Spring's sprung

 

Water bubbling up through one of the forestry tracks; it was so wet out in the forest this morning that as rain fell from above springs sprung from below.

Knowlton

Knowlton Church through it's arches.

Badbury Rings

Locally we're blessed with numerous Iron Age hillforts, many of them notable examples of their type. Badbury Rings is one of them, an exceptional site in fact. The site has been the focus of human activity for over 4000 years; beyond the Iron Age hillfort itself you've a scatter of Bronze Age barrows, a confluence of Roman roads, a Romano-British temple, a nearby Roman-British town, a post Roman stronghold, a suggested site of the fabled battle of Mount Badon, the meeting place of The Clubmen in 1645 during the Civil War and the site of a large transmitter mast in World War Two; today though it's a quiet romantic spot, a jewel in the rolling Dorset landscape, and a haven for wild flora and fauna. Well worth a visit.

Someone is always watching

 

Forestry England are undertaking a wildlife survey, I've spotted a few trail cams through Highland Water Enclosure. The ones I've come across are sited adjacent to waterways, positioned with views of prominent crossing places; fallen trees and alike.  I'd love to see the images they capture. I think we'd be surprised at the creatures we share the forest with; I'd love to see a range of species re-established and their communities flourish. 

First rose

 

The Primrose (Primula vulgaris), don't you just love them, they have the power to always lift the spirit.

Camel Green

One of the seasonal watercourses that appear periodically through Camel Green. We'd not walked this way in a while (not since the New Forest National Parks Authority blocked off the popular lay-by which allowed easy access to this roam) and I was taken by the startling number of large trees slighted since we were last here.

Late to the game

 

Just as the buds begin to fatten, and the canopy prepares to come into leaf, a touch late the forest finely looks comfortable with being wet. It's been another in a growing parade of weird weather winters; no rhyme or reason to the weather, instead a constant whack a mole of unrelated weather types.

Gad Cliff

Gad Cliff from Worbarrow Tout. The coastline below Gad Cliff is permenantly off limits, never accessible to the public, and even if it was I don't imagine anyone beyond the most determined walkers would entertain it; it's a challenging landscape of slips, scree, sucking mud and irregular boulders, with only animal tracks available to you as passage. A properly wild stretch of the Jurassic coast.   

Tyneham Valley

Through a cutting in the outer rampart and ditch defensives of Flowers Barrow (an ancient Iron Age hillfort) you get your first glimpse of the magical Tyneham Valley beyond; a spectacular view of a landscape frozen in time. I love views like this. The severity of your descent just beyond the rampart can be challenging, although nowhere as challenging as the ascent is.

Purbeck

My first outing to the Jurassic Coast this year, and what a lovely day it was too; made even more pleasing being accompanied by two very good friends who I'd not walked with for 3 and 9 years respectively. Back in the day Purbeck was our crews' regular Sunday playground; the adventures we had, the laughs, the situations we found ourselves in... someone/something must have been watching over us. One of the beautiful things about meeting up with really good old friends, beyond just being with them, is it's as if no time as passed at all, and an exquisite comfortableness rules; a priceless respite from our jarring, fragmented and f*cked up world. 

Red Rise

 

The forest has welcomed the rain.

Cash crop

Reminders that the forest which I love so much exists only at the whim and hand of man; created by, managed and manicured by man, and that it remains a going concern are common.  This block in Dames Slough enclosure which was clear cut harvested a few years back is being replanted; I don't know yet whether it'll be a deciduous or coniferous block, but it's being quite tightly planted, only a fraction of the plot has been staked and already there are hundreds of stakes; when we passed the was just one guy working on the project too.

Dem bones

 

It's not common to find bones naturally occurring amongst the branches of trees; without a doubt the hand of man has been at play. Why though? You'll regularly see bones and skulls purposely placed in trees around the forest, and in woods more generally. What's the meaning, is there 'a' meaning? I think it's playing out subconscious ancestral memory, though the reason for the behaviour is long lost, the echo of an older practice and a want to perform rite remains. Or of course it could merely be the result of a fleeting whim. Still, makes you think.

Antz

 

It doesn't take much Sun to wake the wood ants (Formica rufa), and the inhabitants of every ant hill we passed this morning were all wide awake.

Anderwood

 

Anderwood

 

Itchy

The pony purposefully first bent over and then straddled the sapling conifer in pursuit of relief; moving in ways familiar to everyone who's suffered an itch, there were points where she clearly hit the spot, the expression was unmistakable. This went on for several minutes until with itch satisfied she rejoined her waiting companions and disappeared into the stands; as for the tree, it was still regaining it's composure when we left it. I bet the tree wasn't expecting that.

Rainbow moon

 

The feint rainbow effect around the near full moon this evening gave the moon an appearance similar to the Helix Nebula. Well I thought so anyway. 

Latchmore Brook

Like the other forest streams Latchmore Brook is showing a lot more gravelly bottom than you'd expect for the time of year; it's not so much the exposed gravel itself, the flow of the forest's waterways fluctuate with the weather, it's rather the scale and duration of the exposures;  a reflection of the continuing dry weather.  That aside, the stands through which the brook travels are, in my opinion, some the best woodland walking of the forest; replete with dells and groves all connected by myriad winding paths, it's woodland to lose yourself in.