Wednesday 10 July 2013

Untrodden?

'She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways' is a short poem by Wordsworth. It came to mind unexpectedly when I arrived at this spot. An association of sorts.

The bog asphodel is flowering here this July. Whether or not it would be untrodden if cattle had been on site we don't know. So far, and this is early yet, there are not so many as some previous years and we hope the damage done last year has not caused lasting effects.

Wordsworth is describing an idealised but under-appreciated woman, Lucy, with whom the poet has fallen in love partly because of her modest and retiring nature.

"A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye,
Fair as a star............"



Some of this seems relevant particularly the star. Bog asphodel may well be a lot more spectacular than what Wordsworth imagined.

Should the managers decree that cattle will come on here later, i.e. after the flowering period, of course trampling might do just as much damage to the following year's display as an earlier invasion. But then, as Mark says,we, the public, can have no serious influence now that the HLS has been set in stone.

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