Day 155: New Forest

This morning I see a young mallard attempting to mount a swan.  Things pan out as you might expect - a fair amount of swan outrage expressed through the medium of violence. 

But you have to admire the mallard's pluck and optimism.  Why aim low? 

Heartwood Forest.  Just outside St Albans, the Woodland Trust is planting England’s largest new native forest.  The site is big - about eight hundred acres, and is going to include wildflower meadows as well as woodland.  I was expecting fields with saplings - nothing that will be even vaguely foresty for decades - but the site also encompasses four ancient woods.  Awash with bluebells and windflowers.  And stretches of heathland with larks singing high over head. 

It feels a bit managed - in the new bits there are gates and fences, and planting, and slightly prescriptive signage ('The Magical Wood').  But the heart is all there.  No buildings, no commerce.  Just trees and flowers and space.

Plucky and optimistic.  Like a mallard.  Hooray.