And the peace which I always found in the silence and emptiness of the moors filled me utterly
A quote by James Herriot from "The classic memoirs of a Yorkshire country vet". Having spent some time recently in the moors of the Peak District near my home I can say it's anything but silent at this time of year. It is filled by the calls of the Curlew, the Skylark, the quintessential sound of a British summer, and the Meadow Pipit singing whilst parachuting from the skies in display. Contrast that with the silence of the hovering Kestrel and quartering Short-eared Owls
While I deduce, From the first note the hollow cuckoo sings, The symphony of spring.
The title is a quote from James Thomson, The Seasons, Spring(1728), line 576. Nothing evokes the feeling of spring more than the call of the Cuckoo. And so I set off to East Yorkshire on the quest not only to hear but to see and photograph them ! My alarm was set for 02:45 which is a pretty traumatic time to wake up I'll tell you. One of the downsides of living at a latitude of 53 degrees North, the sunrises at around 04:30 at this time of year. I had a 2.5 hour drive ahe