The dark forest

We made an early start today, fortified by a restful night at our guest house and a substantial cooked breakfast. It was a perfect spring day, and much of our site was truly delightful, with sheets of bluebells scattered with wood sorrel and wood anemones, subtle patches of the diminutive moschatel along paths and banks, a range of butterflies flitting along the rides and the welcome call of the cuckoo filling the air.. 

This particular corner was a contrast, with a dark rather foreboding forest of western hemlock lying beyond the vivid green of the young birch trees. Its rather sinister appearance was enhanced by the repetitive 'cronk-cronk' calls of a pair of nesting ravens, who relentlessly mobbed the resident buzzards.