A sight you'll see annually in the forest, and one that's probably as old as Yule celebrations themselves; folk collecting holly. The holly will be crafted in to wreaths which will be subsequently taken to markets and sold. The guys told me it was the last day of collection and that it had been a very good year; I suppose it depends on where you look, yeah, in some areas I've seen trees covered in bight red berries, whilst in others I've struggled to find more than a couple of berries...I walked all through Red Rise the other day and saw 4 berries, total. Some folklore suggests that an abundance of berries foretells of a harsh winter, a sign that the Goddess is ensuring food for the woodland/hedgerow birds; in which case, I don't know what to make of the patchy nature of berries this year...maybe a sign that our climate f*ckery has left mother nature uncertain of how to proceed.
