On Wenlock Edge

The hawthorns are turning a fruitful brown as the greatest may blossom in memory fades. They too are getting ready to throw a spectacular harvest of their genes into the future. Now the may and wild garlic flowers are spent, the pulse of white blossom continues with the foamy plates of elder, and the great seducing chemistry of the rose and honeysuckle begins. In open meadows, where wild thyme and common spotted orchid bloom, tiny shards of copper snap over the grass: small copper and large skipper butterflies. Blue butterflies flicker across the flowers of vetch and trefoil, whose yellow is so bright they leave ghost images after you blink. The greening of this year is explosive, and the bright sun and unexpected heat has brought on an exuberance that has rarely been seen in recent years.

Paul Evans: Country Diary -- thankfully a long way from Pebble Mill in the mid 90s!