Scots Pine, Helsington Barrows To the west, the Lake District fells show clear. The Langdale Pikes, the ridge of The Band running down from Bowfell, Crinkle Crags- a dark grey mountain massif. Vistas to the south, toward Morecambe Bay and the sea, are more mysterious, and transient. Scanning south across the Lyth Valley, green pastures grow pale in the grip of frost over saturated ground, once wetland. Toward the coast, mist flows over the mosses and over the sea. Bright sunlight is quick to melt the frost, but not where shadows fall and by early afternoon the white rime lingers.
The day is calm and still. Not a sound of winter thrush, no birds today. But frost and sunlight work magic. Close to Helsington Church there's a cluster of hollies that must have been grown for fodder. Hollins, as maps often show. The topmost branches, out of reach, are bright with berries. Anthills show best in winter and on the south-west facing slopes at Helsington Barrows the low sun creates a hatching pattern: anthills in the foreground, the Lake District fells rising beyond.
On Sunday 23 radio 3 has The Listening Service: The Bells, The Bells. Followed by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough on Forests: the power and biological wonder of the pine tree- the tree of Christmas.
So, the Scots Pine of Helsington Barrows on a sunlit Christmas Eve. In the Lyth Valley the bells of Christmas morning will ring out through the mist.
On Sunday 23 radio 3 has The Listening Service: The Bells, The Bells. Followed by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough on Forests: the power and biological wonder of the pine tree- the tree of Christmas.
So, the Scots Pine of Helsington Barrows on a sunlit Christmas Eve. In the Lyth Valley the bells of Christmas morning will ring out through the mist.
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