Cranham Woods in early autumn

We needed some fresh vegetable supplies to day as well as stocking up on sunflower hearts for the birds, so off I drove up the hill to Bisley farm shop. The day has been bright with sunshine and clear sky all day.  this morning I even got the hose out to water the pot plants around the patio for which they are very grateful.

I pondered on where to drive to after the farm shop as I thought while I was there I could explore the high farm land on the top of the Cotswold hills for a different blip.  I stopped a couple of times but didn't feel inspired.  Then i turned off the road to Birdlip towards the village of Cranham and its pretty surroundings.  It lies near the source of the stream that has cut the valley to Painswick and down to Stroud, very close to the edge of the escarpment.  Most rivers flow east towards London, but these streams flow south then immediately west to join the River Severn.  Just a couple of miles away another stream is one of the sources of the Thames.

Coming down from the tops into the valley at Cranham I stopped on the common land and looked out across to Cranham Woods.  They are very well know ancient woodlands which rise up to the escarpment in the distance.  Beyond that the land drops precipitously down in the vale and Wales beckons in the distance.

I decided to record the tree cover of this natural woodland, which has been managed for countless centuries.  I think an ancient woodland is defined by the fact that it has been managed constantly for at least four hundred years.

It is the first of October and the autumnal season is upon us, so the rich colours will only get more vibrant.  Today's blip marks the first time I have noticed the changes.  I have left a rooftop at the bottom of the picture which marks where people have congregated at the bottom of the valley and cultivated land, made space in the woodlands for their dwellings and grown different species which you can see spreading up the lower slopes by their differing colours and shapes.