Country diary: The gun-fire crack of a tree trunk breaking | Sara Hudston

Selworthy Woods, Somerset: There is now sky where there wasn't before, and fragments of blackened twig litter the floorA late, wet walk in the woods, rain falling in bursts, the last of the light slanting topaz from the west. Mud splats up from the dogs' paws as we thread the upward path towards Bury Castle hillfort. Below us, just visible through the trees, the apple-dumpling thatched cottages on Selworthy Green begin to twinkle with a tea-time glow.Suddenly, the cosy scene is disturbed by a loud crackle of gunfire. Who is shooting here at this time of day? A second volley echoes in the combe - is it guns or fireworks? A pause - silence - then a heaving crash and the hillside is roiling and bouncing, the earth reverberating, the woodland collapsing on top of us. Continue reading...