THE shortening of the daylight hours has a few advantages.

For one thing it makes it much more convenient to explore the natural world at dusk and dawn.

This is my favourite time out on nature reserves as the variety of different lighting conditions frequently transform the natural landscapes into some quite spectacular scenes.

It is also the time of day you are most likely to have a close encounter of the wildlife kind.

Recently, about 40 minutes before sunset I was out on Burlish Top in Kidderminster.

My job was to assess the extent of the success of the heath creation works carried out last winter.

To this end there was some good and bad news.

On the good side, the amount of heather growing on the site has dramatically increased and the exceptionally rare grey hair grass is thriving.

On the downside, the wet weather has given many of the weed species such as scrub birch and immature European gorse the conditions it needs to really thrive.

In some areas this has started to shade out some of the regenerating heather making a low cut this winter essential.

Hence, it was with mixed feelings that I walked back across the reserve. Suddenly, the change in the light as the sun lowered a fraction in the sky transformed Burlish and highlighted a section of its wildlife that I just simply hadn't seen that day until this point.

As the sun set it turned to a much more orange colour, which transformed the colours of the purple heath landscape creating a rather pleasant scene.

However, as the sun set further and slid behind the trees that lie along Burlish's western slopes it cast the majority of the reserve and me into shadow.

The golden landscape was gone, but as surely as any theatre spotlight the orange sun picked up the insect feeding birds that circled above my head.

There were swifts, swallows and house martins twisting and turning, hunting down the masses of flying insects a reserve like Burlish supports.

The fiery sunlight was catching on the white plumage of the house martins and swallows making them look more like the fiery phoenix of legend than Burlish's regular bird life.

The spectacle was magnificent although relatively short-lived, as within a few minutes the sun had set that little further and the birds returned to their normal colours.

Whether you work in or are just a regular visitor to the countryside, I always think that no matter how long you spend in its company, it can always find ways to surprises and amaze you.