Cascob

In the late afternoon we came home over the Radnor Forest hills and turned off to explore Cascob. The name alone fascinated us; what does it mean?  It is a small hamlet strung out along a long valley road, fields of sheep and small farms, a small river; perhaps the Lugg in infancy.   Unusually the old church was locked but the graveyard was guarded by two large sheep; just a few Victorian graves but the sense that the ground had been used for burials for centuries; mossed stones disappearing underground and a gigantic yew tree.  

As I came out of the church porch I looked up to see a vast flock of starlings overhead, maybe 2000 or 3000 birds, silent but for the beating of their wings, a susurration, almost a sigh.  They were heading for the pine woods over the river.  An astonishing sight, so many silent birds, the last of the day.