Country diary: The first cuckoo of the year prompts a lively family tradition | Virginia Spiers

Caradon Hill, Bodmin Moor: On this cool and hazy May morning, the turf flushes pale green and birds sing from leafy thicketsBelow Caradon Hill, the fresh, diaphanous leaves of tall beeches hide Tokenbury Manor, and a green panorama extends across the Lynher Valley towards Kit Hill (near home) and beyond, to the skyline of misty Dartmoor.Patches of sunlight gleam across this predominantly pastoral land with rare enclaves of lurid oilseed rape, and fewer fields of plastic-covered maize than in previous years. Lambs and their attendant ewes scatter across the hill's stony rough grazing; bracken emerges through last year's flattened brown fronds, and turf flushes pale green. Gnarled gorse trees dazzle with yellow flowers and lichen-draped thorns will soon burst into bloom. Continue reading...