Hoar Frost in Blidworth Woods

The cold weather continued in January with the highlight being a morning of low freezing cloud, leaving a hoar frost clinging to the trees in Blidworth Woods. 

Initially, I thought I had made a location mistake as the pine plantations were mist and frost free but one forest track, lined with mainly young birch trees, was more exposed to the elements and provided more than enough material for the following series of photographs. The first image sets the scene with a wider angle view of the path followed by a selection of tighter compositions:

Frozen Stallon Pond

The clear weather days in January led to cold nights, frosty mornings, and the occasional bit of drifting mist. Trying to take advantage of this, I found Stallon Pond covered in a sheet of thin ice. 

I was particularly attracted to the combination warm and cool reflections across the ice. Most of the compositions were built around partially submerged and overhanging trees with their cast shadows occasionally being the main subjects. 

These were some of the results:

Winter Willows

On a bright winter's day the sunlight catches the overhanging willows on the River Trent. This creates a natural contrast against the dark of the river cliff, highlighting the wispy nature of the trees. A black and white conversion makes the most of the scenes including any reflections:

Ice Abstracts

The early January clear skies saw overnight temperatures drop and frosty starts to the mornings. A film of ice covered the trail puddles trapping air bubbles and streams of water below the surface. Viewed close up these created a series of abstract compositions capturing the simple, but often elegant, lines and curves:

New Year Sunlight…

2022’s photography started on the first fine day of the new year along the Southwell Trail. Standing out amongst the bare leafless trees was an uplifting sparkle of bright yellow hazel catkins against a clear blue sky - a great colour combination:

This inspired further shots along the trail. I particularly enjoyed the low sunlight tracing the twists and turns of the winter branches merging into a glowing halo of fine twigs: