Little flower in woodland

A little purple flower standing out against a backdrop of green leaves beneath the trees at Hardcastle Crags.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/400s, -1 step exp bias, 90mm, hand held.

Bare winter trees in woodland.

This is high in the woods at Hardcastle Crags, photographed in February this year.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/200s, 35mm, hand held.

Exposed tree roots at Hardcastle Crags.

This tree is growing on a very steep slope high up in the woods - the path runs right beneath its roots. I took the photo in February this year.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/80s, 35mm, hand held.

Sunlight catching winter branches.

Another tree photo from Hardcastle Crags - this one's from March last year. I love the way the sun sneaks through to light up the edges of the mossy branches and the few remaining copper leaves.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/11, 1/160s, 55mm, hand held.

Autumn trees reflected in a mill pond.

I took this photo of the pond behind Gibson Mill at Hardcastle Crags a few weeks ago. I'd just managed to get my composition right and got a couple of shots of the different trees when 2 big labradors leaped into the pond, sending ripples right across it and destroying all the reflections.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/4, 1/125s, -1 step exp bias, 35mm, hand held.

Winter trees at Hardcastle Crags.

This is from February this year - I love how the silver birch tree trunks and coppery leaves stand out from the dark greens.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/2.5, 1/250s, 35mm, hand held.

Burst of autumn colours at Hardcastle Crags.

Here's another one from the Crags this weekend - I love how the colours pop out of the shadowy woodland at this time of year.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/2.2, 1/100s, -1 step exp bias, hand held.

Mating craneflies

My son spotted these 2 flies on these blades of grass at Hardcastle Crags today - he was initially drawn to the raindrops on the grass. We didn't realise at the time that they were actually mating!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/8, 1/60s, -1 step exp bias (keep forgetting to turn it off!), hand held.

Spider beneath a dew-covered web.

Another one from around this time last year. This was a lucky find high up in the woods at Hardcastle Crags. I had my tripod and macro lens with me so set about taking photos of the lovely dew droplets on the web. It wasn't until I reviewed the pictures at home that I realised the spider was there. It's well camouflaged amongst the greens and browns of the foliage, so I desaturated the rest of the image to make it easier to spot.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/22, 1/2s, 90mm, tripod & cable release.

River flowing around mossy rocks and autumn leaves.

This is at Hardcastle Crags, photographed about this time last year. I took 3 different exposures - one fast, one very long and this one, which I think captures the best of both - the darker water is smoothed out to simplify the scene, but there's still an element of movement in the white water.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/18, 5s, 38mm, tripod & cable release.

Autumn leaves on a wooden bridge at Hardcastle Crags.

Another one from my walk around the Crags this week. I've photographed this bridge before, but with a greater depth of field. I thought a shallow depth of field would work well this time with the colourful fallen leaves.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/2.5, 1/60s, -1 step exp bias, 35mm, hand held.

Heron in the river at Hardcastle Crags.

I've seen the heron at Hardcastle Crags many times but never managed to photograph it. A few weeks ago, I followed it quite a long way upstream, seeing it in numerous places each time it stopped to fish, but I only had a wide lens on my camera and couldn't get close enough. So, today, I deliberately took my long lens in the hope that I'd see it. I couldn't believe my luck when I reached the river beside Gibson Mill and found it posing perfectly for me in the waterfall. Then it flew further upstream and I managed another shot of it perched on the river bank. I'd love to know if there's more than one heron - I've only ever seen one on its own.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/4.8, 1/125s, -1 step exp bias, 210mm, hand held

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/5, 1/200s, -1 step exp bias, 120mm, hand held

Raindrops on a fallen oak leaf.

Here's another macro shot from last week's walk round Hardcastle Crags.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/7.1, 1/100s, 90mm, hand held.

Autumn leaves.

Another one from yesterday's walk at Hardcastle Crags - a beautiful mixture of autumn colours.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/160s, 35mm, hand held.

Sunshine and bluebells at Hardcastle Crags.

This is a section of the riverside path between Midgehole car park and Gibson Mill at Hardcastle Crags, photographed in early June last year.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/11, 1/125s, 28mm, hand held.

Sunburst through trees

This one's from November 2 years ago, at Hardcastle Crags. The leaves were in their autumnal colours, but I converted this image to black and white to focus on the sunburst.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/10, 1/125s, 20mm, hand held.

Fern amidst moss and decaying leaves.

I found this little fern at Hardcastle Crags in February this year - a lovely mixture of colours and textures.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4, 1/125s, 35mm, hand held.

Skeletal trees on a hilltop.

This is right at the top of Hardcastle Crags, where the trees end and moorland begins. I took the photo looking steeply uphill into a bright blue sky in March last year. I was playing about with settings in Lightroom when I came across this effect (mostly created by reducing the blue slider in the black and white mix right down); I think it makes the trees look really skeletal - a bit spooky.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/80s, 18mm, hand held.

Contrasting tree trunk shapes.

I spotted these crooked and straight tree trunks in the woods at Hardcastle Crags in November 2014. The different shapes seem to give the trees individual personalities!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/10, 1/125s, 20mm, hand held.

Light and shade under the trees at Hardcastle Crags.

I took this one in June last year - you can see the bright midday sunshine just managing to break through the branches into the shadows beneath.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 1600, f/9, 1/80s, 35mm, hand held.