Advent Calendar

Photo by Jo Sinclair

As the countdown to the darkest day of the year begins I'm itching for a fix on my daily walks. On the blandest of grey days I have to keep the faith there's something out there. Camera in hand, I'm like a kid lifting the flaps on an Advent calendar and taking a peek. In the damp and crumpled landscape I see white feathered fairies standing in the gloom: little egrets. A red fox runs. Deer tracks pricking their way along a tilled field lead me to a fungus that appears folded over into the same shape as the slots imprinted by the animal's cloven feet.

Bird flocks flurry through the hedges. Fieldfares grab berries. A greenfinch, budgie-bright, takes a swipe at next year's buds. On a grubby day at the end of November these treats are all I need.