Why three fields and where does the Dog fit in? The Dog, Daisy by name, is a border collie. Over ten years old now she is still full of energy and enjoys a walk with the author across his three fields to the stream at the bottom.

The three fields came with the house near Tubbercurry and cover about four acres on which the author and his wife have two polytunnels, a fruit cage, chicken pen and a wildlife garden and pond. The rest of the land is managed along the lines of a small nature reserve on which they have planted numerous trees. Grass and Wildflowers thrive, butterflies flit across them, birds fly over or land in the trees and hedges, Swallows nest in the garage, Bats chase insects in the night

sky, Frogs croak in the pond and ditches and ferns grow in the shady places by the chattering waters of the stream.

On paper they own this land but consider themselves simply as custodians of what was here long before and will be there long after they have gone. For the time being they share it with all those plants and animals that also like to call it home.

It is walking across those three fields with the dog that provides the inspiration for the poems, reflections and observations of the Natural World that you’ll find in this book. Not all of what you will read is about the land directly but it is whilst on the land that inspiration arrives and ideas and poems have formed in the author’s mind.