Listen to the track:
In the Wings of the Year
We are blessed with many species of butterflies in Wembury. This song trys to capture the ones we see at different times of the year.
Verse 1
Orange Tips flicker through April green lanes
Dancing by cuckoo-flower after the rains
Brimstones blaze early where blackthorn will bud
Spring brings its heralds through hedges and mud
Chorus
Follow the wings as the seasons turn round
Each with a whisper, each with a sound
Tortoise-shell rising from winter’s retreat
Tracing the year with a flicker and beat
Verse 2
Painted Ladies on warm breezes blow
Meadow Browns nod where the summer winds go
Ringlets in brambles, Marbled Whites glide
June turns to July by the old clifftop side
Chorus
Follow the wings as the seasons turn round
Each with a whisper, each with a sound
Gatekeepers watching as high summer nears
Butterflies tracing the arc of the year
Bridge
And just as the brambles begin to grow dry
The Comma returns where the ivy climbs high
Tattered-winged artist in copper and flame
Etching the end of the year with her name
Verse 3
Speckled Woods shimmer in long evening light
Peacocks now bask with their eyespots so bright
Clouded Yellows drift in from the sea
Late summer’s breath in a warm golden spree
Final Chorus
Follow the wings as the seasons turn round
Each with a whisper, each with a sound
Wembury remembers, the hedgerows hold dear
The butterflies painting the path of the year