High key beech

A cold and damp start to the day encouraged me to get on with my report, and at last the end is in sight. By 2 p.m. my brain was frazzled, and as the sun had appeared, I went for a walk round Old Sulehay NR. I was pleased to find a few fungi at last, including a rather photogenic trio of funeral bells, complete with an aphid family (see extra), but there's still very little autumn colour in the woods, though the recent gales have already brought down quite a lot of leaves.

I played about with the camera settings and took a few high-key images of trees, to try and separate the shape of the branches from the background. This view up into the canopy of a beech is one of my favourite shots of the day. I also rather like my second extra, of a very large wild service tree which looks as though it's propping itself up by a leaning an elbow on a derelict dry stone wall.