Finally Found Kielder Wild Wood
June 15th 2025
I had a little but very short lived excursion to “substack” but I did not really like the space or the aesthetic so here we are. Those words of my Resilience teacher came back “ Keep it simple” and my maths teacher a very long time ago “ believe in yourself”. I do get sometimes lost in the noise and need just stick to my plan. I apologise for the change and then re change. The internet world is quite confusing to me.
Wild Wood
The bad weather had broken for blue sky and sunshine , a perfect day to go exploring. As I had brought coins only for the Forest Drive pay machine and it only took card I had to walk up the 2 miles to East Kielder via the forest road as I had done before. It is not a bad walk and does save on money. I had the evening before got the map out and made compass and time bearings for what was on the map. I was ready to find wild wood ! All that pre work wasn’t necessary , the forestry track meanders through the trees and leads directly to the Wild Wood Re-Wilding area. I am getting used what’s on the map is not what I fill find when it comes to tracks.
Scaup Burn
I would not lie if that I was disappointed that it is not suitable for my type of photography. There is obvious lot of work done creating this space even though the vast areas of dead space with chopped down forestry trees wasn’t pretty. The landscape is remote, peaceful and stunning, worthy of a visit. Maybe in 20-30 years time it will be fantastic, unfortunately I won’t be here for that, but at the moment for me to visit every month to photograph it isn’t going to work.
I wish that there was the same interesting woodland walking tracks like there are different grade mountain bike tracks . Wandering through forest single tracks is quite magical. Walking routes seemed to be limited to lower down and mainly for children.
Next week I will be visiting two ancient woodland areas , Hareshaw Linn which is about 10 miles and what looks like an amazing place call Whittle Dene, around 30 miles from me which has a woodland school. Hopefully , I can show you both here.
Having a long walk gives time for thought. I am not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing. “Am I doing the right thing ?” , or “Am I just doing things as I do not believe I can make enough from what I really want to do.? “ Grasping out due to my insecurities and not being able to crack its code. Then I make changes and then get cross that I keep on changing things and I am no further on. and perhaps I should of stuck to the plan. However , I feel that some part of the ideas are interesting to me , just change it for my art style.
I certainly do not want to move, I love this new home, it found me and even when everything went crazy it stayed for me, also my Cat , Stella , loves it here and I love seeing her happy. I see this home as my destiny home and maybe I need to have more faith and patience. The neighbours and community are lovely too
I do not want to stop Branacos , I love taking photographs of nature and showing people its beauty and awe, I want to inspire people to go and connect to nature and wish I had done this sooner. I am full circle back to 2020, going back to complete my Mindfulness teaching qualifications and seeing whether I can create something especially in community.
My painting has moved more abstract and expressive exploring myself more. The nature ideas has informed my curiosity to explore using foraged materials as well but needs more discovery and experimentation. The big question is do I want to make more commercial nature assemblages to commercially sell ?
It was a long walk !
I have to log out now as I promised Stella that I would sit outside with her and she is looking at me hopefully but patient with me as usual. A promise is a promise.
Bakethin Nature Reserve
I managed my return to Bakethin after lasts weeks photography disaster and got there for a few hours just before the deluge of rain. Everything is so lush there at the moment. This time armed with just my 60mm lens and my foraging bag for art material. Remind me , just concentrate on one thing next time. Juggling a camera and foraging bags and keeping focussed for both was not the best of ideas.
When I see the abundance of yellow Buttercups and purple clover ( nature knows its complementary colours ) lining the paths it reminds me of our innate wellbeing , you can see our own life potential if we just let go and allow life to unfold the way nature naturally does. Shining brightly doesn’t mean that you are financially wealthy or of high status it means you are in your wellbeing with the joy and gratitude of life.
The ponds are almost unrecognisable from the month before. So much energy and life stored up ready to explode. I cannot wait for all the summer critters buzzing around this place. I have absolutely no idea how I will capture this energy and life as I am not a landscape or wildlife photographer but the challenge is there to grow so I may tell its story. I will have to see how my deva 60mm semi macro copes with the situation.
Moving deeper into the woodlands my world becomes more miniature. I had been pondering so much about the sameness of the ( if that’s a word ) environment and how I can translate the feeling of a place with photographs. I have a belief that it is always the small things which make up the feeling of a place , quite often things we miss when we are there. When you look harder and deeper you see a world within a world. There are “mini me” of everything everywhere shouting out “me me” when I carefully wander the blanket of moss. Take your time , settle your mind breathe. Falling in love with nature has been the most rewarding thing I have ever done.
Falstone Forest
Tomorrow is Fathers day and I have been deliberating whether to share what’s going on in my mind at this moment. I wanted on the day to remember my Dad with fondness , we had our separate realities of life but I loved him and looked up to him. He visited me when he just died at 3am , November 2023, whilst I lied half awake and tapped me on my head with a good bye. What followed a year later was something horrible and I have been struggling with , betrayal , disappointment , deceit and psychological abusive behaviour. When I was in the thick of it, I just completed level 3 Mindfulness Insight and the teaching to be in the midst of it all , sitting with the discomfort was great help especially as I had no power over the events. During this time I had made decisions for my new life not to let people treat me like this ever again , to have more self worth and respect by creating boundaries. Over my life I had let out of my own insecurities people to manipulate me. I walked away from my antagonist , my sister , which had consequences with family. Her last gesture was so spiteful and cynical I felt the violence towards me. The antidote is getting on with your life.
I do not want to remember my Dad or my Mum with this horrid event as both were good kind people who would help anyone. I will be sat on Sunday remembering them both with gratefulness and love sat with my little and only family Stella, my cat, who has been amazing and grounding through the whole stressful period. There maybe a tear or two.
Yay , I found an Elder. Ok , only one , with only one flower. I have been wandering around hoping to find Elder as I love making ink from the berries. They are similar to Blackberries especially on PH neutral paper but have different qualities on alkali paper which I love. I guess I will have to find more as I follow the “Honourable Harvest” code and would not take when it is not in abundance. But , I looked and I found and I am over the moon.
The Foxgloves where I last lived didn’t flower until July , maybe the amount of sun and warmth in the last two months have brought them forward. There are still lots of Foxgloves in the pipeline for July to look forward to. Hawthorne is still flourishing but the winds and rains have reduced them down a wee bit. The Gorse flower is disappearing which for my part is a under estimation as i was planning to make some ink and the Rapeseed Yellow has once again turned to jelly ( we are now on my third process to prevent this) . It is a great time to come to Kielder , with the wonderful wild flowers everywhere.
