Hardwick Wood Spring flowers

The spring flowers are  well advanced in Hardwick Wood this year, including the Oxlips though the dry conditions mean they are pretty stunted. 

 

Fungi Hardwick Wood

I walked to our local ancient wood yesterday to see if the recent rain had brought forth any fungi. It is still very dry there (good for walking as the mud can get very deep in the winter!). I found a few very small specimens amongst the moss and photographed with 50mm macro and LED light using stacks of 45 images. Last images is with the 23mm lens and no stack.

Favourite Local Walk

Yesterday, I decided on doing what has been my favourite walk for over 50 years from when I came to live in Toft. It involves no roads but does include hills - a relatively rare feature in Cambridgeshire. The first image is near the start and the furthest point is the top left edge of Hardwick Wood then round to Caldecote Church and back. The sunflowers in the set aside field are looking good this year and the willows along the brook show their silvery foliage in the overcast conditions.  All taken with HDR mode on X100V which produces a raw file for further processing

Life Continues

I find it somehow comforting that, although this massive old oak has fallen and is slowly decaying, its place is taken, the canopy has closed over and life continues around it.

Local Birds

Some of the birds from my morning walk to Harwick Wood including very confiding Wrens and Willow Warbler. Very surprised to see a fully fledged Robin youngster when the Blackcap and Nuthatch are only just beginning their breeding. Red Kite and Linnet just for the colours!!

Spring in Hardwick Wood Cambridgeshire

The spring flowers are pretty much on schedule in our local wood - the bluebells are a bit later than last year as they need another week or so to be a full carpet. The Oxlips are at their best and are extra large and full of flowers - probably the result of the very wet winter being a specialist of boulder clay soils.  The wood is still very muddy underfoot. The cowslips just outside the wood are also very abundant this year. The birds are busy displaying and setting up nests etc - a very obliging wren and distant views of woodpecker, blackcap and nuthatch.