Black and white......

At this time of year the sun is quite high in the sky but the leaves on the trees have not yet come out. On sunny days you get a striking and cryptic effect between the light falling on the trees themselves and the shadows they then cast on the ground.




Aso lovely contrasts between branches, blue sky and clouds.




I was struck by the lovely vertical effect made by this oak tree and the ferns growing in the cracks in the bark against the blue sky.

Skylarks

Up on the hills yesterday the skylarks were warming up - not quite at full throlttle yet, but definitely on their way. Much of the snow has cleared - although there are still some deep drifts.

I wondered, as they shot up singing into the sky, what did they do when everything was covered in a thick blanket of snow? Do they hide underneath it, cosy amongst the heather (which would be a bit like sitting underneath rhododendron bushes) or did they escape to the wooded areas nearby and sit in the bushes and the trees?

Anyone have any idea?

Winter weather on the Quantocks

Lots of snow and ice recently to remind us that spring really doesn't start in January - despite our annual attempts to delude ourselves.



This is one of the fine detail in the drift over the path I was walking along. It reminds me of finely bedded eroded sandstone. Which would probably remind me of drifted snow - but there you go.



Looking over Crowcombe. The road from the bottom of the hill was impassable in a vehicle from the west side - so this involved a fun trek up through a foot of snow. On top it had drifted and on the left of this picture you can see that the deep pathway has been completely filled.

I took this shortly before the snow arrived during a period of dense fog. Beautifully it was clear at the top of the hills for a while so I could capture this bank of cloud moving in.

I can't work out if it is better cropped a bit as it is in the photo below.

Some more recent pictures......

Brrrrrrrrr.......

Someone said they didn't realise mud could be so beautiful. I love it so much I have a degree in it!

It was as cold as it looks. The rock is Jurassic limestone up near Kilve.

A stream on exmoor.

What the eye perceives........

.....Van Gogh saw more! He wrote to his brother from northern France and explained he could see fifteen different yellows in a field of ripening corn. I cheated here and included some purple of the heather. This composite took hours and is still rubbish - as I have no doubt someone will point out. If they can be bothered.

Take a closer look - it really is stunning in reality.

Grass and heather.

I tried to capture the movement of the grass in the wind and the spectacular colours. Not sure if I succeeded as the light wasn't great - principally due to our appalling summer weather. Will have another go this weekend - I would like to capture this early in the morning and in the evening.

Ferns under a stream bank.

I caught these earlier this year under a bank - but just catching some morning sunlight. I like the way you can just see the ghosts of other leaves in the shade.