Potton Wood Photographs for episode three

Posted on by Natalie Doig

The podcast website has all the links to where to listen here.

Photographs taken on my visit to Potton wood on 26th April 2023

I took the photo below just after I set off, it gives a good indication of the elevation of Potton woods. It’s just up from the bus stop!

A path meanders along the right of the image to a bus stop either side of the path there is grass. On the left is a fence and sheep in the field. In the distance a green field rolls and beyond that are more fields in the distance stretching away. Telegraph poles and wites cross the image and bird is flying above the wire. The sky is white with cloud.
View across Bedfordshire from the edge of the lane to the woods

I took the photo below of the path through the southern edge of the wood. It shows how in the winter and spring months the lack of leaves and vegetation makes it easy to see out across the fields.

To the right a narrow mud path leads into the distance. To the left is a carpet of bluebells and thin trees with a few new leaves on them. Between the trees on the left a green field can be glimpsed. The sky is blue.
The southerly path to the left you can see the fields through the trees and how close the path is to them.

Here’s the water tower.

Behind some trees and bluebells is a green field with a large grew water tower on the edge of it. The sky is white.
Here’s the water tower mentioned in the episode with blue bells even here right on the edge of the wood.

This is the area where a lot of the trees had come down in storms and where I recorded the creaking tree.

In the foreground are bluebells then a collapsed tree covered in moss. Part of a tall trunk of a tree has snapped away and the large branch is falling to the ground still attached with some strips of wood and bark. There are some new leaves on some of the branches and the sky is pale blue and grey.
This is an image of the bit of the wood where the trees had come down and were creaking in the wind. This is just one of the trees there were more like this.

Below shows the narrow animal track through the woods and bluebells that I think leads to the crash site. It’s also where there’s a lot of fallen and dead wood as well as large creaking trees which sound like they’re ready to fall.

woodland with bluebells scattered. A large branch is lying on the ground to the left and and the end of an old log is further on from the branch. There's lots of new green leaves.
Follow the animal track if you dare!

Below are the two screenshots I took of my ONS map showing where I was when I smelt smoke or burning the strongest.

A map of the wood showing its boundary path to the south and magenta arrow showing my location.
On just entering the wood at the south east corner where I smelt smoke.
A map of the wood showing its boundary path to the south and magenta arrow showing my location. this time deeper into the woods
When I was near the centre of the wood where I smelt smoke.

Here’s the strange look out post.

A ladder attached to a platform on a stand with padding around the top of the platform frame. The platform is facing a long grass path surrounded by trees and bushes. The end of the path is hidden in undergrowth. The sky above is grey.
Here’s the strange viewing platform with it’s sign telling you not to climb it. The path its facing abruptly ends in bushes.

The nearest houses which aren’t really that near to the woods and weren’t in the direction of the smoke I smelt.

A green fields and then skeletal trees on the horizon to the right is a white barn like building and then a house, the conservatory of which is visible behind more trees. The sky is grey with swirls of white.
Looking towards the nearest houses
Branches of pink apple blossom in front of the grey church tower with bare branches of a tree to the right.
The church tower through apple blossom, a few apple trees still remain around the church yard.

And finally an image of the memorial to the crash in the church yard at Cockayne Hatley. The large gave in the background is the one which relates to the inspiration for Long John Silver and Peter Pan’s Wendy. Stories I’ll cover in a bonus episode.

A dark grey slate wing shaped memorial. It stands in the grass of the church yards, graves are in the background along with trees.
The memorial to the crash in Cockayne Hatley church yard.

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Published by Natalie Doig

"Science and sorcery." It's a quote from a beekeeper I saw on the TV, about how he sees the work he does keeping bees, a balance between science and sorcery. For me it also sums up my experience of life, my interests and my outlook. I love photography which is a perfect blend of science and sorcery, using light and technology to create magical images. But when I'm not taking photos you'll find me making the podcast Weird in the Wade. I'm also often to be found writing, reading, knitting, riding my mountain bike or drinking coffee watching the world go by. By day I fight for disability rights, equality and inclusion for all.

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