The Raven and the Kite

Wild wind and the joy of flight

One of the first signs of summer’s end is when the hill farmers begin to cut and bale bracken for winter bedding. When bracken is freshly cut it smells like a beach at low tide bringing to mind rock pools, tangles of bladderwort, curlews and sandpipers picking at the edge of the water. The smell lasts for about 48 hours and then subsides. The loose fron…