Creatures great and small beneath the sturdy oak

Sloley, Norfolk: Hundreds of red ants have pressed shoulder to shoulder in their desire to feed upon the intoxicating manna

A row of stately trees guards the meadow's fence line beneath a sultry summer sky. One tree is a small-leaved lime, a diminutive name for a colossal plant. The ground beneath its wide boughs is bathed with the soporific perfume of linden blossom, and the pale stars of its flowers are laden with nectar-devouring insects.

Next to the lime is a shaggy yew, bluish green, decorated with the scaly brown seeds of the female flower.

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