Tuesday 17 July 2012

Along Dappled Lanes


At last, we had a summer`s morning!  Bright, warm sunshine and a blue sky. Flowers opened and the wet land began to dry. I walked around our hill with Old Dog, and looked across open Forest towards the sea, distant rooftops of Bournemouth and blue, misty outlines of the Purbecks.

At the woodland edge there were shining green fronds of bracken, reflecting sunlight.



We walked around puddles in the gravel trackway.......



and in the dip of the lane.



An old black cob was relishing good grass in his meadow.



Light fell on dead branch shapes.



Tree trunks framed the badgers` hollow, where a late foxglove flowered....



...and rotting, hollow birch trunks smelled of damp.



Blue sky topped the trees in the valley. Rowan berries are reddening early this year......



...but this old rowan by the track has a mortal wound in its trunk. Beneath split bark the wood is rotting and woodpeckers have holed the red woody flesh beneath.


Against the sky, its leaves are prematurely yellowing and berries grow scant and poor this year.



On we walked, through the holly lined lane where horses once pulled coaches up towards the London road......




....and found the place where two ashes fell in recent storms. Foresters have cleared the site and now the good timber lies waiting beside the track, waiting to be carried away.



7 comments:

Kath said...

OOH blue skies!!!

Mum said...

Wonderful reflections.
Love from Mum
xx

Gretel said...

So odd to be as far north as we are now, and to read this - the season must be further behind, there are still elderflower blossoms here and over in Wales, far later than I'm used to. Blooming weather has played havok with things! (Fingers crossed for a change soon!)

Bovey Belle said...

What a lovely walk. My Rowan at the gate is only just starting to change colour this last day or so.

I'm glad that the sun has put in an appearance for you.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Beautiful DW - I was with you all the way.

Down by the sea said...

What a difference some sunshine makes! Thank you for taking us for your walk in the New Forest. I love that photo of the dip in the lane. It reminds me of a painting.
Sarah x

Karen said...

What strange, strange weather we are having on both sides of the Atlantic.

We're going through some of the hottest weather in more than a hundred years here in North Carolina and you are going through some of the wettest and coldest, I hear.

Glad to see the blue skies there in the New Forest.