With half an hour on the clock before tea was due to be ready, Izzy and I headed off out for a walk in the woods. Izzy brought her teddy “Jackson”, as always, and I grabbed my camera, as always.
There are a few sets of woods within a very short walk of our house, but tonight we decided to go across into a small wood called “Beechwood”, directly across from our house.
One of my favourite things to photograph is fungi, and as I hadn’t taken any photographs of them recently I thought I’d lookout for some in the woods today.
As we got to the edge of the woods, I told Izzy, “keep your eyes peeled for anything interesting we can take a photograph of”, “I will daddy”, she replied.
It wasn’t three seconds before she shouted “daddy look, a ladybird!”, and sure enough there was a ladybird that wasn’t quite a ladybird yet, it was still in its pupa stage.
We saw two of them, and some ladybirds that were very recently “hatched” from their pupa. Izzy loved it, she thought they were amazing, and I have to say I share her feelings on it.
One of the great things about this little woodland is that some houses back onto it, and I think some of the garden plants have found their way into the woods and now mix with the wild flowers. It really is a melting pot of flora, where worlds collide and you just never know what your going to see in flower, like the flowers in today’s main shot.
One plant that really caught my eye though was these below, do you know what they are? They’re nettles, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them in flower before!
They cast an amazing shape and drop of colour, almost other world like, I was a little mesmerised by them for some time!
Izzy loved them too, she pointed out all the details on the flowers and surrounding buds; zoom in on the photo above and look closely, they are incredible things!
Learnings – a zero on the fungi hunt, although it was hilarious when I told Izzy we were going to look for some mushrooms when we got to the woods. She looked at me and said “mushrooms, in the woods daddy!?” I guess she’s only ever really seen them on her plate before now, bless her.
Another wonderful moment when Izzy and I were taking the second photograph here, and both hunched over at the side of the track looking into the undergrowth, two dog walkers came past and stopped to look too. The chap asked excitedly “what you seen?”, “we’re just taking a photo of this flower” I smiled and said, “oh, I thought you must have spotted an unusual frog or something” he replied, slightly bemused. “Nope, nothing interesting, just this little plant” I informed him, as I cast a little glance to Izzy; who acknowledged the knowing look with one of her own, back at me.
So, not so much learnings, but some laughs and a really great way to spend half an hour this evening, with my little side kick.
Onegav 