Frost, the great synchroniser
by Phil Gates from Environment | The Guardian on (#17BZ5)
Crook, County Durham Each frozen dawn shortens the fuse that releases the explosion of growth when spring arrives








It was a dawn that almost made me wish that winter might last a little longer. The sun was rising over frosted grass into a cloudless sky. A crystalline morning beckoned, payback for those mildest-on-record months with their grey skies and rain that lasted from daybreak until dusk.
I shielded my eyes against shafts of sunlight that speared through the hawthorns and highlighted the fresh green growth of goosegrass. A hedge sparrow, singing from its perch on top of the hedge, was surrounded in a halo of light.
Continue reading...