Country diary: Willing the wishing to stop | Cal Flyn

The Hermitage, Perthshire: One fallen tree I find is more metal than wood, with so many 'make a wish' coins pushed in - a tradition that is likely to be harmful to wildlifeIt's a wet, cool day in the woods. Snow shrouds the high ground, but down here among the pine and the larch and the beech, the leaf litter is soaked through like a dropped towel. Here and there, the bodies of fallen trees lie sinking into the mud, the remains of last year's autumn drifting at their sides, dwindling away into dust.I know this path well, but for the first time I notice there are several small signposts in front of the largest of the fallen. Memorials, I assume - but no. They are warnings. Continue reading...