Fire and Snow

A fresh fall overnight to keep us from becoming complacent about summer. Today's bird is a southern black backed gull. Best viewed large

Late last night I nipped out to bring in a stool that I'd left on the lawn. As I turned to go back to the house I looked up and was astonished to see the low clouds lit with a bright orange light. It was too late for sunset. The sky was dark in that direction. By bobbing around trees I saw that there was a pillar of light rising from the ground. It had to be a fire.

This morning I drove towards the place. It turned out to be a lot further away than I thought, but there was no problem finding it. A huge area, two or three large fields of stubble had been burned black, and was already covered with scores of gulls. There was a lot of activity at the gateways, the only gaps in the hedge, and I didn't feel comfortable about stopping. At last, a kilometre or so on from the main gate I saw an opening. This is the very end corner of burned area. It appears that the fire went uncomfortably close to another field that has not yet been harvested. In the foreground is part of the ploughed firebreak to protect the hedge. It would have also protected the the next field.