Spring. The real thing at last.

I'm pretty sure I'm right when I say there is nowhere on the planet more amazing than England in Springtime. Take a walk in one of the very few remaining ancient woodlands and you'll see what I mean - positively electric with life. Wildflowers galore, insects, birds, and plenty of other shy creatures abound.



I've photographed two beautiful old woods in the last week - Ashwellthorpe Lower Wood and Thursford Wood both in Norfolk. Each one has its character - Ashwellthorpe has carpets of Ramsons (Wild Garlic) and is fragranced accordingly, Thursford has masses of Bluebells and very old oaks. I had different wildlife encounters in each too. Ashwellthorpe had owls, squirrels, chaffinches, jays, great tits; Thursford had frogs, woodpeckers, foxes and hoverflies. I also had a wild encounter in each with a totally-out-of-control terrier puppy - not mine I should add. I was obviously a dog magnet.



As well as stills images, I've begun shooting high definition video footage. Haven't quite decided what to do with it yet but it's already showing up something painfully obvious: we humans are really noisy! Each one of these tiny refuges for wildlife is surrounded by roads. When I'm recording sound for video I just want the birds tweeting, the wind rustling in the trees and that's about it. Unfortunately, even at 6.30am, I get the roar of engines from nearby roads (motorbikes are the worst, grrr!), planes and helicopters (also very noisy) flying overhead and, in the Broads, boat engines. We never shut up, us humans! 



The other thing that's very obvious is that everyone is rushing past in their cars to go shopping or go and 'do' something. If you stay still for any length of time whatsoever, you discover that simply 'being' right there is all you need. Try it: you'll feel like you came home!



What else? I made a reconnaissance trip to the Peak District and Lancashire in early April, with my very tolerant wife Alison. The higher ground in England still looked completely dead in early April this year - everything has been delayed a month or so by the intense winter we had. So, a lot of driving but not many photographs. I was also, er, lucky enough to be commissioned to shoot inside one of England's high security mental hospitals which was an eye-opener. I do not recommend getting yourself committed there - or even visiting - if you can avoid it. High security environments seem to be something we're getting a reputation for photographing as I was commissioned to shoot a datacentre - one of the many drivers of the internet. I DO recommend visiting one of them if you ever get a chance as you'll be goggling at what goes on there.





Some of you will know that Norfolk Wildlife Trust had a show in Norwich that used many of my large panoramic images. These worked really well on 'Fusion' - Europe's largest digital projector (in Norwich, who knew?) and the show was a big success - 2-3 thousand people saw it in the week and it achieved one of my main aims; to bring the natural world into the heart of the city and sensitise people to it, perhaps even moving them to take more care of it. 



Talking of which, I have to sound a sober note. We are, as many people are saying but it bears repeating, in an emergency situation relative to our planetary home: virtually every indicator from honey bees to forests, fish stocks to species extinction is off the scale, flashing huge warning lights at us humans.

These indicators are saying, 'Respect the earth that you depend on completely, respect the interconnected ecosystem of life or... the earth will rebalance itself by removing humans'. It wouldn't take much - just one, or perhaps a few, of the really big volcanoes need to go off for a year or two and we'll be plunged into a new ice age. There are signs all over the earth that the volcanoes are more active so this isn't that hard to imagine. It's going to make the economic crisis look like a storm in a teacup. More information here (shocking), here, here and here.

Am I saying we can stop this from happening? No, but the earth is a self-balancing system so the more we push it out of balance, the more it will be forced to do to rebalance. Therefore, the more we restrain ourselves, the more calm the earth will be. Simple really. As a matter of urgency, all of us must make small but significant changes to our lives. Here's what I've done in the last month: set up an office at home so I don't have to commute to work every day; committed to taking the bus to town rather than driving (saving me £10+ per day); got connected online to enable me to earn without having to go somewhere; and, most importantly, I've committed to getting my images more widely known (not comfortable for me) to draw attention to the situation we're in.

So I ask you now, what will you do? What can you do today to make a small difference? Here's a tip: do what's really happy for you.

Very best wishes

Richard Osbourne

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