A different view of the woods

This year has been a vintage year for bracken growth in the Forest of Dean, in some parts the bracken stands well over head height, so without a step ladder and access to a 10' high tripod, the height of the bracken has proved compositionally challenging. It is also a mast year for acorns from some oaks and the resident wild boar population have 'ploughed' the woodland floor foraging for acorns, posing another compositional problem.

Taking a pragmatic approach, it seems sensible to eliminate the woodland floor entirely and use the topography to concentrate on perspectives of the woodland canopy.  It is reasonable to suggest that a woodland canopy is a visually complex environment, the architecture of the tree crowns, leaf densities and colours are the elements to draw inspiration from.

The tree crowns reveals the intense competition for access to sunlight and ultimately survival of the tree. The contrast between pure oak stands and mixed oak/beech trees, illustrates why planting beech with oak is desirable for premium grade timber. The time honoured approach of planting beech and oak in the ratio of 2:1 by the Deans foresters, was ignored by the early 19th C foresters who replanted the Dean, who employed a new approach for raising an oak forest covering ~11,000 acres and millions of trees. It was one of the more significant mistakes made in that exercise.