Marginal Land

At the bottom of the lane the River Derwent lies, curving its way through fields on its way to Workington and the sea. In places it has carved river cliffs of unstable collapsing soils with trees teetering on the top and in others it races around low stony beaches. These are marginal lands continually being flooded, desiccated, scoured and sometimes even removed by the council for infill.  The plants colonising this uneasy landscape are tenacious, tough rooted and casting seed wide to find the chinks between the pebbles and create an oasis for a season.
I love walking here, being able to see each plant as an individual with its own unique form, texture and colour, each surrounded by the stony frame.
And because it was a windy day there was the hiss and flutter of movement too.