It was very cold and grey today on the heath – but one virtue of the near sub zero temperatures is that they had frozen the mud which was therefore a lot easier to walk on.
Heading back through the wooded valley that separates Kenwood from the southern part of the heath I found several bits of very photogenic lichen clinging to wet branches…
…or slithering snake like through the leaves.
On a nearby tree a huge twig spider was climbing up the trunk.
Down below this root had created a convenient mini trough for the grass to grow in.
A little further on these wild branches made me think of that Greek statue of Laocoön and his sons struggling with the serpents.
(Since I could not remember much about him except that he seemed to be struggling with snakes, I Wikipedia’d him. Laocoön was a Trojan priest who, suspicious of the Greeks’ horse, wanted the Trojans to set fire to it or at least to investigate it further before letting it into the city. Athena, who supported the Greeks, was not happy and blinded him. But he was not to be silenced. So she then sent two sea serpents to strangle and kill him and his sons. Unpleasant lot, those Greek gods.)
Finally, a rather grey walk through that bit of wood. Nothing very exciting except a lot of crows and a dog that seemed to have got itself separated from its family. I was just wondering whether I should do something to rescue it when it obviously got a scent of something/body and set off at great speed so I hope they were all reunited.
Waterlow Park and Lauderdale House