THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

Where do fairies dwell?  Here yet, surely – if anywhere.  Tees sparkles like a jewel, now a diamond, now a sapphire, now a topaz, as a fish leaps, leaving a dimpling ripple that rings an octave of colour changes before it declines into a shimmering reflection of the green-leaf canopy above.  Swallows and martins, scythe-winged, purple-backed, white-breasted, curvet and sweep over the water, skimming the surface, occasionally kissing it, while among the fringing moss draped dripping rocks and boulders, wagtails flirt perkily, and water ousels display their white vests as they dip in the rock pools of some stony stretch.

Bogg/Richardmondshire, 1908