Signal crayfish – invader, cannibal, survivor

Appletreewick, Yorkshire DalesIts body is as dark as the river at its deepest, where the peat-stained water turns as black as molassesThe heatwave hits its stride before breakfast, building to a dog day intensity that will relent only with the last red moments of the sunset. For the long hours between, an endless afternoon, the light ceases to move, training its intensity on the elderflower, oxeye daisies and buttercups of Wharfedale until their colours take on the bleach-brightness that signals