Johnny Wood, Borrowdale

I seemed to have spent a lot of time in woods these past few weeks. I was in Grass Woods in Wharfedale a few weeks ago, then to a couple of my local woods and now it was Johnny Wood down Borrowdale's turn. It's a lot of years since I've walked on the bridleway out of Longthwaite, maybe that's because the path is hidden and not immediately obvious but the rewards are immense. Also with it being well hidden, it is quiet which is a rarity in these parts. I do believe there are red squirrels in the woods so hopefully I will strike lucky.

It was a bit of a dull overcast day so I just walked as far as the point where the path reaches open fellside and then turned back. The main reason I was in these parts was to take photos for a woodland project I intend doing over the coming year. I want to capture the atmosphere and life of the woodland over a timescale of twelve months and then produce a photo book of the project. I can see that my main problem will be ending up with a glut of autumn and spring shots and very few winter and summer ones. In summer a woodland is usually just green and not very interesting and in winter there tends to be problems getting to them due to the weather but I will do my best to get a good selection from each season. No doubt a few of these photos will make the final cut even though they are lacking in sunshine. That was one of the reasons I chose this part of Johnny Wood, it hardly ever gets any sun so the walls and fallen trees are covered in moss and lichens.

I'm pretty happy with a lot of the photos I've taken so far and I'm really looking forward to the coming months when the frost bites and the snow arrives. I have a second project on the go which hasn't really got off the ground yet. That is to do another photo book on the Lakeland Farm but so far I only have two photos! Maybe when the Herdwicks come down off the fells and they start lambing, the photo opportunities will be better. We shall see...