Hey everyone this is Dara for Day 24 of 30 Days Wild! Yesterday we went to a special Nature Reserve, a limestone pavement landscape with a Hazel thicket and  the majestic   Cuilcagh Mountain in the distance. We had a magical and wonderful time there, I wrote a piece of descriptive writing to chronicle how I felt. 

Traipsing along the weathered and ancient limestone, carefully moving from rock to rock; we ducked and dived under a seemingly dull and innocuous copse of Hazel. Our legs are scratched and stinging from thistle, but it will not stop us. We are adventurers, we seek to find and find we did! 

We entered a secret place, a hush was in the air and the sunlight dappled on the wooded floor. Under the dense umbrella, the. rays gently penetrated to reveal a verdant spectacle of a thousand shades. Moss, everywhere; ‘Foggits’, such beauty in an old scots word. Playful and refreshing, tripping off the tongue with the same joy as feeling and smelling the mossy muskiness. 

I took a moment to inhale and enjoy the richly scented air. The veiled canopy brought a stillness, a feeling of peace and tranquillity. The grove is lit to reveal hundreds of sparkling, moving flecks. Mesmerising to watch as they float and spin. They don’t annoy like the other sort. They are dazzling to watch and hypnotic. 

As we continue to fumble around, hands on branches, we stop. A hole. A very clean and dignified hole to a home. Activity around it suggests a badger sett! I want to stay all day, I want to see them. It looked like a mustelid playground. I want to be with them as they frolick and lark but, alas. The stomach and the human clock told me otherwise.  We stay a short while longer, turning the soil, the rocks, the leaves. Always searching always the desire to discover. 

I have claimed this place, it is my own now and one day soon, I’m going to stay there all day. Maybe until nightfall. 
Thank you so much to my learned friend, Robert McFarlane for the magical ‘Fogitt’, a word so perfect! Also, who’s book ‘The Wild Places’ is bringing me on a journey of complexity and welcoming twisting of my view of the world. 

Thank you so much for reading. 

Dara