Beech in May

There is a venerable beech tree beside the path that runs through the woods between Lennel and Coldstream. Whilst other trees are stil almost leafless, and still others are sprinkled with young leaves, this tree’s foliage shines out against the sky.  This bronze of beech leaves makes the sky seem almost mauve. The woods round here are deciduous, so swathes of flowers grow beneath them, unlike the conifer woods near where we used to live, where the ground was barren, and only foxgloves thrived in the occasional open spaces. When I went back to the Liddel Valley all the woods where I used to walk with my son had been cut down, the landscape was unrecognisable.  Lovely, therefore, to see the ancient trees in Berwickshire, and to be able to walk freely through these woods, in Scotland where there is no law of trespass.