Change

There are a couple of different narratives here but let's see how this unfolds... This was also written over a month ago and I have finally gotten around to posting it.

Firstly, I returned to Holme Fen this week after a series of big storms passed through the UK. Here in the east of England we did not suffer much damage compared to some areas. Never-the-less I was able to see a number of trees down. 

On a related item we had some friends visit and one commented that I must like trees as she was looking at my 'gallery' in our downstairs bathroom (toilet in the UK as there is no bath there). I hadn't really noticed my subject was trees as I was thinking woodlands, but she was not wrong. I reflected later that this was because that was all there is to see in Cambridgeshire landscape-wise. Not entirely true but if you have been here, you will get my point. 

Part of the 'Gallery'

While Mollie and I were walking it was apparent how much change had been wrought by the storms. Indeed, many photos I have taken before I could not take now. For instance, the one below. 

No longer there...

This alder had another tree fall on top of it and it smashed several branches including this one. 

Also apparent was some management work that had been done. I have seen this elsewhere in Holme Fen and it was much more apparent tat day because of recent work. They are cutting out, clearing, and mowing the bracken. The overall effect is to make the areas very ugly. The cynical side of me says that once you hire managers they have to manage and what is more fun than managing with saws.

It reminded me of some gardeners we hired when my wife and I were busy working in Bath. She had a large and unruly back garden, so these guys came in every week. I had to work from home occasionally and could see what they did when they thought nobody was around. They spent a good deal of time smoking and talking. This would have been aggravating enough except that after the initial couple of months the garden was tamed and so they must have felt they had to continue to make a visible effort the effect of which was that the shrubs and trees gradually got smaller and smaller until we decided they needed to go. 

So, it seems with managers at Holme Fen. Consequently, other photos cannot be taken anymore that I have taken in the past. 

This is now mowed to a comparative moonscape.

There is a great big hole punched in this grove.

Holme Fen is surprisingly small. In the height of summer when the foliage is thick, and lush it seems much bigger. In winter, the distances shrink as you can see further. They also shrink with familiarity. In winter you can see through the woods to where the other paths are for instance. It has certainly shrunk with familiarity. I have wrung a lot of photographs out of the place over the past few years. It is the kind of place, however, that can always surprise for those open to its magic. Certainly, change is part of creating the new and different. After all this image below would not have been possible without change.