The Promise of Mist
A forecast for "persistent mist" saw me heading into Brinscall Woods on Sunday afternoon, with things looking very promising during the drive over. Brinscall is situated at the bottom of a valley and as I drive into the village I can usually see Withnell Moor rising up on the far side with the woods clinging to its lower flanks, but on this day it was just a pale grey mass. That is, it was until I descended into Brinscall and found myself below the fog layer with a pretty clear view of the woods. Still, there was hope for some misty woodland shots as the higher reaches of the woods were still reaching into the mist overhead, all I had to do was get up to them from my starting point at the bottom of the hill.
As I'm still struggling a bit when out and about, I took the Nikon kit, comprising the Z8 and the 24-70 f/2.8S along with the 70-180 f/2.8 which ended up being dead weight in my camera bag, fortunately it's not very heavy. I also took along my filter kit and the tripod which also doubled as a walking stick while scrambling over some of the more treacherous parts of the woods.
An Early Change
I found this little scene in the lower part of the woods. A solitary tree, well into its autumnal transformation, surrounded by vivid greenery. I can't make up my mind if the surrounding trees appear to be protecting it or are shocked by its appearance.
Afraid of The Light
There appear to be quite a few newly fallen trees since my last visit to this part of the woods. This has had the effect of creating a few gaps in the canopy allowing a bit more light to flood in at certain areas like this. The trees surrounding the breach seem to be cowering in fear.
The Long Lost Track
Here, I'm about a third of the way up the hillside and have reached what was once one of two main tracks running through this part of the hillside. It's hard to imagine that if you go back 100 years this was all open meadows. This track gets pretty much impassable as you continue along it, turning into something of a quagmire at certain times of years.
Here I'm stood on the track looking down it. A couple of last weeks shots were taken a little way further down there, which is pretty much as far as you can easily follow it without hitting excess mud and overgrowth. One day, I may have to try and follow it to its end as shown on the period maps just for my own curiosity.
The Other Side of The Tracks
So, having crossed the previous track and scrambled up the very steep hillside on the far side of it, you come to a second track that runs through the woods. This is the main, well maintained path that most sensible people use today. Not being sensible, I immediately crossed this and heading off down a vague trail into the upper part of the woods where the changing colours are looking a lot more vivid. At this point, I'm about halfway up the hillside, but there's still no sign of that pesky mist yet is there?
Carnage
Three quarters of the way up the hillside and I reached the ruins of Hatch Place farm. This is a part of the woods I seldom explore (did I mention it's three quarters of the way up the hillside?) but I really need to give it more of my time as it's got a lot to offer. Some of the trees here are looking a lot more worse for wear, there were some substantial looking trees that appear to have been recently downed too unfortunately. Here I was quite fascinated by that big lump of dead branch dangling precariously from the central tree.
A Hint of Mist
This is the central tree from the previous shot, taken from the other side. I think it makes a more interesting subject from here, even if I was cautiously stood in a load of nettles to get this shot. I'm actually getting some evidence of this elusive mist with the background being ever so slightly faded looking from here.
More Changing Colours
I love the dappled green and yellow leaves in shots like this. Taken as a whole, they have an almost impressionistic painted look, even though with the full res image you can zoom in and scrutinise every leaf.
An Explosion of Colour
In this shot it looks like all the trees are being blasted back by the burst of colour exploding from the central yellow clad one.
The Conductor
Here, my minds eye sees a small choir of trees being led by the conductor in the foreground, although in reality, it's probably just a small group of trees and a thoughtfully placed camera.
