under the beech tree

this morning, rather early due to a mixup reading my watch, we went into the wood edge under the big beech tree. its very shaded now all the leaves are out, but you can see the roe deer have been lying under it in the dry leaf-mould, and there are two fraying posts on the circumference of its shade circle.

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it’s like being in a cave, a green cave; a little light filters down from the canopy, but not much.

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out from under the beech tree there are flowers; blue spikes of bugle further in, and dark pink red campion flowers under the hazels at the edge, where the undergrowth is lush – nettles, mares tail, ground ivy, and lots of other green things I ought to look up.

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the beet field had at least eight hares on it this morning – one came bounding past as we ducked out of the wood. it was rather too exciting for the dogs. even more frustrating for them, a fox ran away from us through the wheat and into the scrub as we came round the corner.

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Tilda paid me back on Cake’s Lane – something caught her eye and she was round the corner and blasting through the hedge into a field of barley …… back five minutes later very disheveled and panting like a steam train. it might have been a deer. I will have to keep her on the lead all the way up the lane at this rate, the roe deer are in the middle of their fawning month.

the kiln is packed for a glaze firing, so I expect to be out there a couple of times tonight.

2 Comments

  1. This has to be my favourite set of fotos so far. I love this batch, and I guess you can blame your early rise for such great pictures.

  2. oh thanks!
    maybe because they are very much in the same spot, and make a little story. that beech tree is something special though

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