Lone Ash Tree

Lone Ash Tree

Monday 12th January 2015

When I first saw this tree and the open space, it just epitomized the Yorkshire Wolds for me. Many years ago, trees featured a lot in the landscape, but with the agricultural revolution came massive open fields. In more recent times, hedgerows were grubbed out, so in places there is very little in the way of shelter and so not much wildlife. To see a defiant ash tree standing alone on an exposed upland with no shelter from the battering winds is testament to survival and maybe a little sympathy from the farmer? Photographers will say it should be positioned on a third not half way. I disagree, the open field and the sky have to dominate to show open space, but the tree in the middle has to take centre stage.