Devastation

Raven flies overhead

It’s raucous squawk

Breaks the evening’s peace.

Next the skylark takes flight

It’s burbling song

Unusual for this hour.

The hare, stoat, rabbit and weasel

All scamper from their berths

Sense of panic invades the evening.

The plaintive call of the curlew

Is joined by the warning

“Go back, go back” of the red grouse

A short-eared owl

Quarters the moorland with its flight

Warning slower residents to move.

Merlin, peregrine, and kestrel

All join in...Spreading the warning

“We all have to move!”

“Why the alarm?”

slower residents ask.

“It’s happening again” is the reply.

“Leave,

Quickly,

Fast as you can.”

Now the crackle of bracken,

Tinder dry,

Can be heard.

The ground begins to warm,

At odds with the season

As the foe takes hold.

Its advance is bold.

As twilight comes round,

The sky takes on an orange hue

Because of the barbecue

They wouldn’t take home

Thousands of creatures are homeless.