Country diary: darkness gets to be itself here

Palnackie, Dumfries and Galloway: During an evening walk I notice the stars shining unhindered and realise I have never experienced such stillnessApril full moon in lockdown: a supermoon, the nearest of this spring. Having saved my daily walk for a nocturnal escapade, I slip out, torchless, to meet it. I do not know when I have experienced such stillness. There is not a wisp of a breeze, nor a cloud in the sky; not a voice, nor a dog’s bark.Leaving the village’s scattering of electri