I was walking around the perimeter of the wild meadows that border the heathland near where I live when something caught my attention.  It was a dreary day and heavily overcast.  However, there in the middle of the field of rough uncut grass, now laid flat after the winter, there was one small bush completely flush with white flowers.  A welcome sign of rejuvenation and, I hope, a rapidly approaching spring. 

It is hardly picturesque over the meadows right now just one bush in bloom.

Even from a long way off, it was apparent the bush was a hawthorne.  These are one of the earliest trees into bloom in the spring.  I made my way over to this beacon, stepping through the tangle of old grass and thistle stems catching at my feet.  Close up, the white flowers are are beautifully fragile.  

But close up, things are different.