Country diary: a glowing orange band shimmers above the South Downs

Pulborough Brooks, West Sussex: I can just make out the small brown bird of prey in pursuit of a flock of starlings. The merlin dashes low in one direction and then anotherThe afternoon sun breaks through the cloud, and lights up the green and yellow leaves of the birch saplings on the heathland. The sound of circular saws echoes from the woods. Conservation work is under way on the reserve to clear some of the older trees, to allow younger ones to mature and to improve the heath and woodland ha