Winter Pattern

The mild November and December ended with heavy rains and wild winds.  In the wake of the extreme weather, new patterns were left behind in the landscape, to replace the colourful fabric of autumn.

On the river bank, leaves, straw, branches and human debris were left high and dry by the floods, many metres above the now clear low water.  The thatch of debris points horizontally downstream but won’t last long. Straw and twigs are carried away by rooks and crows and only the plastic rubbish will remain come springtime.

Under foot ripples of rich silt cover bank and field.  Footprints of water birds lead to and from the water but otter footprints seem to run parallel with the river.  Sometimes, the remains of their meals can be found high and dry.  Last winter I found the head and tail of a small jack pike.  This winter I found the heads and tails of spent salmon on the banks of the Wye.  I have the dried head in our little museum of natural history.  The salmon were left to decay.

These patterns of debris are temporary.  The grass grows lush through the silt, fed by nutrients borne by the river.  Strand lines of leaves are dragged below ground by earthworms.    Bones get gnawed and dragged away by God knows what.  Come summer, the scene will be a picture of pastoral heaven.

In the woods, the last lingering leaves were blown away, stripping the billowing cushions to lines of vertical grey trunks.  Young ash trees are particularly striking because of their smooth bark.  With low winter light, the structure and framework of trees can be seen and appreciated.