Grips, ditches, rhynes, drains, rivers

From above, a vast web of blue lines defines the Somerset Levels. Once sea, this liminal land was formed from saltmarsh, succeeding to freshwater wetlands and reclaimed through human activity.

To the west, barriers of sand and clay prevent marine incursion to peat rich inlands, which have yielded arable and industrial riches extracted over millennia. Laying at or below sea level, the Levels are fluid. Here, boundaries between earth and water dissolve and life overflows.

The wetlands are in fervor, electric and sticky in May. I crossed water, ancient villages hidden below, and needed so many more words for ""green"". Blinking out from alder carr, I looked across the water; hundreds of swifts turned the air to shimmer.