Sunset hedgerow

I went out just after four and walked rather slowly up the hill - it's steep, the snowdrops were backlit by low sun so I stopped to photograph them again, then met some neighbours and chatted. By the time I walked across the flat meadows at the top, the sun was sinking behind the woods, forming brilliant starbursts between the trees. Midway across, there is a tall, wobbly stile. As I turned and steadied myself to descend from it, the hedgerow, mainly brambles between a few gnarled elder trees, was backlit by warm, golden light, forming haloes around last year's clumps of dry blackberries. As I continued the old oaks glowed chestnut brown; I soaked up the last of the light as below me soft sun gently faded to shade across the valley. Back in the village, jackdaws roosted in the sharply silhouetted trees grouped around the church spire and another friend stopped to chat. It was a walk and an evening to lift the spirits after a rather despondent day, and so good still to be out in daylight after five o'clock.