It’s inevitable that, in the countryside, the landscape changes from year to year. Rivers erode their banks, animals eat shrubs and the wind breaks branches and trees.
There is a row of trees near Ingram that I’ve been fond of photographing for several years now. When I took my first photo of them back in February 2012 there was snow on the ground:
The unseasonably warm weather over the past few weeks appears to have encouraged many hedgerow flowers to either keep on flowering or have another go.
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
Albert Camus
It’s been a great year for vibrant coloured autumn leaves along the lanes where we live this year. It’s been a real joy to see the ochres, umbers, purples, yellow, golds, reds and russets. But…nothing lasts forever, and the leaves are almost gone now. But as the deciduous trees shed most of their leaves for the winter, the larches are still holding onto their needles as they turn a wonderful yellow-brown-gold. Again, what’s not to like?
At a time during the second UK national lockdown when we were all unable to attend organised Bonfire Night firework displays, it was nice to see from my window that at least one family was making the most of things up on the old railway line in Powburn, well away from anyone. It was lovely to hear the sound of a child laughing and squealing in delight, as the fireworks were let off one by one by their daddy. And you couldn’t help but see the wonderful flashes of light in the near darkness at the back of Powburn near the Dene. Lifted the spirits!
Feels, like a good Halloween one this – finding mushrooms in the deep, dark woods.
Mmm. Well. I mean. How clean? What more can be said? Strange, don’t you think, that some people who visit the countryside because of its beauty then rather spoil that beauty by leaving litter?
The Red Admiral butterfly (scientific name: Vanessa atalanta) is a commonly seen butterfly in gardens and along the Breamish Valley usually from Spring and right through the summer months. However, these timings are extremely variable and, perhaps like me, you’ve seen these distinctively coloured insects nectaring in your garden, along the valley or in My Autumn Dene into early Autumn?
After the Spring colouring of My Green Dene in April this year, the autumn colours have now arrived: sumptuous yellows, reds, deep purples, and golden browns. And, in the right light, you can still see some of those exquisite chocolate shadows under the tree canopies along the disused railway line of Crawley Dene.
When I was a child, I remember seeing a postcard that one of my relatives had received from a friend who was visiting Ireland. From what I recall, the postcard was an image of a flock of sheep walking down a country lane and impeding the progress of a solitary figure on a bicycle.
