In the Rough

A fair proportion of my blips are from the narrow strip of Baildon Moor that sits between the edge of Baildon village, and the 18th fairway of the golf course that sits on the moor.

A stretch like this, which is more or less in the flight line between the 18th tee and the fairway, and therefore is technically 'rough', is what the moorland would look like if the golf course wasn't here. It throws up good questions about the boundaries between the urban and the wild. The greens and fairways are relatively small patches of managed landscape within a connected lattice of moorland, that sits within the larger, wilder stretches of the moor. So when I spend time wandering in stretches like this, I see it as a patch of wildness, where I'll find grasses, sedges, flowers, fungi and fauna of various kinds, along with the occasional lost ball.

Today's picture is in black and white out of necessity more than through aesthetic judgement, although I do think the grasses and sedges work well in mono. The sensor on my camera appears to have gone haywire, and all my images today have come out with an unhealthy green tinge. I don't know if it's terminal, but I expect a trip to the camera shop to investigate repairs will be in order.

This might be considered a companion piece to Moorland Birch, from December 17, which gives you a clearer idea what the colour image would have looked like.

One year ago, in a similar spot, the snow was still with us.

the line ~ between the city ~ and the moor ~ ambiguous ~ wildness