I live in the far north of Scotland – so far north that a couple more miles drops us unceremoniously off the top of the country and into the sea. I’ve been here for 14 years and this year is the first I remember us actually experiencing a proper spring. Normally we go straight from winter to a poor summer and back to winter again.
I’m lucky enough to have a small nature reserve just a few yards from home where I normally walk the dog. It’s the sort of place that makes you feel good to be alive – there is hardly any traffic noise, the birdsong is so loud and varied, there are lots of rabbits and the occasional deer and, just now, there are new leaves growing and starting to unfurl on the trees.
I think these buds are a gorgeous colour. What a great colour the sky was too.
My favourite parts of the reserve are the wooded areas where the coniferous trees grow. I love watching these trees change over the course of the year. They are usually fairly uniform in colour but each individual tree can vary from dark bluey-grey through storm cloud purple to rich, deep green. They can easily withstand all the elements and we certainly get 'some elements' here!
It's hard to believe this snowfall was only a few weeks ago. The snow reminds me of candy floss that has been spun over the branch.
The time I like best in the woodland has to be spring when the tips of the branches are wrapped tight in a shiny, golden brown covering, like parcels waiting to be opened.
They don’t stay like this for very long and soon bright green, soft, needles emerge from underneath the golden brown.
Aren't they amazing? Most of the trees will look like this - like they have flouncy, multi-layered dresses on with bright green frills swaying in the breeze. Others have these fabulous, exotic looking cones. It could almost be a Mediterranean cactus.
I complain a fair bit about how far away we are from civilisation here - it's a two hour drive to the nearest Marks and Spencer each way, but having this almost on the doorstep helps to make up for some of the hardships!
5 comments:
I love living out of civilisation, it is so peaceful! I would love to see your woodlands and nature reserve. You have taken some beautiful photo's.
Lovely images!
It sounds absolutely lovely where you are. Your photos are gorgeous, sometimes we never really see what is the beauty of things we live beside daily. It's nice to take note of these things, they'd make fab LO's!
MARGOT! What fabulous photos!
It's lovely how macro settings can make such simple things so wonderful.
We LOVE Scotland and have visited many times over the past few years. Your photo's are beautiful and bring back memories of the coutryside which is so different from that down South. I'm going to book another flight NOW!
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