1. Barnevelder chickens scratching in a pen. A mud path is worn round the edge, where Gwen the sheepdog has been rounding them up. I ask Bill the warden about the chickens, and he says: 'They're lovely when the light hits them.' I look again and spot the peacock irridescence, and that each feather has a brown chevron.
2. An ivy leaf burnt to a charred flake has an electric blue sheen.
3. Among the trees covering the spoil heaps at Ticknall lime yards is an old bridge that once carried the tramway. Through the arch, I can see the turquoise water of a flooded quarry.
Magnolia, pagoda and station.
1. Late magnolias -- always a pleasure. 2. We like everything about the pagoda -- including the long climb to the top -- but particularly th...
