is an enchanting figure who throws off encumbering clothes and dances only in her cutty sark. A shift, a shortie nightie. Nannie is the enduring emblem of the poem.  Looking north to Kentmere The bleating of ewes reaches us from fellside pastures east of the RIver Kent and the flock follows a shepherd come to feed them. Lambing time approaches, later as you go higher up Kentdale. The light is glorious and snow patterns the highest tops. Raven Crag glows gold in the sunlight. Above Kentmere Hall there's heather on the heights, juniper on crags, and the purplish hue of birch on the bracken slopes.
In early spring sunlight pours down to the woodland floor and the herb layer flourishes whilst the canopy is open.  Male pintail How do we identify birds? Bittern are secretive and the focus is often on listening, and interpreting. Birding can be an aural experience where hearing comes first. Raucous black-headed gulls are audible long before we see them and the distinctive calls of redshank and widgeon tell of their presence. Looking-up where pintail breed I realise I've never heard this favourite because it's vocally discreet. Sound-recordist Chris Watson often features on Radio 4 and it's an evocative listening experience. telling of habit and habitat, the rhythms of the day, of the seasons, which birds are resident, which on passage.
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AuthorJan Wiltshire is a nature writer living in Cumbria. She is currently bringing together her work since 2000 onto her website Cumbria Naturally Archives
December 2025
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