Country diary: darkness gets to be itself here

Palnackie, Dumfries and Galloway: During an evening walk I notice the stars shining unhindered and realise I have never experienced such stillnessApril full moon in lockdown: a supermoon, the nearest of this spring. Having saved my daily walk for a nocturnal escapade, I slip out, torchless, to meet it. I do not know when I have experienced such stillness. There is not a wisp of a breeze, nor a cloud in the sky; not a voice, nor a dog's bark.Leaving the village's scattering of electric light, I continue into the bright darkness of the beech-hedged lane, the withered scrolls of last year's leaves picked out in silver or black, a familiar terrain painted in moonlight. Above me, an infinitude of stars shines unhindered. This is a region where darkness gets to be itself. Twenty miles from the Galloway international dark sky park, night has substance. Continue reading...