Surveyor

 

Queen of all she surveys. One of Eponas' own takes stock of her roam.

Berry Wood quarry

The forest's underlying geology is sand, gravel and clays, all useful resources and as a consequence the landscape is pitted with redundant quarries from a variety of historic periods and of all sizes. Many of these hollows will seasonally fill with water creating reflective pools that'll endure into early summer the following year.

Berry Wood

 

We were 4 miles out by the time we reached Berry Wood this morning, the early rays of the sun were just beginning to stream through the stands, and the forest was stunning. Sunday walks are our early doors walks, we're literally out walking at the crack of dawn, which means we have the forest to ourselves, particularly through the summer months; there's not many folk out and about that early, we've just the forest's wildlife for company. Suits us just fine.

Early fall

You'd be forgiven for thinking you were walking through the early autumn forest out there now. The bracken is draining it's colour, turning yellow to orange brown in hue; and the trees appear to have thrown in the towel early too, their leaves also adopting autumnal tints and even beginning to fall; it's mainly the Silver Birch though not exclusively by a long way. It's not right, nor does it feel so. It's quite chilling to consider how climate change could change our green and pleasant land, change it's very essence, it's flora and fauna, and of course it's seasons. You could argue that the changes we're witnessing this year have been the consequence of a dramatic heatwave, a once in a however many years event; you 'could' argue. Although the message that this is just the beginning of a climate crisis and that irreversible change is under way is quite compelling. I've noticed for a long time now that the seasons are changing, and have thought we'll end up with longer transition seasons of spring and autumn, whilst summer and winter contract becoming far shorter. Or of course that could just be wishful thinking on my part as I favour spring and autumn, so it's more comforting to imagine that rather than the season-less total climate breakdown that possibly awaits us. Nice out though. 

 

1838

In Berry Wood two pieces of historical graffiti on an ancient beech tree; 1838 (I'm really not sure what characters are carved before it), with the Admiralty mark of an arrow to one side. I wonder what the forest of 1838 was like; 1838 sits square in the middle of the forest's enclosure (1808-1870), when areas historically heathland were being planted with blocks Beech and Oak by the Royal Navy for ship building; a sparsely populated area, it must have been quite a wild and desolate place this time of year. The Admiralty mark is an interesting one; you usually see these arrows on trees within the enclosures, Berry Wood is open unenclosed woodland; I'm sure there must be more outside the enclosure bounds, though searching my memory I don't recall an instance.

No Holly to speak of

Where's all the bloody Holly? I've been looking for days, and wherever I've walked there are plenty of Holly trees (the forest is stuffed with them) though none have berries on them. Around the base of some I've seen a few berries, so there must have been some, 'been' being the right tense. I walked for 3.5 miles through Holly rich woodland (it's called Berry Wood, which is a bit of a clue) this afternoon and this was only Holly berry I saw. I wonder the reason?