Laden with Mistletoe

I liked the stark contrast here of the trees against the snowy foreground and white-out background but particularly the globes of mistletoe which punctuate the landscape.

It was the mistletoe that really caught my eye, and I was interested to read that mistletoe should not be viewed simply as a parasite: according to Wikipedia, "Mistletoe was often considered a pest that kills trees and devalues natural habitats, but was recently recognized as an ecological keystone species, an organism that has a disproportionately pervasive influence over its community. A broad array of animals depend on mistletoe for food, consuming the leaves and young shoots, transferring pollen between plants, and dispersing the sticky seeds."

And so, this blip of trees laden with mistletoe, far from representing a static or decaying landscape, actually conveys a complex, vibrant and flourishing ecosystem. Roll on the spring to see it come to life even more (!) but of course when that happens the mistletoe disappears into its own secret world behind the leaves!