Fern uncoiling, Craigellachie wood, Aviemore
I’d been waiting all week for the right light for the ferns – I knew they were sprouting rapidly, uncoiling their inner spirals, but the weather had just been too stormy and cloudy. Several times I made the trip, only to have a big cloud sitting overhead while sunlight flashed elsewhere across the valley. The ferns are on a steep, boggy hillside under the north-facing crags – they obviously enjoy the shaded conditions. I suspect that the cloud forms more often than not over the summit of Craigellachie as the air rises and cools over the hill, helping to form the perfect fern-environment. There’s an incredible variety of ferns, tiny to large, with all manner of shapes and forms. Anyway – perseverance paid off, as after an age of waiting, the cloud shifted for just a minutes giving me light to play with.
I liked the ‘winged chariot’ effect of this one, it reminds me of the uncoiling creatures by Escher.
“You didn’t come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.”
– Alan Watts