If you get time, we’re now approaching last orders on the Bluebells so get yourself a trip to the woods in whilst you still can! The smell on Sunday afternoon was gorgeous!

OK.. I know bluebell photos can be a massive cliché but I don’t care.. The reason it might be so is that they are so beautiful! Blankets of them covering the woodland floor at a time of year when the woods are filled with vibrant green foliage. Love it!

Taken in West Wood, Honley (near Holmfirth)

The daff is just a bonus!

Taken on a little stroll before work last week. I can’t wait to go there again when there is a little more direct light.

Just when you think you’re all alone in the middle of nowhere, you get spotted! I was out walking the moors above Digley Reservoir (Bradshaw) one morning last week, admiring a stunning sunrise and thinking I had it all to myself – later in the day I was told by a friend that they had spotted me from Issues Road on the other side of the Valley!

I managed to find time to take a couple of photos whilst I was there but I also spent quite a bit of time sat on a dry stone wall just taking in the view. There is something really special about the sunrises in this area of the Peak District.. I hear from a friend that the intensity of the sunrise and sunsets are partly down to the dust in the air coming over from Manchester – so Manchester is good for something after all!

Back to the more local and familiar landscapes around Holmfirth!

Winter sure is hanging on in there this year. Last week I made a diversion to my normal route home to Honley to pay a visit to West Nab that tower over the village of Meltham. Seems that there is quite a bit of snow up there still! It is one of my favourite spots to head to for a bit of fresh air.. Access is via a permissive path but I believe that most of the area to the south of the path is open access (if only the ordinance survey maps onBing showed the right to roam areas..). Careful where you do go up there though.. Some of the land is part of a firing range and is used for grouse hunting.

The grit stone boulders strewn across the is evidence of the powers that shaped this landscape during the last ice age.

On my way up:

At the top! I like the line made by the cloud.This shot was taken north of the Rocking Stone – considered sacred by some.

I was pretty much out of light after that.. I’ll hopefully head back up there again soon, now that the days are getting longer.

It was a sad weekend this last weekend.. I left my home in Meltham for the last time and handed my keys over to the estate agent. Yes.. I’m moving out of Meltham. I have grown to feel really at home in the village but even more so in the peak district hills above it and have had many happy times in that little house (my first!)

For the next few weeks we are in limbo between our old house and our new. We aren’t going far and I’m looking forward to seeing what effect a new place will have on my photography. I’m sure it will open up new opportunities and I can’t wait to discover what they are!

Honley is only a few miles from Meltham so it’s not like I am leaving the area behind, so still expect to see photos from all around the area. I already class everywhere from Holmfirth to Marsden as ‘local’ and Honley is right between those places.

Some parting photos of the village centre taken during our recent freeze:

Followers of my photostream on Flickr wont have failed to notice that I’m a big fan of trees stood alone in fields or on moorland. I try and go to see these trees to keep them company (ha ha) from time to time and try and capture them in different seasons. I recently found a new one near Marsden, Huddersfield to add to my list.

It finally seems as though the big freeze of January 2010, if not finished, has gone dormant. The snow is almost gone apart from on the top of West Nab and I didn’t need to dress up like an arctic explorer today. I have mixed feelings about that because it has led to some great photo opportunities but it has made it hard to get anywhere (hence most of my shots seem to have been from in and around the Holmfirth, Meltham and Marsden area recently!)

I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite shots taken over the last couple of weeks here.