Trees

A morning of hazy sunshine gave me an opportunity to get back to Woolley Wood, have a peaceful walk and see how the bluebells are coming along (see extra). They're now at the stage where misty carpets are forming under the trees, catching the light that comes through branches that are only slowly coming into leaf. Woolley is such a mixture. Sandwiched between large housing estates and the M1 motorway, traffic noise is always present. But so is a wonderfully diverse range of birdsong.  The combination reminds me of the famous 1942 BBC recording of nightingales and RAF bombers, link here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-35874257

NB this is not the same as the earlier BBC nightingales and cellist recording whose authenticity has recently come into question.

And thinking of bombers... how strange to find myself celebrating the reports about the sinking of the Russian ship the 'Moskva' near Odesa, meaning that it will no longer be able to threaten the city with bombardment. It seems likely that over 400 Russian sailors will have gone down with it (or died terrible deaths in the explosions and fires beforehand).  They won't have had any choice in being dragged into this by their leaders.

On the way back from Woolley Wood, I stopped off to add more shots to the little project I have ticking over about city trees and buildings.  I'm gradually arriving at a set of locations to visit periodically during the year, to see if I can build up a sequence of images that reflect the ways in which the trees interact with their urban setting.