Lockdown Walks in the Woods

We're still waiting for some publication deadlines to clear so we can show some work on here, so in the meantime here's some shots taken during the daily permitted Boris-ercise walks we were doing.

Damems Lane in Keighley, nominally a public road... if you have an off-roader or possibly tractor.  Surprising how busy it was; hoping that a long-term benefit of this lockdown is that more people discover the bit of countryside around here and make the most of the place... should help having normal people and families, rather than people who don't clean up after their dogs, or risking some property company tarmacking over the whole lot.

And before we get to the pretty pictures of flowers and things, a brief look at the downside of it all... Damems Lane used to be a mecca for flytippers, but it had improved in recent years.  Until the tips shut down, and suddenly some bastards have been dumping stuff in the river.  The second walk we did a van tried to stop, but there were about 30 of us along the lane, so he sped off.  We've seen police patrols a few times since, which makes a change.  Still a bit of tipping going on though, and evidence of drunken barbeques here and there.

Right, bad stuff out the way, let's have some pretty pictures, starting with the wild garlic on the old Great Northern Railway embankment.

It stayed looking really nice for a few weeks, and the smell was strong.  Keeps away the vampires too probably.

Further on the path, towards the railway station.

We'd love this level of moss on our walls.

We started varying our usual walks to take in the old trackbed of the Great Northern Railway itself.

It used to be a bit nasty and overgrown up here, but it appears some of the local residents are going to a lot of trouble with maintaining the path, even leaving up bin liners for people to put their rubbish in.  Shame the phantom dog-mess dropper of Keighley is still letting their monstrous hound leave steaming piles of muck on the paths, but apart from that it's lovely up here now.

So that's that; there's a limit to what you can photograph on the same walk three times a week (particularly when you're trying to stop three kids paddling in a river), but it's been nice getting a few landscape shots here and there, something we haven't bothered with much in recent years.  Probably some more wildlife shots coming up in the next post, in the meantime, stay safe and stay healthy :)