Stars and Kites

The light goes quickly here still, despite my enthusiasm, and the evenings are still cool and dark. But Powys/Herefordshire is the best place in the UK for stars, so there are compensations. There are very few street lights and on a clear night the sky above the valley is a silent blaze of stars, literally like diamonds spilled across black velvet. The Milky Way, the very centre of the galaxy, is clearly visible as a thicker cluster of stars, as if they are drawn to the centre. A strange feeling to look up, untold vast distances, into the centre of our galaxy.

The hills into Wales look like velvet as well, like old worn velvet, and the fields towards Discoed and Radnor are brushed with blond stubble, as if the green is about to burst slowly through. A quiet drive this evening to see very old houses in New Radnor, and on the way through the valley we saw a red kite. An amazing sight, riding the thermal, turning slowly, hunting. I had to stop suddenly; fortunately there was nothing on the road. A bird quite distinct from the buzzards we get here, more elegant, more refined. They are quite common in Powys and are the symbol of the county. And famously they used to scavenge in the streets of London.

I have celebrated Dt David's Day for many years, and this year I decorated with daffodils and baked Welsh cakes this afternoon. The journey to Radnor was a way of absorbing landscape and skies on this most Welsh of days.