Gi-normous fungus

This fungus is huge – as big as a man’s head. I haven’t seen one as big as this for a while.

But what really impresses me is that it is growing on a tree in a residential road where every child in the district has resisted the temptation to reach up and pick it off!

Ivy fits tree like glove

It looks like a giant glove has been placed on this beech, but in fact it's a dense growth of ivy - which was probably strangling the tree.  
However, it appears that someone has now neatly sheared off all the lower stems of the ivy, and now - in theory - the ivy should just wither, thus letting the tree recover.

Winter solstice, all at low ebb

It's the winter solstice tomorrow - the shortest day of the year. All is at its most grey and bare, and light at its lowest ebb.

But, if there is a blank sky, the very bare nature of things has its own intricate power.  I read a writer who used the word 'scoring' to describe the way these lacy patterns stand out so finely against a winter sky; and it is an accurate phrase in this context, I think.

Autumn a-coming

I don't usually go much on 'pictures of oddly-shaped trees' - but this one appealed to me. I'm not sure why.
It could be that its russet colouring reminds us that autumn is almost upon us.

Round and round the village tree

If you want a quiet, remote, pretty little English village, try Caverswall.  Its centre consists of this large tree, which acts (in fact) as the middle of a de-facto roundabout for vehicles. 
Is it ordinary for a tree to act as a roundabout?  Maybe it is.

You can do nothing in Caverswall for hours, which is very pleasant.

This post appeared on the My Town Shoot-Out Photo-Blog

Cherry blossom

 

The cherry blossom is pretty special this year.  As a friend of mine says, it's "bunchy" this year.

Sunset tree

April is the best month to find leafless trees and strong sunsets occurring together.  The fine delineation of the twigs and branches against the strong golden light always gives a thrill.

Death by the road

This roadside memorial to a motor-accident victim, Carl Matthews, is unusual, in being screwed into a tree.  The family must come back over the years to re-fix it, I suppose, as the tree expands.

The memorial is by the A523, the twisty and narrow road that runs parallel to Rudyard Lake - not a road I enjoy driving along.
Such memorials do bring home to the observer just how wasteful and pointless road-deaths are.

Autumn colours

We're having a real russet autumn... it's a real joy just to get out and see the various colours turning. There are oranges, scarlets, golds - and even reds!

This tree sits outside St Editha's Church in Tamworth.

Is it a tree? A camel?

This tree in Longton Park resembles nothing so much to me as a resting camel... or elephant.

How it got its amazing curvature is a mystery. Some park-keeper must know though.

Snow tree

The snow has stuck, despite the original fall being quite light. But the temperature is down to zero.
Apparently there will be a major snow-fall on Friday.

Bleak midwinter

Foggy, misty day today.  I know that we're over halfway through the year (December 21st being the shortest day), and at least we can look forward now, but it still feels bleak when the light starts to fade at half-two or three...

Tree monster

This tree-monster reminds me of all those story-book trees that 'come to life' - whether in Lord Of The Rings or as features in a children's playground. It has the right number of arms (two!) and a look to say that it is ready to start walking...
It is now just a silhouette of a tree, as it plainly no longer has growth. The long tendrils that seem to have suffocated it (perhaps they were of tree-ivy?) add to the ghoulishness.

This post was featured on the City Daily Photo Blog (CDPB) Theme Day site

Autumn tree

The extraordinary autumn has produced a real feast of colour, and it’s hard to stop snapping away.

Still, I felt I had to photograph this tree at Froghall.

Chestnuts & Conkers

As we’ve noticed already this month, there is more than enough fruit on trees this year. This chestnut tree is simply loaded.

And of course, all the kids (well, boys mostly) are scurrying about collecting the zillions of horse-chestnuts (aka conkers) that have fallen, preparing them for playground contests to come.

The annual Conker Fighting Festival at the Red Lion pub in Boundary (near Cheadle) falls on October 16th this year. It's a event when fierce rivalries surface...

Look at them apples

There are so many apples this year (well, so it seems to me) that people simply can’t collect them all off the trees.

Down the road from me, as you walk along the pavement, you crunch over the apples that have been falling unpicked from overhanging trees.

Photo - just photo

Why did I feel compelled to take this photo?
All photo-bloggers have the same experiences: sometimes you have those days when nothing, yes nothing, seems to be worth even a desultory snap; and then there are those other days, when, for no apparent reason, random photos (like this one) beg to be taken.

So... I can't tell you why I like this composition. I just do.