Country diary: Masses of ivy that seem to defy time and space

A south-facing slope covered in ivy: unlike a year, its stock of life doesn’t begin or end; it persists. Photograph: Mark Cocker

The light came late to a cloud-bound High Peak, and dawn didn’t so much break as leak like water beneath a poorly sealed door. By the time there was enough day to take photos, I’d stopped at the year’s first catkins on hazel. There, too, were speck-like red flowers at the tips of the buds, and momentarily I recall the small inward shout at finding the first signs of life in a new year.

Ivy that has covered a riverside hazel in woven braids of stems. Photograph: Mark Cocker