Changing Seasons 2016: July

Posted on by Louise Bunting

Last month I again spent many pleasant hours photographing the wildflower meadow, wooded area and stream for Cardinal Guzman’s Changing Seasons photography challenge. As you may know by now, this is my favourite place in the village, and where I like to go to write.

Love

In June the main feature of the meadow had been the daisies. During July these steadily died back, leaving a sea of golden grass, speckled with the delicate umbels of wild carrot flowers.

Here are a few general views over the meadow. Click on the gallery to enlarge the photos.

Here are a few close ups of the grasses and the seeds hidden amongst them.

One thing I haven’t really focussed on in previous months are the little trees that dot the meadow – mainly because they’ve never before really worked well in photographs. Many are now, finally, large enough to actually show up in pictures.

Obscured by the long grass there are also many flowers that you can see once you get a little closer. The cornflowers, poppies, birdsfoot trefoil and clover of June have continued to bloom, but I’ve not included pictures of these this month. I’ve instead focussed on the flowers new to July: wild carrot, camomile and corn marigolds, plus many others that I was unable to name.

The grasses and flowers have continued to teem with bugs and insects of all sorts. The butterflies have been the most noticeable, flitting from blossom to blossom, and sunning their wings as they rest on leaves, though, as usual, they’ve also been the hardest to photograph.

After exploring the meadow it’s always nice to head into the trees for a while. After talking to one of the older villagers who walks his dogs around the meadow, I decided to find the holly tree on which he and his friends carved their names back when they were children. I was quite amazed that I’d never noticed it before!

On of my favourite places to write is beside the stream, near to the little ladder that leans against a tree on the water’s edge. I always like to snap a few pictures while I’m down there.

You can check out previous months’ Changing Season’s posts here:

February
March
April
May
June

Did you have a favourite picture? I’d love to know.

thechangingseasons

30 thoughts on “Changing Seasons 2016: July”

  1. It looks like a truly magical place, a traditional English meadow. I can imagine you spending many a happy hour there snapping away and writing 🙂

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    1. It’s a wonderfully inspirational place. 🙂 I especially love how peaceful it is. While I meet a few people down there, it’s never a huge number and they rarely stay for long. Thanks for visiting, Ali. 🙂

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    1. Thanks, Derrick. There are several pictures that I’m gutted to lose – mainly of wildlife. I had several shots of moorhens on the stream that took a lot of patience to get. They hide as soon as they hear anyone nearby. I also had a toad, a dragonfly and several butterflies. The butterflies were the only ones I managed to get new shots of. Thanks for visiting. 🙂

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    1. That’s one of the paths from the meadow into the wooded area and stream. It used to be much more of a clamber through the brambles, but it’s been opened up more this year. I was just thinking the other day that the area under the trees is just like the ‘den’ that my brothers and I had in our local park when we were kids! Definitely a secret hideaway. Thanks for visiting, Gina. 🙂

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      1. i could get lost there! i love these little wooded areas….your posts always takes me to a place in my mind filled with the stories from the books i read in my childhood.

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  6. Such a beautiful place! I really enjoyed all the gorgeous photos! I can see why you like to go there and why it gives you inspiration to write. It is truly magical!

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  7. Pingback: The Changing Seasons: July 2016 – Cardinal Guzman

    1. I can happily spend hours there, sitting either in the middle of the meadow or under the trees. The local dog walkers are becoming quite used to finding me on random paths, hidden by the long grass until they round a bend! Thanks for visiting, Jessie. 🙂

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  10. It’s hard to choose a favourite, but I love the butterfly – what is that? I don’t think I have ever seen one of those. And the ladder against the tree. You live in a wonderful place, these photos are all beautiful.

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    1. It’s a Gatekeeper butterfly. I’d never seen one, either. 🙂 I’m very fortunate to have such a wonderful place practically on my doorstep. I’m glad you liked them. Thanks for visiting.

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      1. I shall have to look that up, never even heard the name before! Appears to be found in the South and East of the country and also known as the Hedge butterfly (and no I haven’t heard that name either!) You live in the East don’t you?

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