Credit: Ken Leslie
Woodland Poetry Competition 2023: Winners!
This summer, we asked budding poets to put pen to paper to celebrate Wiltshire’s precious woodlands.
This followed the exciting news earlier this year that Wiltshire Wildlife Trust purchased an ancient woodland in North Wiltshire called Great Wood*, which covers an impressive 175 acres. The transformation of Great Wood into a nature reserve will enable us to protect one of the county’s few remaining large ancient woodlands and give its wildlife a chance to flourish.
In celebration of this big win for nature, we launched our first ever Woodland Poetry Competition, designed to encourage poets across the county to get inspired by the wonderful fauna and flora of Wiltshire’s woodlands.
Winners of the woodland poetry competition
Adult winner: Coralie Noakes
Watching the wildlife
If you take a trip to a woodland today
Perhaps to the fine Blackmoor Copse
Sprinklings of flowers you’ll find on your way
With butterflies there on their tops!
Violets, bluebells and primroses too
Are butterfly magnets for sure
The sweet purple emperor’s beautiful hue
Is striking and hard to ignore!
The great Blackmoor Copse is completely alive
With butterflies flying around
A whole host of species, in fact twenty-five
Right here in this wood can be found!
You might spot some dormice in search of some fruit
Or out for a hazelnut treat
Maybe some muntjac, quite shy but so cute
Are deer you’ll be lucky to meet!
In spring, King Charles pond will have toads and newts breeding
In summer, the dragonflies dart
Perhaps you’ll hear woodpeckers drumming and feeding
Their pecking sound sets them apart!
The wonderful woodcock’s a hard-to-spot bird
But here, in this copse, it’s residing
Perhaps you’ll not see it, unless it is stirred
Its camouflage helps it with hiding!
In Wiltshire, the Wildlife Trust’s proud of this wood
And each of our nature reserves
We care for the wildlife, like everyone should
And give it the care it deserves!
Enjoy all the wildlife and take time to savour
Each wonderful sound, sight and smell
And if you’ve enjoyed it, we ask a big favour
Please tell all your loved ones as well!
Child winner: Sarah Dickens
Seasons Glory
The summers sun a dragon’s eye
So slowly do the days go by
Asking when will the season turn
As my skin begins to burn
Autumn is a season foretold
Where flowers die and leaves turn gold
Like confetti they swirl around
A brown carpet coats the ground
When winter arrives most life will go
Rotting leaves hidden by snow
A cotton blanket coats the earth
Like a swaddle given at birth
The spring dances us out of cold gloom
The trees will blossom and flowers bloom
The weather is pretty and days are warm
(though there may be the occasional storm)
Whichever you prefer, remember this:
If a season should go a miss,
Each season is needed for earth to grow,
Even if you despise it so.
Congratulations to both our winners, and thank you to everyone who entered.
This year's competition was judged by local artist Joanna May and children's author Sue Tweedie.
* The Trust’s purchase of Great Wood was made possible by a very generous grant from Biffa Award, a multi-million pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to community and environmental projects across the UK, as part of the Landfill Communities Fund.