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Friday, 1 February 2013

Stumped!

You know the expression "I'm stumped" ? What exactly does it mean? Usually that you have run out of ideas; reached the end of the line; given up? Well, yesterday I felt like that. I couldn't think what to write about. Writer's block? Know what I mean? Well, fortunately stumps came to my rescue. I remembered that I had a number of photos of tree-stumps that I had not previously published, taken on one of my walks on Velmead Common. On the face of it, tree-stumps might sound like boring subjects, but please humour me and look a liitle bit more closely...


This one is studded with holes made by Woodpeckers searching for grubs.


This one has been used as an "eating station" by squirrels, picking out the best bits of some pine-cones.


This ancient specimen has been almost completely covered in moss.


A combination one - eating-station AND moss-covered


This one is almost a miniature garden in its own right - little tufts of moss, like tiny shrubs.


How long has this weather-beaten example been there? 20 years? 30 years? 40? Who knows...


Do you agree then that even something as superficially mundane as a tree-stump can also be an object of beauty, and of interest in its own right?

I hope the weather at the weekend will let me get out and take some more photos...
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10 comments:

  1. Sue Garrett1 February 2013 at 16:42

    Glad it's not just me that takes photos of things like this. Love the mini garden. It would make a good garden feature to acquire a stump and create planting pockets in it and plant up with suitable plants. Now where could I put one?

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  2. Jo1 February 2013 at 17:23

    There's always something to see where nature is concerned. I'm surprised there's no fungi around these tree stumps considering the wet weather we've had.

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  3. David Ford1 February 2013 at 18:30

    Looking at these pictures enlarged it is clear that if you are not observant on these walks you would miss an awful lot of interesting detail

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  4. Jo@awholeplotoflove1 February 2013 at 19:03

    Almost made me wish that I kept the old tree stumps that we had removed before the veg plot was started.

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  5. Egretta Wells blog1 February 2013 at 22:42

    How beautiful! Nature's art. I love this post, Mark!

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  6. Unknown2 February 2013 at 08:40

    Nature is beautiful... simple... and you've captured it beautifully!

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  7. Rachael2 February 2013 at 09:44

    Prince Charles has the famous 'stumpery' at Highgrove - beautiful!

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  8. Liz2 February 2013 at 11:40

    I think photography as a medium lends itself to making the mundane beautiful, or should that be highlighting the beauty in what we previously considered mudane. Not that I ever think wood is mudane but perhaps thats because I've looked at your beautiful photos.

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  9. Neesie2 February 2013 at 13:24

    I'm surely thinking that you'll be out and about taking more photographs today by the look of your weather.
    Each stump has it's own story to tell and you've photographed them all so beautifully.
    I've personally got hundreds of photos of trees, which I keep meaning to post but I get writers block when I think about how to post them. Maybe I should just let them tell their tale.

    Enjoy your weekend and hopefully we'll see yet more spectacular pics soon :D

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  10. Malay-Kadazan girl2 February 2013 at 18:31

    Nature work of art :).

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