A Spring Window….

Bright sunshine and skies clearing to blue is the good news….the bad news is that the Met Office tells us that this is only a brief window in our March Winter weather.  So whilst Spring is yet to make its mark, to-day is too good a day to ignore the opportunity for a walk in the woods.  Our destination were some ancient woodlands to the south of our county where veteran Oak trees stand like skeletons on the sky line…..

 The Oak’s in these woodlands are well over 900 years old, a few even older, some tall and others squat in their weather beaten stature……..

Gnarled and full of holes being eaten away from the inside by Oak Beetles they look far from sturdy.  But some have extended their branches to sweep down to ground and create a prop to help their survival….

But some of course have succumbed to time and weather, fallen and leaving only a giant root ball as reminder of there passing….

The woods are also full of other native trees the tallest of them being the Beech.  This pair are over 180ft tall. What always amazes me is that these towering trees are on the highest ridge yet still able to withstand winds and most recently gales…..

The key to their survival must be a sound root system, I imagine that these thick roots run deep. The Beech has a smooth bark on its trunk making ideal for those who insist on etching their names and those of a loved one onto the trunk for posterity…….

I have no idea who ‘Pete Shannon and Jane Christina’ are or when the names were engraved, but it was obviously many years ago and they look like remaining for eternity…well until the tree falls.

But it was for a walk to explore the woodland that we came.  As the sun climbed higher in the mornings sky it began to light the darker hidden corners of the wood with a warm glow.

An old fence that has seen better days…….

and part of the crumbling estate wall…….

Then we have a plantation of maturing trees creating a woodland of the future….

The sun soon drove up the temperatures and thawed the thin layer of ice that covered the lakes.  Bull Rushes still managing to stand to attention even though they have seen better days and will soon make way for the new seasons growth….

 A lone angler was trying his luck at tempting Carp but somehow I think the temperatures would be too low to temp them to feed and take his hook….

We were not the only ones out to enjoy the day, the sun had tempted a few folk out for a peaceful stroll…..a stroll between winter and the spring to come….

And Spring must be on its way if these shoots of Bluebells are a sign of good things to come…..

Meantime we wait and see if, as the forecaster predict, the winter returns to torment us just a little longer.

The Good news continues for to-day is the first day this year that the sun will set AFTER 6pm.  Now that has to be a welcome sign of longer days.  But whilst we wait we can till enjoy our woodlands….

13th March

© David Oakes 2013