Nature Notes 1

For my very first Nature Note, I have chosen text from one of my favourite authors, the mystic and naturalist Richard Jefferies.

In just one sentence he manages to sum up my feelings towards the enduring marvel of nature perfectly.  I have matched the prose with this timeless image of an innocent and lost age of country living.  I had the privilege of a happy, country childhood.  This photograph of my father and I back in the mid-1950s reflects a nation at peace, finally able to relax after many years of war.  It is one of my most cherished possessions.

",,,and so it seemed to me as a boy, sweet

and new like this each morning,

and now after the years that have 

passed, and the lines they have 

worn in the forehead, the summer

mead shines as bright and fresh

as when my foot first touched the

grass..."

The Open Air, Richard Jefferies, 1885