SOMERSET LEVELS 151 – LOOKING BACK EASTWARDS INTO THE MIST (MONO)

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Looking back eastwards into the mist, along Westhay Moor Drove, south of Wedmore; 14 May 2014.

I was down on the Levels early yesterday morning, taking my usual route from the Chew Valley, up over the Mendip Hills, and down through diminutive Wells.  Large accumulations of beautiful white mist were banked up against the Mendip’s  southern flanks but, out on the flatlands, these were nowhere to be seen.  Later though, a line of mist hanging in the air above Westhay Moor decided to descend as I was driving below it and, stopping and  looking back east, this scene unfolded.

The little highlight lower right is produced by the light catching the water’s surface beneath a small bridge that provides access to a field across a water-filled ditch.  And the pale, single track road to the left of the bridge has a dark centre – the centre of this little byway is far less pounded by vehicle tyres than its margins.

A reason that I’d stopped here was to listen for Cuckoos, birds that, having migrated north from sub-Saharan Africa, ought to be here by now laying their eggs on the nests of other birds – they are brood parasites, whose young are fed and raised by the (substantially smaller) birds that they parasitize.  (The changing banner images at the top of the link given in this paragraph include a shot of a naked Cuckoo nestling straining to push one of its hosts’ eggs out of the host’s nest – such activity ensures that only the Cuckoo nestling will be raised by the host birds, who do not realise that the Cuckoo is not their offspring, even though it may grow to be substantially larger than they are).

Unlike in previous years, however, the far-carrying “cuck-oo” calls were not to be heard here yesterday – maybe this wonderful and enthralling creature is no longer to be found here – a thought that saddens me.

D700 with 70-300 Nikkor at 270mm; 200 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Tin Type preset.
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