Sunrise warms the winter oaks as the moon drifts down behind them
I am always cheered as we pass the winter solstice and know that the days will lengthen from now on. These trees are visible from my morning chair, over the top of our well and across three gardens. They face east and so always catch the morning sun, changing their faces from a dark silhouette, through spreading limbs of fiery red and gold as the sun rises, to finally become grey lichen decorated trees. They are big, the one you can see here has a brother to the right, just on the edge of the image. They are also protected trees, for which I am very glad, as they are quite close to a 1908's block of flats and run the risk of being unpopular with the residents. They are of course, the home of woodpeckers, green and greater spotted, tree creepers, tail flicking crows and chatty jackdaws at morning and evening and, as night falls, the source of tawny owl calls, male and female, chatting away through the the evening's gloaming.
