It’s all about the trees

We’ve done lots of ups through the Bathampton woods which cover the north side of Claverton Down during our local lockdown inspired wanderings . It’s also the site of an old mine so some of the trees are curled around and over the stone scars left by the mining operations. Some have done a wonderful job of reclaiming the land once invaded by human efforts to exploit it. Some parts appear a bit like a rather un-exotic Cambodian temple.

It can be a bit tricky to find compositions as there is just so much to distract the eye and it is quite hard to find clean images. I’ll probably look back on these in the future and cringe as their muddledness.

The old caves that remain are now all locked off to protect the bats that have made their homes there and to prevent too many Darwin awards being handed out to ill-advised explorers.

The trees are those amazing gnarly kind covered in moss, lichen, ivy and what look like jungle lianas. I wouldn’t try swinging on them mind you.

I’m on a quest to get the perfect sunburst through the foliage and have collected a few nice lens flares but still hunting a pleasing star.

And pretty sure some of the trees are mythical creatures.

One of my favourite parts is a clearing scattered with ancient ywe trees. Apparently rather unusual as so many english ywes were chopped down to make longbows to see off various invaders (probably mainly the french) back in the day.

We’ve been up there in a a variety of weathers and different light conditions and there is always something to catch my eye. These shots are a mix of Sony A7s II 12-24mm f4.0 and Nikon D850 24-70mm f2.8. I should take a tripod up next time on a sunny day and get a couple of timelapses.

I am rather looking forward to autumn. Should be some great colour come October.