Avid reader (not a typo) of my blogs will know that bluebells and I have a special relationship, and that for a month or so each year I disrupt otherwise stable family routines for brief, often disappointing trysts before work, all in the hope of catching that perfect moment, or what I call ‘misty lighty fog’. What would 2026 be like? Surprisingly early for one thing...

After spending an unreasonable number of hours polishing the turd that is my website in an attempt to generate a steady audience, I’m finally ready to admit defeat and resort to a ‘10 things’ blog – a shameless tactic to provoke debate and draw attention to myself. I feel exactly as dirty as I should.

Woodland photography has become my primary focus over the past few years, but it wasn’t always that way. Like many photographers, I arrived here by accident rather than design. With an upcoming article due to appear in Outdoor Photography magazine — and very little new work produced thanks to the UK’s incessant rain this year — I decided to revisit my first proper woodland photography shoot. It took place back in November 2020, in a small wood just outside Shaftesbury in Dorset.