The trees that were left behind

There's a steep gorge here at the back of Reelig Wood, between the trees you see in the foreground and the ones in the background. About five years ago these slopes were full of plantation trees and then big machines came and cut most of them down, leaving it all looking quite ugly and scarred.

Nowadays it's going back to being green and bushy and a pleasant place to walk, with quite an impressive feeling of space. It's a good place to explore because it's off the more beaten track, and in August my sister and one of my daughters managed to pick a lot of wild mushrooms there together - (Chanterelles).

Sadly as I walked up the slope today though, towards the Scots Pines, I noticed four dead baby birds/fledglings lying in a little circle on the ground. It was such a sad, pitiful sight, and I found it hard to understand how they got to be there. It seemed too far from any trees for them just to have fallen, and if an animal or larger bird had raided their nest then surely they would have been eaten. I hadn't had a good day, with something I had been preoccupied and stressed about.... seeing those birds put those concerns into perspective.