Stumped

Wide Wednesday: Stantonbury Stump

A bit of a red letter day today, I finally managed to get to visit Dad in person for the first time since last August. Covid restrictions has meant that only one visitor has been allowed (when any visits were allowed) and that has inevitably meant my stepmother.  It was great to see him, for an old boy of nearly 90 with advanced Parkinsons he is still doing surprisingly well and has retained his sense of humour.  As we get older, I begin to realise, a sense of humour is particularly important if one wishes to be able to deal with the inevitable indignities that old age and failing health bring with them.  :-)

This shot of the bluebells on the wooded slopes of Stantonbury hill was taken between the occasional shower of rain.  When it first started raining I decided that I might as well give it all up as a bad job and was walking back down the hill towards home, when the rain stopped and the sun came out again.  So I raced back up the hill and had yet another go at bluebells.

I find bluebells frustratingly difficult to photograph as what you really need is something else as the subject, so that you can allow the carpet of blue to be more of a background feature.  Ideally I would have liked a person to be walking down the path towards me here.  The best foreground subject that  I could find when the light was interesting was this little row of tree stumps next to the path.

While I was taking this, I was surprised to see a raven fly over me several times - I'm guessing that they might be nesting somewhere in the wood.  Definitely a project for another day ....