#ScenicSaturday 9th September 2023

On 09/09/202330/08/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography7 Comments

My photos in this continuing series show our beautiful world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from human carelessness. Today, we have a shot taken on one of our walks through the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. This is one of our regular routes to access different places in the extensive …

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#ScenicSaturday 5th August 2023

On 05/08/202303/08/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, question7 Comments

My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. Today, I give you a shot of a path through mature oaks and beeches in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England.The world is currently deeply scarred by wildfires on most continents. Elsewhere, trees, usually …

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Progress Inspired by a Walk?

On 21/07/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Photography, Progress12 Comments

I don’t know what inspires ideas in other writers, but I gather a lot of my writing thoughts and inspiration from walking. I live in the Forest of Dean, so I’m surrounded by beautiful places in which to walk, usually with my wife. Yesterday, we decided to visit a local spot of significance, Symonds Yat, …

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#ScenicSaturday 15th July 2023

On 15/07/202314/07/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, opinion, Photography, politics7 Comments

My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. This one shows the River Wye as it flows through the Forest of Dean. The far bank, left on the picture, is actually Wales, as the river forms part of the border between the …

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#ScenicSaturday 1st July 2023

On 01/07/202329/06/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, opinion, Photography, politics10 Comments

My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness.This one shows a newly created space on the right following the felling of some diseased trees in the Forest of Dean. Climate change has increased the incidence of tree infections, resulting in the cutting …

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#ScenicSaturday 20th May 2023

On 20/05/202326/04/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography6 Comments

I share my pictures here to show the beauty of our world, encouraging viewers to take action to save it from the destruction we humans are causing to nature.This was taken locally in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, a place I walk almost daily with my wife. It’s a commercial forest run by Forestry …

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#ScenicSaturday 25th March 2023

On 25/03/202305/03/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography4 Comments

I share these pictures, taken during March, not this year, to show the beauty of our world, hoping viewers may be inspired to take action to save it from the destruction we humans are causing to nature.This one is from the Forest of Dean in 2020 and shows a lady fern highlighted by afternoon sunshine …

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#ScenicSaturday 25/Feb/2023

On 25/02/202318/01/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography2 Comments

I share these pictures, from February (though not this year), to show #ourworldiswonderful. This shot, from 28th February 2021, depicts a steep climb up a path that dissects the slope of a narrow valley carrying a small stream. Most of the trees here are larches, and buzzards have nests near the tops of a couple. …

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#ScenicSaturday 18/Feb/2023

On 18/02/202318/01/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography2 Comments

I share these pictures, from February (though not this year), to show #ourworldiswonderful. This shot, from 2021, depicts a view from one of the surfaced roads that follow old tramways and railway lines through the Forest of Dean. It’s many years since that industrial work ceased, although there remain a tiny number of free mines. …

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#ScenicSaturday 11/Feb/2023

On 11/02/202318/01/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography6 Comments

I share these pictures, from February (though not this year), to show #ourworldiswonderful. This shot is from 2020 and shows a fairly steep valley that runs down to a brook. The trees here are mostly native oaks, but the greenery is almost entirely ivy at this time of the year. The remnants of bracken can …

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#ScenicSaturday 04/Feb/2023

On 04/02/202318/01/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Nature, Photography11 Comments

I share these pictures, from February (though not this year), to show #ourworldiswonderful. This shot is from 2020 and shows the brook that flows through the beaver enclosure. They were introduced to help reduce the flooding caused by the brook that flows through the village. So far, that seems to be working well. The area …

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#ScenicSaturday 28/Jan/2023

On 28/01/202319/12/2022 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography9 Comments

These pictures are from January, though not this year. I share them here to show #ourworldiswonderful.This shot is from the Forest of Dean, taken on an afternoon walk in 2020 as mist slowly cleared from the valley where a small brook flows. Frost remained from the previous evening, dusting the leaves of wild flowers still …

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Boys, Belles, Bikes, and Bells.

On 22/01/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography10 Comments

I just posted this piece to Medium. In a forest criss-crossed by tracks and trails of many different sorts, three types of users enter for their exercise, entertainment, and escape from the troubles of the world. Pedestrians vary from the agile runner in search of challenges, through dog walkers exercising their pets, groups sharing the …

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#ScenicSaturday 21/Jan/2023

On 21/01/202319/12/2022 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography10 Comments

These pictures are from January, though not this year. I share them here to show #ourworldiswonderful.This shot is from the Forest of Dean and was taken with my second-hand iPhone in 2022. I love the way beech saplings cling to their autumn leaves throughout winter and shed them only as new leaf buds burst in …

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#ScenicSaturday 14/Jan/2023

On 14/01/202319/12/2022 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography5 Comments

These pictures are from January, though not this year. I share them here to show #ourworldiswonderful.From the Forest of Dean, this photo, taken in 2020, depicts afternoon mist lit by the sun’s rays. # Please comment, like, and share these to spread the joy of natural beauty to as many people as possible. It might …

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