The ancient woodland near Birdlip

We saw these woods when we drove through them on Sunday. I decided to return with a tripod today as the hardening of the weather was likely to bring all the leaves down quickly.

The day had begun beautifully with clear sunshine and little wind, but by the time I got here at lunchtime the clouds were dominant and the wind from the north was strong.

I did set up my tripod but my lens started to play up and wouldn't let me manually focus, and I still don't know why.  Sometimes it would work when I turned the camera's power off and on again. 

This was one of the first pictures I took, meant to be test shots, before I went looking for suitable camera locations. I wanted to capture the light between the glades and the still leafy beech trees. The woods are very ancient and the breadth of many of the tree stools from which each new trunk emerges are enormous. Sadly I fear I've missed the best of this autumn in this location. But winter will provide its own appeal with greater light reaching the woodland floor and the stark shapes of bare wood coming to the fore.