Tag: Sunnyhurst Wood

Posted on

Nature Photo Challenge: Ferns

Fern

Once, my sweetheart and I were coatless in the middle of Sunnyhurst Wood when a sudden downpour threatened to drench us. A young girl and boy appeared out of nowhere, shyly offering each of us the largest bracken frond they could find to pick, gesturing that that we should use them as makeshift umbrellas.

We accepted, thanked the children (who, satisfied, ran off to their parents) and carried the fronds over our heads as if they offered a magical form of protection, which they did – the kindness of young strangers.

I suppose drippier umbrellas have been used by smilier people, but we had a good try for the world record. Continue reading “Nature Photo Challenge: Ferns”

Posted on

On The Fairy Path

Trees arching over a path

Regular readers may remember that I’ve mentioned a fairy path that tracks a leat draining the meadow above the southern edge of Sunnyhurst Wood in Darwen. Oak, chestnut, birch, beech, sycamore, ash, holly and elder are scattered among tall evergreens. Somewhere between a park and a wood, it is laced with main paths that run down to Sunnyhurst stream at the bottom of the valley. This isn’t one of them.  Continue reading “On The Fairy Path”

Posted on

Pale Mushrooms and a Richness of Swallows

Pale mushrooms on a beech tree

My sister and I were on a mushroom-spotting walk in and around Sunnyhurst Wood when we found these pale ones just above head height on an old beech tree. The tree has been struck by lightning and part of its canopy is dead and bare.

We weren’t planning to pick mushrooms, neither of us being able to identify them, just to see how many different types we could spot before the autumn leaves covered them. We found quite a lot, though no unusual colours, such as purples, and none of the elusive white spotted red ones I’d love to see. Most of the fungi were growing at the base of trees, on the ground or on fallen branches, and the ones in the trees were more often bracket or turkey-tail types so these seemed unusual, the luminous backlight showing them off well against the living half of the tree. Continue reading “Pale Mushrooms and a Richness of Swallows”

Posted on

Yarn Bombing Day

Yarn bombing - hexagon design left in a wood

When I discovered that today was World Yarn Bombing Day I had to share this picture. A yarn motif left in a wood may strike some readers as out of place (and I don’t see much yarn bombing in North West England*) but I don’t think the tree minds. If the tree kept a diary, it would surely celebrate the attention and the intention. Continue reading “Yarn Bombing Day”

Posted on

Taking Pictures of Bluebells

English bluebells in Sunnyhurst Woods
English bluebells

Photographing bluebells presents several problems: they dance on their stems in a gentle breeze; they often grow in dappled shade which is magical on the eye but blinding to the camera; their blue appears a bit insignificant from further away; and they are usually a very different colour to how they appear. The first two shots are fairly accurate for colour.   Continue reading “Taking Pictures of Bluebells”