Week 6, Part 1: Playing with Light

I should hint at a week of straggly-hair-inducing, wellington-boot-filling, jean-drenching rainfall more often. Instead, there have very definitely been days with more sunshine than cloudbursts. Yesterday morning was glorious and I was fortunate to be able to make the most of it. I’ll admit, though, to being slightly disappointed that I didn’t get to do ingenious things with my shamefully vast collection of supermarket memorabilia (aka plastic bags, ref last week’s post). However, with another 46 weeks to go, I’m sure one of them (at least) will feature me standing in the rain, photographing the Dellfield Oak. In fact, I hope it does as I rather like images which capture the weather.

The more observant amongst you will notice that this post is Part 1, implying there is more to follow. Indeed, I got a little snap happy in the sunshine, and so this week is a bumper edition....in three parts. This first instalment is Dellfield and the Oak.

Yesterday’s forecast was for uninterrupted sunshine from sunrise until late morning. However, me and early starts are like east and west...poles apart and never the twain shall meet (nothing like a flimsy reference to Kipling to emphasise the gravity of my position)! So, sunrise was out of the question but I did the best I could to get to Westbrook Hay as early as possible. And, I wasn’t disappointed. The cost to my sanity, and general health and wellbeing, of leaping, oh, ok, crawling out of bed at a ridiculous hour was worth it.

For over an hour, it was a case of catching the right light, playing with shadows and being patient as the sun worked its way around the trees and created the spectacle. At one point a Stock Dove landed on the Oak and, over in the trees in Ryders (the field west of Dellfield), there were at least 50 Redwing whistling away to one another. Whilst I was watching them, a Grey Heron flew overhead. And, the usual Buzzard also appeared, patrolling its territory.

Eventually, I tore myself away from Dellfield and made my way up to Preston Hill. It was at this point that I got completely distracted from hard-core nature spotting by pastures green, fluffy new lambs and nurturing mothers. But, that’s Part 2 and you’ll have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest for that. In the meantime, I hope a taster and yesterday’s Oak and playing with light will suffice.