Wood Avens
Dear Readers, on Sunday a group of us went for a walk in Coldfall Wood, led by local photographer Mike Segal. The aim of the walk was really to get us all to look more closely at the trees, plants and animals that surround us, and to think about how to look at things from a different angle. Well, it certainly worked for me, and what a treat it was to wander in the wood without any preconceptions. I love this time of year, when everything has just greened up and the trees are full of song thrushes and nuthatches.
Anyhow, here are a few of my shots.
I love the way this elderflower is half bud and half bloom.
Bumblebee on green alkanet!
The scribbly traces of leaf miners on this sow thistle.
I really liked the delicate tracery of this elder…
And how about these hornbeam leaves from below?
Some areas in the wood have been fenced off to allow them to regenerate, and I love the way that the biodiversity is coming back.
And I have never seen the yellow flag looking so good as this year.
And finally, the crows are about, as usual. They are the real royalty of the wood, shiny-feathered and boisterous.
Although this squirrel might argue that they’re actually in charge.
You know, I haven’t seen the woods looking this good for a long, long time – after the pandemic they seemed to be beaten up so badly that I wondered if they’d ever recover. But now they are, and it’s so heartening. Let’s hope that it continues.
These are great photographs!
I’m lucky to live close to two woods. One of them still hasn’t recovered from a storm in November which brought down eight mature trees, after which a digger drove through the woods and knocked down many younger trees and flattened all the plants in its path. But the other woods are looking magnificent. The bluebells and three-cornered leeks – or triquetrous lilies, as my mum always called them – have put on a wonderful show over the last few weeks, and are now giving way to masses of cow parsley. By coincidence, I too have taken photos of wood avens and elderflower over the last few days, along with hawthorn, red campion and skullcap.
What on earth was a digger doing in the woods? We have the occasional chap with a wheelbarrow intent on creating a ramp for kids with mountain bikes, but a digger sounds a bit ambitious….
The woods are managed by the council – I don’t know who owns them – and with the council’s greatly reduced environmental and countryside budget, I assume they decided that a digger was the quickest way of removing the fallen trees and making the woods safe. But I was shocked when I went there a few days after the storm to discover that what had been a footpath surrounded by trees had become a wide expanse of bare earth, with the digger parked at the side.
It’s always good to look for that ‘different’ shot. If the wood looked in a poor condition during the pandemic, doesn’t that just show how much effect we humans can have on nature (and in such a short time)! 🤔