Water and wood

Richmond Park is not may favourite place to go for a walk because large sections of it are busy and featureless but it makes up for this in its size which lets you spend a lot of time well away from cars.

One of the park's main attraction is Pen Ponds which is located somewhere near the centre.

You are never that far from a car park in Richmond Park (I'd close the lot of them) but the nearest to Pen Ponds is a couple of hundred meters away, and it's uphill all the way back, so most of the people there are out for a serious walk.

The wild fowl know that people mean food so they cluster enthusiastically in the corner of the upper pond where it means the path from the car park.

Clearly many walkers cannot wait to get rid of any bread that they have bought with them and feed the birds at the first opportunity that they get rather than walking on a little to somewhere quieter and prettier.

Composing the picture to avoid the clump of bird feeders is easily done and provides a view that is devoid of people. This I like.

Much of Richmond Park is scrub land thick with ferns that flash green and brown as the seasons change. Not very interesting.

Raising the spirits are gangs of trees gathered together for mutual comfort and support.

Here the paths get lost under a carpet of leaves freeing the walker to head in any direction and I like to emerge from one not quite knowing where I am. What's the point of going for a long walk if you don't get lost?

Again the damp grey March weather has kept most people away and the countryside illusion is successfully maintained. All to soon the sun will come back and the hordes with it and Richmond Park will lose its magic.