funded by Elmgrant Trust
ENTRANCE PROHIBITED by Ali Roscoe
Lunchdrowned, sunstroked
Head against the gate obscures the
ENTRANCE PROHIBITED
No place then
for this rumpled green embroidered hem
whose pleats unfurl and shake out
a wild glossary:
archangel
cranesbill
speedwell
buttercup
stitchwort
ransomes
herb robert
nettle
Star filled orbs reek a warning
Their sheathed torpedoes
await release to trespass
Wayward goosegrass cleaves the fence
yearning for rightful access
to join the collective swathe
Creeping buttercup edges closer
to hopeful beginnings
And warmed granite has no chance,
captive by deceitful ivy
The take-over will be short lived
When the Winchat’s Song is Silence by Jen Pigott
Let me take you down, to where
the Green Ribbed Sage once grew
and Honey Mushrooms damp from rain
circled the ancient Oak
I’ll show you where once we swam
a river and rested on the Lanky Moss
no more entwined with Deer Ferns
Hart’s Tongue Bull Thistle
And tell the sorry tale that this
Was ours to treasure the magic of
a Copper Sun Jumper
Spinning his silver thread
A gentle sun, a Harvest moon
DANDELION by Amanda Chadwick
Dandelion, tooth of lion
Despised vagrant of proudly mown lawns
Prolific unquenchable flower
Beloved of bees.
Persistent outcast, invader of spring
Irreverent squatter of verge and hedge
Consistently destroyed or trampled,
Never giving up.
Yellow flower shining defiance
among daisies and neat blades of grass
Your random presence classifies you –
‘Weed’.
Live on, rebel, live on.
Bite your critics.
Sea Strand by Cathy Hughes
A lunchtime stroll along the sea strand
Straggly heaps of seaweed
Carried in on the spring high tide.
Knotted wrack and bladderwrack
Saddle brown in hue
Still squishy and slimy to the touch.
Upon cautious prodding and poking,
Unwelcome stowaways
Found to be nestling in amongst the weed fronds.
A plethora of empty plastic bottles,
All different sizes,
Faded labels,
Half washed away by the surf
Today’s haul
Freshly landed.
A dozen yards further along the shore
Ochre coloured Spiralwrack,
With goo filled bladders,
Snakes its way
Through the rock pools.
Sea anemones cling to rocks,
Gleaming gems lit up by the midday sun
Tiny fish dart across the surface water
In the flash of an eye
They are gone
Crabs scuttle into hidden crevices.
Blackheaded gulls wheel in the azure sky
Squealing and squawking
Surfing the up-draught
Waves swish in rapid succession
Onto the shingle bank
Dislodging smaller stones
Which shimmy their way
Engulfed in lacy froth and foam
Back into the swirling water
The tide has turned
This precious world is now hidden
With just a few hours grace before
Strand life is revealed once more
Making Butterflies by Gillian Langton
We have a lack of spidery things
and bees and wasps and moths and flies
The swallows will not come again,
our insect life is so depleted
Where are the pollinators of tomorrow?
What happens when the food runs out?
There is no time, good bye
No food for birds,
or voles or frogs or us
What will become of us?
There is no time to waste,
to waste, good bye
It takes many caterpillars
to make one butterfly
Birthing by Giles Porter
Softly spills the blood of ages
as sap drips and steals a treacle path to ground.
Save us ’til the end and watch us burn then
to lament the Ruddy Turn Stone, Hart’s Tongue Fern
Labouring loudly in silence
whilst tearing down the flags of Nations
to sew anew with thread and cord
of destruction and rebirth
Tell us we were wrong and guide us right
Tie the foetal cord and hold the placental sack
as She beats still though birthed from wombs
that can no-longer cherish life
We are undone and stillborn
The River Dart by Penny Elghady
Flowing from Dartmoor’s high moors
Over ancient mossy stones
Meandering down to the sea
Through meadows of dandelions, buttercups
Woodlands of birch, alder, ash, majestic old oaks.
Home of kingfishers, herons, cormorants, seals
Tawny owls, ducks, dragonflies, trout and eels
Foxes, badgers, otters
Water rats and water voles
So much secret life.
Hard to believe it is so
Polluted
That the wildlife may die
Our river, our home.
Found poems from Devon Wildlife Trust’s Wild Devon magazines, kindly donated by them:
WILLOW WARBLER by Ali Roscoe
WANTED!
SIGHTINGS NEEDED OF
A 4,000 miles long haul traveller
Weight same as a single AAA battery
Likes to skulk, keeping out of sight
Sings a beautiful liquid medley of notes
Nests close to the ground in dense woodland
Edges of woodland and heathlands
Dartmoor a stronghold
Sliver-washed fritillary by Rosie Watson
Gorge on the nectar of July
Pursue the courtship flights
Glamorous butterfly,
Oh, glamorous butterfly.
Woodland encounters
You, a wild summer highlight
Glamorous butterfly,
Oh, glamorous butterfly.
Warleigh Point, Belvidere Meadow
Haldon and Marsland reserve a view
Glamour butterfly
Oh glamourous butterfly
Thanks to your support
Devon Fritillary recovery project
Glamourous butterfly
Oh glamourous butterfly
In spring, more caterpillars will emerge
Golfers sharing fairways with oystercatchers and geese1 by Sue Aspinall
Sand spit breakwater
between sea and Exe estuary
low tide mudflats
godwits, brent geese, plovers,
dunlin, grebes,
mergansers, wigeons and teal
on migration
stop over, rest, refuel.
Water hazard – a wetland of amphibians,
a rough – grassland with wildflowers.
Tiny sand crocus found
in short grass around greens.
The sand lizard, rare ruddy darter dragonflies,
day-flying Jersey tiger moths,
solitary wasps.
England has 1,735 golf clubs
Get the management right.
1100 + golf courses in England are now designated Sites of Scientific Interest
Threatened Species: The Willow Warbler by Moira Knowles
Scarce and remarkable long-distance traveller
No bigger than a blue tit
Staking a territory in the thick cover
Of a young dense woodland edge
Gorse and bramble, heathlands and parks
Trying to attract a mate
With a beautiful liquid melody
Notes that descend the scale
They build their nests close to the ground
Feeding on the abundant butterflies and moths
Found in wildflower rich fields
Recovered and brought back to life
Shark by Giles Porter
She found the body of a Female Thresher Shark
The local RNLI boat crew in the hours before suggest
that the Shark had become tangled in a ‘ghost’
(discarded ) fishing net
Maddening in this time
that we still don’t know
that our rubbish kills
But still… a Spiny Lobster has been found
for the first time in living memory at Wembury Bay.
It is thought that the Lobster has made a comeback
thanks to local conservation measures
which have reduced fishing pressures
To the Orchard by Jen Pigott
Widdershins round the village with me
past brush-strokes of lime and primrose yellow
Where indigo bells peep through and sing
I’m alive!
I’m alive!
Into the old orchard now
Where hope-givers break into blossom
and Blackbirds Starlings Buntings cry
I’m alive!
I’m alive!
While at the edge the bullish diggers dig
red-soiled graves where once badgers
made their setts and Robin Red-Breast
Now roams destitute homeless
Unheard the ghostly globe of Dandelion
sways softly whispering to the wind
One o’clock… two o’clock… three o’clock…four
The end of time grows near!
The end of time grows near!
Pine Martens Return by Penny Elghady
Celebration
Nature recovery
A century’s absence
Human persecution
Pine martens
Pioneering reintroduction
Native species released
Secret woodland location
Pine marten kits
Born in the wild
Woodland home
Testament
Dedicated volunteers
Celebration
.