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Country diary: miniature worlds magnified to epic landscapes


Three tawny owls were hooting outside the house last evening, three males vying for the prime vole-run territory that is our garden, after nights of rain when they were unable to hunt (their wings not being waterproof). The moon threw still shadows across paths and borders. The temperature in the frosty valley dropped to minus four and I woke to fields the colour of celadon, a wintry pale jade.

Box hedge leaves appear variegated



Box hedge leaves appear variegated. Photograph: Susie White

The plump rounded shapes of trees and hillsides have now been pared back to their underlying form. It’s a time of year to focus in on the small things, the miniature landscapes on stone walls and ferny banks. Swaddled in a down jacket, I take my closeup binoculars into the cold morning. Fallen leaves are edged in finery, each curling shape covered in tiny crystals. A neat button of cushion moss is vibrant green tipped in white. Slivers of ice double the width of stems on thyme and marjoram.

It was the spider expert Fran Garcia who introduced me to these binoculars on a guided walk. From half a metre away we could study the delicate hammocks of money spiders in gorse bushes or look at the red mark under the abdomen of a cucumber green orb spider. Designed to magnify butterflies, the binoculars can be used to zero in on the antennae of a red admiral, to trace the veins of a dragonfly’s wing or to examine flower structure more easily than with a hand lens. But when a buzzard circles high above, they can equally be trained on its backlit barred wings.

A spider’s strand is a shining line of LED lights



A spider’s strand is a shining line of LED lights. Photograph: Susie White

On this crisp morning, a dazzling new view is revealed. A frozen water droplet hangs beneath a twig, glassy as an upside-down snow dome. Encrusted snail shells spiral tightly into ridged centres. The margins of the glossy dark leaves of box hedge sparkle, making them seem variegated.

The binoculars play with scale, turning the small into the epic. A fallen larch needle becomes a javelin. Foliose lichens are a frozen sea of undulating waves, mossy ledges the rocky mountains of Chinese paintings, a spider’s strand a shining line of LED lights. It’s a mini world, perfect for sharing with children, and a new way of seeing.



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