Somerset Levels Winter

In a winter like no other in my lifetime, nature comes up trumps yet again.  For sure, low light, driving rain and masses of mud can make my heart weigh a little heavy at times.  And then the first crisp cold morning of the season arrives and brings a magic that sends my spirits soaring again.  The River Brue cuts across the heart of the Somerset Levels and passes into Glastonbury under Pomparles Bridge.  What a spectacular view I came across there on the first winter frost of 2020. 

I realised during my early levels winters that countryside cold is a very different affair to that of a town.  While I lost many beloved garden pot plants the first winter, I was more than recompensed when I experienced my first hoar frost across the levels landscape.  This photo at Athelney can only hint at the beauty and deep peace I experienced as the sun rose in a haze of feathery whiteness.

I found too that all the levels elements have drama and immense power.  Massive water expanses are pretty standard viewing as the low lying land across the levels is subjected to controlled flooding in the winter months - the top of Burrowbridge Mump offers up a fabulous panorama and is very well worth the slippery climb.  Even when the land is under water for weeks at a time, I marvel that water loving trees such as Withies and Crataegus Monogyna continue to stand firm and proud.

And even throughout the record flooding of 2013/14, nature continued to flourish in a serene watery landscape reminiscent of medieval times - the point when drainage was first introduced to the marshy levels by the Glastonbury Abbey monks.  Whilst a considerable disruption to modern life, it felt a great privilege that winter to glimpse ancient levels landscapes and understand how the land once was.

That dramatic winter has since encouraged me to enjoy the ever changing landscape around me.  The levels light and elements can be fast changing and every vista is to be savoured.  This capture of winter Withies at Greylake happened by complete chance when I wandered down an unventured track on Christmas Day 2019.  What an wonderful surprise I had when I turned to look back at how far I had walked, and then within minutes the light changed and scene moved on.

Which brings me to Withy trees, for which I have a serious passion.  I find them most endearing in the depths of winter when they are at their blackest and I know that many others do too.  Their endurance against the harshest of winters particularly reminds me this year that dark and harsh weather can be quietly endured until the return of lighter and kinder days.

Then there are those clear sky winter days where the levels sky colours up as far as the eye can see.  I have taken in the view at Bere Wall across all seasons and weathers and continue to be thrilled by the visual extravaganzas that I find there.

And talking of skies, the Somerset Levels has a special winter spectacular that I am so incredibly lucky to have close at hand.  To stand directly beneath a starling murmuration and to feel the mass fluttering of wings is a breathtaking experience.  The natural phenomenon alludes gasps of excitement from all who witness as thousands of starlings swoop across the sky, creating the most amazing intricate patterns before coming into roost on the levels reed beds.  

It is fair to say that my gratitude for nature this year has grown on a humungous scale.  How soothing its quiet continuity has been in a year where our human lives have been turned upside down.  Even the briefest encounters with nature have provided a means by which I and so many others have navigated our way through uncertainty and upheaval.  As we approach a Christmas where many of our traditions are sorely missed, I wish that that all may find peace and great hope in the natural world that we are so incredibly fortunate to share.