Another Walk Within the Woods

          I headed to the Marston Centre for a walk around the woods, and as I took to walk anti clockwise around the central reserved area, I came across a couple of possibly volunteers, who were hacking back some of the longer branches surrounding the wide, outer grassy avenues encircling the lakes. They were certainly facing a lengthy task ahead if two was the entire task force!
          During the course of the day’s walk, the most striking aspect was the abundance of berries this year, so it is no surprise that they feature extensively in this gallery of images. Is this a portent of a hard winter to come? Another observation was I felt there was a larger preponderance of black-spotted and other leaf damage. Although I do visit these woods with some frequency, it is some time since I had seen any horse riders, which is probably down to Covid.
          I am always attracted to the constantly evolving stages in the lifecycle of plants through the seasons, and this day was no exception. This season’s Teazels is such an example, so it is hardly surprising my eye and thus my camera has featured their heads, one particular image of three heads really caught my eye as it was as if the three were in competition for intricate curling! I award the central one of the trio for special mention! Later, I spotted a brown, wind-blown leaf had become entangled with a lower leaf in an earlier stage of decay, still with rich red colour. To my surprise I spotted a complete cluster of ripe blackberries, and later a couple of funghi, but the strangest shot from the afternoon was a teazel that had completely lost its central core, yet the outer curls were intact!
          Two very large Mistletoe balls also caught my eye, but sadly they were hid from the sun, so their full splendour was not captured, but the second of two attached to the same tree was the largest I have seen — at least twice the diameter of a soccer ball! I was coming to the end of my trip around the woods, but I spotted one last sight of note, where a branch had formed almost a complete circle to host a cluster of its golden-brown seeds with its encircling branch! I left the woods still bathed in sunshine, and high clouds, and buoyed in spirit and spent the day since preparing these words and images with no regrets for a dull day and overnight rain.

Milton Ernest - Riverbank Garden

          I recently spent a restful afternoon in and beyond, a friend’s garden — taking photos of the plants, flowers and other life that caught my eye. It was impossible to miss the most abundant colour after green and, normally after golden brown, is one of the natural features of the Autumn season — red berries — which were cascading in profusion from the branches of several trees.

          The stone wall dividing the gardens from the grassy walk to the river’s edge was draped in ivy whose trailing tendrils were seeking to find moisture further afield than dry stone. My eye was caught by a lone bee patiently ignoring my close proximity, that was single-mindedly intent on searching for nectar from the wild roses within the hedge; spending some time attempting to prise apart, the protective petals to reach its precious cargo.

          Is there some significance in this year’s large number of red berries? Are we destined for a cold, long Winter? Or is this feature a result of simply the preceding seasons’ affect on the soil constituents?

Answers on a postcard… Meantime I will revel in the opportunity given me, to capture fine detail of the lone, patient bee as it spent time on wild rose blooms.