Hyde Park – a walk in the afternoon

Last Sunday I went down to Hyde Park.  It had been a week since I was there, and we’d had rain.  I wanted to see the ponds.

As I stepped out of my gate, I saw:

They are growing outside the gate, underneath the ivy.  It rained, yes, and it is sort of Autumn, yes, but it’s not cold.  I was rather enchanted with the way they grew though.

Hyde Park was its usual beautiful self:

The Morten Bay figs – there are shapes in these trees, and the folds of their bark looks like thick skin:

 

 

 

But there is another tree as big, though not as intricately shaped.  I don’t know what type of tree it is, but it is huge:

 

Then the lovely plane trees –

 

 

The more leaves that fall, carpeting the ground, the more their structure is revealed:

 

 

and their autumnal colours make the park seem more vibrant than the grey rainy air felt, all the ponds looking full of water (it’s probably barely 10 mm deep!) so the colours are reflected:

 

The islands were filled with beauty:

 

I was just so intrigued by the lines of the willow that I had to play:

I found these on the ground near the ponds:

 

And then there aer these: the most ancient looking tree in the park:

 

I looked back before I left – the day wasn’t misty, the light was rather strong, but my little camera sometimes has problems with it, so it makes a very atmospheric photo:

I reflected as I walked home, on the park.  It is going to change.  There are repairs and renovations that are needed.  The original plan, to completely change it, take out all the ‘exotics’ (which would include the plane trees) was voted down by the residents who want it to remain as an ornamental park, although there will be changes to the islands so they clean the water, the lakes will be made smaller, and hopefully all the plane trees will remain and survive as their roots are probably going to be terribly disturbed.

They have not yet decided about lining the lakes because if they do, trees will die as they won’t be able to access water, and if they don’t, the water will drain away.

I have a heartache – thinking about the trees that might die, but it is true – there are problems in the park because of the lack of water in the whole Perth area now.

But it will be there for a while yet.  I am dreading them starting work because I won’t be able to go to the park anymore.

So I came home to my fluffy kitty to find her sharing the armchair with a plush Cthulhu.  🙂