an other garden no.15/part two: barna woods, part two

Stories and Histories

I was in Barna Woods today and I realised one collection of pictures devoted to them was just not enough. I have been trying to determine what it is that makes this Woodland so beautiful and I think it is partly that it is filled with mature trees (mostly beech actually) and also the absence of ground cover threw much of the woods, contrasts really strikingly with the canopy. It is often difficult to capture visually the experience of beautiful woodland, I think because the affect is as a result of a combination of sensory factors; from the collection of earthy smells and the very still, cool, quality of the air to the constantly flickering light appearing and disappearing behind the canopy, momentarily sharp and warm and blinding, that and something more primitive, some ancestral sense of security from being within these protective arms.

Today I climbed one of these tree's, the first I have climbed in years I think and I happily discovered that years of yoga have transformed me into the kind of tree climber I always aspired to be; limber and agile with feet that curl easily around branches.