Lilley Bottom Lane – Afternoon

Lilley Bottom Lane runs between two ridges with scattered woodland and fields, some with Sheep and Cattle; above Red Kite and Buzzards are often to be seen. It was here I headed on Sunday in the hope that I would be lucky, but having parked up, none were to be seen. Rather than walk up the hill in the field amongst sheep, I chose to walk into the nearer woods on the same side as my car. I was passed by the occasional runner and strollers, as along the road were numerous Lycra-clad cyclists pedalling furiously to raise their temperatures to avoid the effects of the chill wind.

For the first hour since my arrival, I remained in the open in anticipation with my newly-acquired carbon fibre tripod fully assembled and waiting, but little of import occurred, so simply looked around for other images before heading into the woods where I found how life and death of plants were intertwined; it was obvious this hillside wood was a magnet for rain, as witnessed by the moss covering many fallen, twisted tree branches. It was equally obvious that many of the felled trees had subsequently given birth to more young trees, this wood was indeed old, yet very much alive, I also saw evidence of young shoots of bluebell leaves, so it will be interesting to revisit for that display soon. It was a shame that for most of the next hours there was no sign of sun, but as I returned downhill, the sun did arrive.

I hoped this might also herald the arrival of some birds of prey, especially as rabbits came out to play, so I found myself taking shots of metallic birds as they took off from Luton Airport, and I had never been here when the wind favoured them heading this way; normally I saw them with undercarriage extended for landing, so it did make them look more elegant, and I tried to ensure they were against a mixture of blue sky and clouds.

And then a single pair of red kite visited me briefly and then a walker stopped by to chat. From the conversation that ensued it seemed we may have met before at Tring reservoirs. It was a very welcome diversion and since no more birds came my way we eventually walked down the hill together before parting. It turned out that we had indeed met before because the man, David Rudeforth returned home to find my business card from that earlier occasion and he duly emailed me to let me know!