The Sentinel

 The Sentinel has been watching over the people of our town for months now, perhaps as long as a year. 

I think it has no human operator. It works of its own accord, pulling up blocks of building material not particularly high into the air to make a new residential development on the old Marks and Spencer's site; an overpowered machine taller than the church steeple working on a four storey complex. 

Ergo, its purpose is not just there to build. It is there to survey all. 

I have no idea whether its presence is benificent, or malevolent. All I know is by day or night in all weathers, it pierces the sky above our town, casting a red glow over the surrounding shops, visible from miles away. 

What will happen to us when it leaves? Or perhaps, before its work is done. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 27.12.25 

Flaming Skies

 The combination of rain falling, with dark clouds clearing the horizon at sunset, led to spectacular skies this evening. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.11.25 

The Great Tree

 There is a tree that I have long believed to be the largest tree in town, and I haven't come across anything to make me doubt this. Indeed, many other people agree. 

It lies within The Friary Gardens, where once upon a time Henry VII gave the monks money to set up a small abbey, only for Henry VIII to imprison the monks and flatten it in 1539. 

Some may recognise it as the place where I photograph the aconite every January, up on a bank that was later constructed as a civil war era rampart. 

No-one knows how old the tree is, although they don't believe it was around at the time of the abbey. So maybe it is 200-300 years old. For many years many people, including myself, thought it was a london plane tree. 

It is not. It is an oriental plane tree, apparently the leaves and the seeds are the giveaway. 

It must have seen countless families take picnics under its boughs, and thousands of dogs walk around the grounds. Every day children scoot, skate and cycle by its giant, tumerous trunk. 

It is The Great Tree of the town, and long may it remain so. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 12.11.25