short stories
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A Show of Summer Softness
In a small enclave of a wooded copse is a place so delightful and yet so often goes unnoticed and unsung. Here is a place to see wonders great and small; it is the little puzzles and magical ploys it presents to us, where adventures are to be experienced and secrets discovered where no eyes can follow
in the shadowed wilds
In the shadowed wilds of mature deciduous woodland where the trees are throttled by the ivy, the wood anemones now steal the show, cloaking the ground and blooming like a galaxy of stars. The random clumps of snow piercers (snowdrops) their white beauty now faded have provided a much needed food supply for the early bees.
a winter’s tale
As I walked along through the twilight with my breath condensing into clouds in the wintery air, the ground glistening beneath my feet and the trees coated with frost, the transparent icicles of winter hanging from their boughs and softly crackling in the breeze, my thoughts once again turned to my beloved Rocky.
the bigger picture
I will try to offer you a few glimpses into the wonders of our native woodland trees, in the hope that you become better informed of the importance of our woodland treasures.
falling leaves
Whatever the season, the marvels of nature are all around us. Leaves from our woodland trees tumble and fall to the woodland floor. Consumers such as slugs and snails break down this vegetable matter into much smaller pieces.
hidden in the blind
Whilst roaming the local countryside day after day and across all seasons, I would observe and make notes on all I saw in the way of living things. Nothing escaped my attention. I never missed an opportunity to see something wonderful and have been ‘blown away’ by the wondrous things I have witnessed.
jumping jack
Our tallest annual commonly known as Malaysian Balsam was brought here from the Himalayan foothills in the 1800’s, although a non-native, its flowers are adorned by bees. I dearly love to listen to their pulsing sounds as they harvest the white pollen in their baskets. However, the weight of their harvest would sometimes impede their flight and they would succumb to the waiting mouths of the hungry toads beneath.
the wonderful woodland floor
Losing the greenbelt and the mature woodland goes far deeper than just the fields and the trees, it’s what they support, the things we don’t see, the things we can’t see or even consider or indeed understand their importance.
against all odds
When we enter a beautiful woodland setting, we are then caught in a moment of admiration; one that is capable of lifting our spirits, touching emotions that lie deeper and are more meaningful to us than almost anything else in life.