the woodland through the year

woodland through the year

In this last post of the year, I have gathered together some of the pictures from my little project to photograph this woodland near my home each month throughout 2011.

Seeing the photographs together shows the changes in the trees,  leaves and plants during the changing seasons. Also the difference in the light from the low slanting sunlight in the winter months to the deep shade when the sun is blocked out by the dense canopy of leaves in summer.

canopy through the year

I love how photography captures moments in time and enables me to look back and notice the changes.  I am already thinking about doing something similar in 2012.

The full series of posts are tagged "woodland year"

Woodland - December

Yesterday was a bright sunny day, amidst all the recent dismal wet and windy weather, so I decided to take photographs of the woodland in December.

Almost all the leaves have fallen now and many of the plants have died back leaving a low covering of brambles.

There is a much more open, airy feel and the sun can reach down to the ground again. The small stream is flowing, sparkling in the sunlight.

Even the moss on fallen tree trunks can catch some sunlight.

Looking up into the canopy, there are few leaves left to fall and the sky is visible once more.

There is one small change since last year, looking closely near the centre of the photograph above there seems to be a nest which was not there when the picture below was taken last January. There must have been a lot of activity in the tree tops over the summer all hidden from view by the foliage.

Woodland - November

Walking through this little wood in November I was struck by how light and open it felt. Many of the trees have lost their leaves.

This hazel which still has many green leaves is covered with a sprinkling of yellow leaves from the field maple,

while elsewhere in the wood the hazels themselves are a mixture of yellow and green

Autumn is the time for funghi and there were many growing on the woodland floor.

Lastly, looking at the canopy, there are several trees that have lost all their leaves. The last few days since I took these pictures have been very windy so I expect that there are even fewer leaves remaining on the trees now.

Woodland - October

I have seen some beautiful gold and red coloured trees in the countryside and when I went to the woodland last week I hoped to find some autumnal colour. Not really, not yet anyway.

The bracken has changed and is mostly brown now

and there are a few hazel leaves changing colour

giving the wood a pretty mottled lemon green appearance.

I know leaf colour is affected by many factors such as light level and moisture as well as the type of trees so perhaps here in the shady valley there will only be a gentle colour change.

There are plenty of leaves falling onto the ground and in the stream

and it might just be my imagination but I think the canopy is looking a little lighter than last month.

Woodland - September

Each month when I photograph this little wood I look for the changes, things that are different from the month before. This month as I walked along the path everything looked very similar to when I last saw it at the end of August. Perhaps a few more pale lemon leaves on the elder,

a little more water in the stream

and the bracken was turning brown

but the trees were still in full leaf providing a canopy as dense as in the summer months.

Then, I came across a big change,

a large ash tree had fallen across the path. Although we escaped the worst of the recent gales, there have been some high winds

and they were too much for this tree, which although it looked sound was rotting away from the inside.

As it fell, it took down other trees leaving a mass of broken branches on the woodland floor.

At the moment this area looks damaged and broken but it is also more open and lighter.

Looking up, the space in the canopy left by the missing tree is clearly visible.

The whole of this wood is very shady in summer but now there is a bright patch of sunlight reaching the ground.

The higher light levels will cause changes to the mix of flowers and plants that grow here. A seed from one of the trees nearby which may have germinated but not had enough space or light to thrive may now grow to fill the space left by the ash.

The falling of a tree, an event that probably lasted only a few seconds will have caused changes in the wood that last for many years.


I have grouped all my monthly woodland posts together here. Just three more months to complete the woodland year.

Woodland - August

With our holidays and lots going on during August, I didn't get to the little woodland I'm photographing throughout the year until the very end of the month. At first glance it hasn't changed much over the last few weeks and it felt a little dark and gloomy there yesterday.

Also, it was very quiet. In the spring and early summer, it was filled with birdsong but yesterday it was very still and quiet.

The bracken at the edge of the woodland has grown and is just starting to colour.

There have been a few rainstorms (luckily for us, mostly while we were away on holiday) and the stream bed now is damp again although the stream isn't really flowing.

As well as the bracken turning colour, there were a few pale lemon coloured leaves on the hazel trees

and a few willow leaves have already fallen.

Most of the leaves are still green and firmly attached to the trees, the canopy this month was very dense letting very little of the sunlight through.

At the start of the year there was little change in the wood between my monthly visits and then in spring  everything started growing and it seemed to look different every few days. Now during summer the changes have slowed and it has looked very similar for several weeks. With autumn on its way I expect the changes to happen more rapidly as the trees turn colour and shed their leaves at varying times over the next couple of months.

I wonder if the changes are related to daylight with the fastest changes occurring around the equinoxes when the day lengths are changing most and the changes slowing down during the midwinter and the summer when there is little difference between the days.

I will watch and see, just four more visits to complete my year of pictures of the woodland.

Woodland - July

Some photographs from my walk in the woodland today. It was shady and cool with dappled sunlight. There trees looked very similar to last month but there seemed to be less vegetation on the woodland floor. The footpath was almost overgrown last month but some of the plants have died back leaving the path clear again.

We have had very little rain lately and the stream running down the valley had dried up and although the stream bed was still damp, it was beginning to crack and dry out. 

Only one new flower this month, the tiny flowered Enchanter's Nightshade.

I also noticed a lot of cobwebs, particularly in the holly bushes.

The view looking up shows the canopy to be even more dense than last month casting deeper shade on the plants below.

Woodland - June

Over a month since I last took some photographs of the woodland and even on a very sunny afternoon it was shadier and felt more closed in than last month.

The path is almost overgrown.

The remains of the bluebells can still be seen in places

but many other plants have grown up in their place.

 Lots of brambles

nettles

and ferns. So many different shades of green on the woodland floor

and looking up to the trees overhead.