Oak

Oak silhouette, Wapley Hill, December 10th 2008

With the leaves gone, patterns of old trees appear on the hill. The dominant pine plantations are shot through with beech rides - like the long one right across the hill, two and in some cases three trees on either side of an avenue - and small areas of beech and birch. Strange leftover shapes, tree-fields, left over from whatever was here before the Forestry Commission took over. But old single oak trees also appear, shy giants emerging from the deep hedges once the summer is over. One in particular I will walk to, a huge knobbly tree just inside the woods. Another I have photographed many times, at the boundary of the woods and the junction of three paths. Today it was silhouetted against the outside-light of the fields, and surrounded by shade and frozen leaves.

Frozen oak leaves, Wapley Hill, December 10th 2008