The Summer Oak

I was again helping out with the horse riding this morning.  Typically I cross the 'ladies' over the busy road and then have about an hour to amuse myself in the woods.  As you may know, I've had a project to photograph this oak, which is tucked in a small clearing amongst its larger pine companions.  I've always admired its tenacity to maintain a foothold, despite being dwarfed by the surrounding trees.

Today we were there at about Midday, which coincided with the sun shining through one of the small linear tracts that are left in amongst the plantations to allow the forestry vehicles to access.  I don't mean to suggest that a vehicle can easily drive along them, they are heavily rutted and overgrown, but are used from time to time for forestry operations.  Anyway the result was that this little oasis of green was lit by the sun, while the surrounding area was in shadow.  I've been trying to take photos that isolate and give prominence to the oak and this was an ideal opportunity.

I've added an extra using ICM to depict the evergreen plantations that are so common in this part of the Chase.