Inundation

The forest's lower lying stands and open heath are inundated at the moment, the ground is sodden, saturated, every hollow, depression and channel is water filled, in fact there are areas of standing water throughout.  And as for the leafy woodland floor, well, that can not be trusted to have any substance. It took less than 10 minutes walking for my boots to become thoroughly waterlogged, after which point I found myself strangely liberated, being able to wander about this wet wonderland without a care, at one point, I even ended up thigh deep (shorts rolled up) navigating a submerged area of woodland. When the forest environment's like this it makes for interesting walking, and you'd be a fool not to take full advantage.

Black Water? What water!

Black Water? What water! No, there's little or no water! The forest continues to desiccate as the summer intensifies. Some of the forests streams are showing their bare bottoms. Black Water and Highland Water, both tributaries of the Lymington River, are dry but for a few greasy and fetid pools. Although, I'm sure the streams still flow silent and greatly reduced below the exposed gavels to the eye their invisible. Makes you wonder though, how'll the forest cope with climate change if it manifests as longer hotter/drier summers.

Reflection

Lets take some time to reflect.