Gorse flowers in the morning sun

 

Somewhere in the forest there's always gorse in flower.

14 pebbles no more

 

For over a year and a half a circle of pebbles ebbed and flowed on a great hollow fallen trunk in Burley Old. Maker unknown, it was tended to by many, including me. This morning all the pebbles were gone. Not a trace, man. Even the spare pebbles I'd collected in a hollow amongst the buttress were gone. Very deliberate. People, eh.

Pre sunrise

 

A mauve and gold pre-dawn sky over Wilverley Plain.

Holmhill passage

 

Holmhill passage had all the qualities of a 1960's horror movie.

Wilverely Plain sunrise

 

Our walk at sunrise this morning was magical.

Open gate

 

Of late, eight out of ten gates we pass through on our forest walks have been left open. Whether genuine or contrived the civility we'd cultivated and took pride in as a nation is on the wane, increasingly we're a ill-mannered and boorish people. I know it's only a little thing, a gate left open, but all the little things, man, they add up. People, eh. 

Black water

 

Black Water

Stag

The Deer are quiet out in the forest, seen mostly in pairs, you do see the occasional small group. They're definitely laying low. The ones you spot are wary, alert and suspicious, watching from a distance and ready to bolt at a moments notice. Damn straight too, Geoff and I are clearly apex predators. I don't know if the forests' deer had a particularly rough rutting season, but we've seen quite a few deer carcasses about this winter. More than we'd usually expect to see.

Rockford Common

 

I liked the subtle early morning light on these mature Silver Birches on Rockford Common.

Whitefield Plantation

Across the mist filled valley, through which Dockens Water wends, the coniferous clump of Whitefield Plantation stands proud up on Ibsley Common. Planted as an ornamental landscape feature by some toff in 19th century, Whitefield Plantation is a small 20m by 160m banked enclosure comprising mainly of Scots Pine and Maritime Pine, along with some re-naturalizing Silver Birch. Small as it is, it's still by far the largest clump of trees on Ibsley Common.

Another red sky

 

Over the years whenever I'd risen early to greet a sunrise marking a spoke on the wheel, I'd always say 'I must catch more sunrises', though of course I never did. I do now, and we've enjoyed a fair few gloriously hued sunrises as a consequence.

Janurary full moon

 

The first full moon of the year, the 'stay at home' moon.

 

Camel Green

Winter holds the forest tightly.

A little nibble

No, not the White tree of Gondor slighted by Orcs, but a fallen holly tree with every accessible centimetre of succulent bark systematically and deftly nibbled off by hungry ponies. The seemingly ever increasing number of hungry ponies in the forest will seek out any opportunity for a meal during the thin months of winter. Feasting on an already downed and doomed tree is one thing, though when taken to extremes as I've seen in previous years, it's a behaviour that can quickly take out a veteran tree.