Today’s Pictures: 20 Mar 21

On By stuartakenIn Nature, Photography
A recent scene, now slightly different, after some work by Forestry England.

The previous shot can be seen here, shot from slightly further back

‘Walking is a pastime rather than an avocation.’    
Rebecca Solnit

I’m continuing the daily shots from our walks in the local forest for the moment. Another photograph from my collection will provide a wider view of the world and some of its wonders.
If you share on social media, more people stuck indoors due to Covid-19 can enjoy our natural beauty. Between us, we might even restore some love and respect for nature and help slow the damage we inflict on our world. Thank you.

Foreland Point.

Photographs on this site are my own, unless otherwise credited. More of my pictures can be seen here. And there’s a small sample of my work under the ‘Gallery’ tab at the top of this page.

17 thoughts on “Today’s Pictures: 20 Mar 21”

  1. Forestry England is a state run organisation, Joni. They work on both ‘national’ and ‘crown’ land, managing the forests and harvesting the timber as a crop. There is much that is bad about the system (why, for instance, should the Royal family own so much land?) but it’s better than having the forests owned by commercial organisations that would prevent public access. They harvest healthy trees in batches, leaving a small area cleared and then wait around three years before they replant. There was a fashion a few decades ago for planting monocrops, but they realised this can actually spread disease more rapidly, so now they mix the species, which is better for the trees and the wildlife but makes harvesting a little more complicated!
    My book is back with the publisher now, so I’m awaiting a second lot of editing suggestions to arrive soon.
    Stay safe and keep well, Joni.

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  2. Pingback: Today’s Pictures: 20 Mar 21 | In the Net! – Pictures and Stories of Life

  4. Be careful when walking if they have signs, believe them. I know you will because you have your wife with you. I am envious of your walks in the woods, and I always love your pictures of the water. Arizona is starting to heat up already, so walks will be limited.

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    1. Oh, we keep well away when they’r working, Brenda. Apart from the danger of falling trees, there’s a lot of noise, which is not what we walk the forest for. Fortunately, they tend to work in specific areas until they’ve completed that job, so most of the forest remains undisturbed.
      So, you’re warming up in Arizona? Wish we could have a bit of that heat. I no longer find the cold as easy to put up with as I used to!

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  5. Yes, I hope it’s not going to change too much. There’s at present a huge fight going on in British Columbia over better protection for the old-growth forests (there are 800-1000 year old trees) from timber companies. It’s diabolical how they can get around rules (and the provincial gov’t is spineless, perhaps deliberately). Indigenous peoples are fighting under their primary land rights, but it’s difficult. There’s really no reason for this except greed.

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    1. You’re right, Lynette, this is pure greed, and so short-sighted. It takes decades for a newly-planted tree to reach the carbon intake of an ancient one, so cutting down old trees seriously depletes the forests’ ability to help fight climate change.
      Here in the Forest of Dean, the management is as sensible as it can be. There is concern for wildlife, topography, and species variety. At present, we’re beset by Ash Dieback, which is resulting in a large number of old trees being felled to try to stop the spread of this fatal disease. But Forestry England are constantly planting new batches of different trees; they seem to plant as many as they can, after leaving felled areas fallow for about three years to recover.

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      1. We always seem to be fighting timber companies, oil pipelines, and other greedy companies. The Supreme Court keeps ruling in favour of the environment and the indigenous land-minders, but they are endlessly looking for loopholes to exploit whatever they can. Maddening!
        Good to hear that you have good management. Is that a federally managed program? Part of the problem here is that a lot of the environmental management is a provincial jurisdiction, and some provinces are less concerned than others; we don’t have a country-wide approach, except for the land rights and protections given First Nations, which is federal.

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        1. Forestry England is a branch (pun intended!) of the Forestry Commission, which is a nationally run state organisation, Lynette. We are experiencing quite a few changes in the UK since Scotland and Wales were given their own Parliaments. At present, the 4 nations are still sort of united, but there are national movements in all to seperate them. And the recent Brexit idiocy has made that more of an issue, so who knows what the future may bring?
          Our current national government is right-wing, so profit will continue to come before both people and environment. But our opposition parties are fundamentally flawed by factions so there’s no effective opposition at present. But, as a people, we do have a growing base of people-powered protest keeping an eye on what the government is doing.

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            1. I think there’s a strong possibility Scotland will hold a second referendum and may well split from the Union as a result: they are particularly angry about the lunatic Brexit split. Wales has a growing number of separatists; they’ve been treated as a second nation for decades, so there’s a good deal of resentment about the English there and I wouldn’t be at all surprised it they also held a referendum to seek independence. Northern Ireland, of course, has been subject to the possibility of a split from the Union for centuries. The relatively recent ‘troubles’ have ended, but there’s still enormous underlying discontent, especially with the Roman Catholic population that feels, with some justification, they have been always considered as less important than the majority Protestants there. There’s a growing ‘feeling’ that Ireland may become a united country, split from England. But only time will tell. That’s my take on the current situation, for what it’s worth.

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    1. Looks like they’ve finished the work on the trees, here, Joni. But we walked past the quarry today and noticed they now have a portable ‘office’ established inside (well back from the path) and there are very large blocks of stone lined up ready to be carted away for use elsewhere. It is, after all, a working environment, so we’re lucky to be able to wander freely here. They place warning signs at the places where they’re cutting trees for timber.

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      1. I just hope they don’t put too many intrusive things about the trees. I also didn’t thing they would cut down any healthy trees. Also hopefully the portable office will be gone soon. Sending you love and hoping your editing is coming along well with your publisher. Many hugs 🤗 Joni

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