Tiny flower at home in a landscape forged by fire and ice

Widdybank Fell, Teesdale Vivid bird's-eye primroses survive and bloom in the bleak grandeur of the north Pennines

A skylark rose from among the dry grasses and heather beside the footpath, spiralling higher and higher, showering us with song until it was lost from view in an almost cloudless sky.

In dozens of visits here on May mornings over the past 40 years this was the most perfect day we could recall: still air, warm sunshine and crystal-clear visibility. Bitterly cold wind is expected and horizontal sleet not uncommon at this time of year in one of the last places that spring reaches in the north Pennines.