I am certain it is because of all that is going on in the world at the moment, but lately, I can't help but feel a strong sense of melancholy and nostalgia while out in my local woods. These are the very places I 'cut my teeth' as a nature photographer more than 35 years ago, and back then (and up until 17 years ago) I would accompany my dear departed friend and mentor, Ted Coleman, and photograph everything from wood anemones and violets to nesting blackcaps and badgers. These were halcyon days, indeed, and as the years went by we would often stroll around those same woods and chat but often in silence, content in each other's company. I was thinking about him on Sunday while photographing in a nearby wood waiting for the sun to re-appear from behind the clouds, and as it did the familiar see-saw call of a great tit filled the air. I depressed the cable release of my Hasselblad, and smiled.
