Country diary: In this world of moss, everything has been upholstered

Cressbrook Dale, Derbyshire: Every wall, twig and branch is transformed by these 'lower plants', which are 400m years old and countingIt's the time of year they call the "hungry gap", when the land is exhausted but winter drags on. We looked across the bare ground on which we stood, through a low grey sky, to the deep grey ashwoods opposite, which rippled up the far slope following its contours. The only chromatic variation came from the canopy, which was feathered pale as if dusted with frost.How odd to get down into the dale's darkest section and suddenly be overwhelmed by the colours of life. The woodland flanking Cressbrook's stream is so sheathed in mosses that it takes on an almost animate, mammalian quality. It's not only the green-furred trees but the walls, the ground, any waist-high sapling or even just a dead stick or snag somehow lodged upright. Continue reading...