Country diary: A mass hatching rises from the river

Otley, West Yorkshire: The two-week window has opened for this type of caddisfly to emerge, and fall upwards into springThe arboreal corridor around the River Wharfe is bright with the sharp, tangy colours of April: the fresh lemon-and-lime fuzz of hawthorn budburst; the icy white of wood anemones; the acidic yellow of willow catkins. There is a gauzy delicacy to it all, with the sunlight diffused through a sheet of high cloud. Much of the wider landscape is still thin and pallid from winter, but these first stabs of colour have a vitality that startles and surprises me, as they somehow do every year.After few weeks of cold, volatile weather, serenity and sunshine have returned, suddenly uncorking the energy of spring again. I take a closer look at the river and, sure enough, what I hope to find is there: a constant flow of small brown insects flying upstream, travelling just above the surface of the water, like a soft horizontal snow. Continue reading...