A Canvas of Colour

It’s good to go somewhere new. When that place is so close to where you live and holds a true spectacle it is a surprise.

I was taken for a walk by my friend Tony last week to a little known common. I was astounded.

The carpet of Orchids that greeted us was of the like I have never experienced before. We had difficulty finding a clear space to tread.

Large spikes of flowers were beacons of light; the Southern Marsh, Leopard Marsh, Common Spotted and hybrid Orchids coating the common made for a blaze of colour that easily outshone any Cézanne landscape. A truly beautiful place.

Wild at heart

Cities are not my favourite places. I much prefer the open marshes, the heath strewn with Yellow Gorse or better still the sea. To quote Karen Blixen – the author of Out of Africa – ‘salt water is the cure for all … sweat, tears or the sea’.

Needs must however and from time to time we must take to the metropolis that is Norwich, and so it was last week.

As I walked the shops, high above the city I could hear the scream of falcons; the repeated pitch of a Peregrine luring his mate on the Cathedral. Even here the wild had made the city its home.

What gave me much encouragement was the number of people who stopped and talked to me as I photographed the birds. The thirst for knowledge about these wild creatures was limitless. It’s heartening to know so many are beguiled by wild things.