Country diary: heathers and restless grasses are arresting

Blanchland moor, Northumberland: For the first time in months, I am standing on open heathland with nothing above me but skyMy daily walk during four months of coronavirus lockdown took me only as far as the end of a lane where I could see distant North Pennine fell tops. Today, I am standing on open heathland with nothing above me but sky, looking down on a landscape that falls away at my feet, where cloud shadows race across a deep valley and slide over the horizon.I had almost forgotten this vertiginous feeling of exhilaration that comes from climbing to a high point where the only sounds are of the wind, my own laboured breathing and the distant yelp of curlews. Their breeding season is over, but the meadow pipit that rises from under my feet is probably raising its second brood. It hovers for a few seconds, almost level with my head, then sideslips away to land 20 yards ahead, repeating the performance as I draw near, evidently trying to lure me away from a nest. Continue reading...