CHANGING SCENERY

In late spring, the same landscape in Swaledale is ablaze with colour. The meadows are in flower, and the blanket that covers them has changed from white to gold. While the yellows of buttercup, yellow rattle and globe flower predominate, closer inspection reveals flowers of many other hues. Carol Raw, wife of farmer, William, reveals that she walked out one day and began counting the number of species she could see. “I gave up when I got past 20,” she says. Wood cranesbill is an easily spotted resident, with its distinctive bluish-violet blooms. Others include the pignut, with its small umbels of white flowers on delicate stems, and the frothy, lime-green sprays of lady’s mantle. During winter, the seeds of these flowers lie dormant beneath the frozen ground, ready to erupt with the sun’s warming rays.