72 micro-seasons 71

Janey...

Lichen takes pity -

blackthorn branches clothed in green...

summer finery

Helen...

A wolf wind howling,

Steam writhing like a dervish 

From next-door’s boiler.

Beverley...

At the edges of the storm, the cloud cover is stripped away and acres of sunlight floods over the fields.

Jane...

Queen of winds blows in,

Makes trees dance and air whistle.

We are in our place.

Kit...

hailstones whip the skin 

leaves spin, send dogs' tails spinning

ears flip inside out

72 micro-seasons...70

Janey...

Weigela trembles,

nonchalently a goldfinch-

a startle of colour

Helen...

Thin grey dawn breaking,

Stillness in the leaves and stones,

This new day opens.

Kit...

Mist muffles the tops

of the fells - creeps stealthily 

down into their folds

Beverley...

A wash of bird trills spreads through the bare trees and over the field space. Starlings have gathered.

Jane...

A white owl soaring

Drops low over rough grasses,

Hides when it sees me.

72 micro-seasons 69

Janey...

From my attic -

Somewhere behind the grey - slate, sea, sky - the full wolf-moon is setting

Jane...

Snow melt churns dark peat.

Cascading torrents of brown 

swirl and thunder down.

Kit...

A Pomegranate 

sunset spills into the west,

owls alleluia

72 micro-seasons 68

Janey...

Frozen rivulets - 

the sound of running water

silenced this cold dawn

Kit...

Dusk, and I'm out watching the huge ping-pong moon pull up the first of the evening stars as she rises into the chill dark blue

Beverley...

Hoar frost as far as the flat fields stretch. Windless space.

Angie...

World is sprinkled white

Frozen in animation

Sun melts bitter heart

Helen...

Sky seems full of ice

Sun slants, and look! A barn owl

Perched unsteadily.

72 micro-seasons 67

Janey

Icy north wind, white

snow on the distant mountains My gaze turns seaward

Helen...

Three fat birds scrabbling

for scraps on snowy cobbles.

Hunger drives them down.

Kit...

Birdfoot tracks - twig moulds - in the frost-whiskered snow, this bright morning

Beverley...

The crunch of boots and paws over frosty grass and leaf fall.

72 micro-seasons 66

Janey...

Early quince blossom in my neighbour's hedge, already the promise of my autumnal jellies

Kit...

The Eden is a murky torrent for our first swim of the new year. We hug the bank as woody debris hurtles past in the fast lane ...

Jane...

Thick cold droplets fall on birches above the river.

Helen...

Streaky sunlight gives way to sleet - wind lifts brown river water and makes back-to-front waves.

Beverley...

The sky in an accelerated rush to outrun the whiplashing rain.