The Same View: March

On the back of the long, hard winter, Spring is creeping in carefully this year. There’s still no discernible greening of the landscape; and the daffodils, usually blooming by now, are still tightly-budded and only half-grown. The days may be warmer but nights are still cold - as evidenced by the frozen reservoir above.

But there are plenty of signs that Spring is on her way. Farmers are lambing, and gamekeepers are burning the heather on the moors to enable the growth of new plants. The ducks who vanished during the harsh snows have returned and the pool is now brimful of frogspawn. The snowdrops have had a particularly good year and crocuses have now joined the seasonal carpet.

This month you get to choose which photograph represents March: the picture above showing ice on the water; or the evening photograph below where smoke curls from a moorland fire and the sinking sun conjures trees both above and below the waterline.

Name your favourite in the comments below and the picture with most supporters will be our nomination for March.



For previous posts in this series see:

The Same View: January

The Same View: February

Comments

[Rosanna]

Aw, this is a hard choice!

I like the atmospheric mist and smoke in the 2nd, but I'd much rather be strolling in the scene of the first.

OK, I vote for the first.

[Kate (from Brooklyn)]

Both photos are lovely, Helen. But given the choice between a bright view and a diffuse one, I've got to go with the latter. The misty feel, the mirror in the pond -- it speaks to a deeper part of me somehow. So my vote is for the second photo.

[jeand]

I, too, go for the second one for much the same reasons as your previous correspondents. It's so lovely and much more of a contrast to preceding months. I look forward to all the photos of this beautiful spot.

[MarySunshine]

Greetings Miss Helen, I prefer the first, but I CHOOSE the second with the smoke. It tells more of a seasonal story since you explain that annually the landowners burn off the heather. So That is what makes the March photo distinctive from the other months. I rather imagine April will be a clear and more bloom filled photo of these moors, so two back to back clear days would not be as effective, to me, chronicling the year in this spot. I had to think about that for a couple of minutes, but that's my vote and why. The second. :-)