Country diary: A springtime with an ending | Amy-Jane Beer

Kirkham Abbey, North Yorkshire, and Old Hutton, Cumbria: Among this year's epic blossom and mass of swarming insects, a funeral holds particular poignancyI was in Cumbria this week to bid farewell to a beloved friend, the uniquely talented naturalist, conservationist, educator and campaigner Jamie Normington. We met when we were crowdfunding campaigns to supply copies of The Lost Words, the celebration of nature's disappearing lexicon, to schools in our respective counties.Jamie would never describe himself as a writer, but he had a unique talent with words: his old Twitter account was one of the literal handful I ever set notifications for. He embraced it as his genre, managing to be idiosyncratic, insightful, sometimes profound and often spit-your-tea funny. Those same qualities made him a superb teacher, mentor, interviewer and compere, most particularly for Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Kendal Mountain Festival, both of which will be immeasurably depleted by his loss. Continue reading...