As Timeless as Infinity…
Somehow I had managed to get lost in the woods again…the map I had drawn the evening before seemed to lack detail and somewhere inbetween heath and forest I realised how quiet it was…no buzzing, no chirping…nothing at all…just silence…had I entered the dimension of imagination, an area which we call the Twilight Zone? 😕
The Blue Forest
One thing I really like doing is getting lost in the woods because I always know I will eventually find my way out…
This was my first visit to the Blue Forest and of course I strayed from the main route, lost the way and almost run over an adder for the second time this year….both times I nearly fell off my bike! 😮
Amphibious Reinstatement
Usually when I approach this small shallow pingo ruin on the edge of the forest I hear a succession of small splashes as the frogs retreat to the safety of the water. This day was no different even though I did try to creep up on them….so I just sat down by the waters edge and waited…
Surely enough, one by one, the frogs gradually began to return until the point that I was surrounded by these amphibians…in the first picture above, this curious frog hopped right up to the lens… 😎
Woodland Retreat
After the persistent attacks from tenacious horse flies, I eventually have to take refuge in the welcome shade of the nearby forest…
This is also a favourite spot where I always stop for a while to observe the abundant birdlife…mostly treecreepers, woodpeckers, coal tits and goldcrests…it always seems to be a hive of activity here, even on those hot days of summer when everywhere else is quiet… 🙂
In Search of Natural Filters
Bright sunshine isn’t always handy when it comes to photography…so when that sun is beating down I find myself more on the edge of the forest where light filters down through the leafy canopy like here on a north entrance to the “Old Forest” in Bakkeveen.
This large patch of flowers was full of hoverflies, mainly drone flies and marmalade flies…when I passed this area in the early morning I kept it in mind as a sort of back up for when the heat on the heath became too much and on the return journey I was most grateful for this pleasant spot. 🙂
Tending the Flock
When in pursuit of butterflies and dragonflies, I regularly end up getting distracted and finding something else like this red wood ant carefully managing his aphid farm. Ants feed on the honeydew excretions from the aphids…in return the ants will protect the aphids from predators and when the host plant is depleted of nutrients the ants carry the aphids to a new food source… 😎
Something…
There’s something about the light and colours of this place…at dawn and dusk, a bit of sunshine to just set everything off and voila! 😎
Something about the colours of sedge grass and heather on the heathland seem to glow against the dark background of the surrounding forest…
Just something…je ne sais quoi… 😕
An Abrupt Change of Plan
“We’ve gone on holiday by mistake. We’re in this cottage
here. Are you the farmer?” Excerpt from ‘Withnail and I’ from Bruce Robinson
Usually before I venture out, I will have thoroughly studied what could possibly happen weatherwise to avoid unnecessary and unpleasant situations…
Not wanting to cycle in the dark, due to the faulty rear light on my bicycle and a rather narrow road without a cyclepath, I left as soon as it was light…my intention was to cycle a route of about 30-35km to somewhere I’d never been before, I did however notice that the sky was becoming very interesting…
About halfway I decided to stop and rest for a bit in the forest next to the pingo-pocked heathland…it seemed perfect but the sky was reminding me of my own apparent vulnerability. 😕
All of a sudden there was a gale humming through the forest under the darkest of clouds…being miles from my pc I couldn’t check the radar to see if this was really going to happen, the clouds must have unexpectedly changed course…
The obvious precipitation followed, the only shelter for miles around was the forest itself…
So I settled for a cosy spot under an oak tree and sat it out for an hour or two, waiting for the worst of the storm to pass…I was kept company by a tree pipit and some frogs and although the current turn of events had washed out my original plans I was just content to experience being in this forest at dawn in a storm…a new experience for me…I stayed dry too! 🙂
A Change of Scenery
In my search for inspiration, I always seem to visit one of the many wetland nature reserves in my area…yet in the last weeks of summer I decided to explore heathland and woodland areas instead….just because it was different, new roads to cycle, new sights to see…
Inbetween the farmland, there are forests surrounding remains from the ice age, sandy heathland full of heather and ancient pingo ruins…so different from the type of terrain to which I had become accustomed…
There is an almost intense silence which prevails here, the trees blocking out the sound of nearby roads which in turn provide shelter from the wind…grasshoppers and crickets are the main audio entertainment here other than the occasional call of a stonechat.
a heartical view 