Serendipity insists

To escape the claustrophobia of lockdown I visited my nearest patch of woodland, Monkwood is a place I have visited many times and know it pretty well. I went with the intention of shooting a few butterfly shots. I got out of the car and headed left for a few steps. Then I heard a cuckoo in the opposite direction. The chance of photo of a cuckoo is always worth taking so I did an about face and set off cuckoowards. As I got closer to the cuckoo I became aware that the density of bluebells was increasing.  I never did find the cuckoo. But I did arrive at a junction and head in a direction I had not done before - and I was so glad that I did. The sky was overcast with flat white light, but in the woods the newly green leaves glowed with intensity. Stunning is not a word I use very often but this truly was. Perhaps it was intensified relative to the grey monotonous life that  I had come out of, but I am so glad I was there. Serendipity insisted.

Dont let anyone tell you that flat light is bad thing, its all relative. In this case it set everything off with a bright green glow in the tree leaves. It was calming and peaceful. As usual I struggled to make the photography match the imprint on my eyes. I guess many people would be processing this in soft desaturated ways, but I am a believer in  letting the natural beauty speak for itself. With a bit of luck I will be back there before too long.  

I did also see  a few butterflies but the lack of sunshine did not encourage them to come out of hiding.