Land art

I enjoyed a wander through the dappled sunlight in Hirst Wood the other day. I haven't been that way for a while and though I always notice changes - especially old trees that have crashed down or been felled - there is something timeless about it too. It seems very natural but in many ways it isn't. There is evidence of an iron age settlement towards the eastern end of the wood and the remains of a mill and some associated cottages at the western end, where the ancient paths have worn down the ground into sunken holloways (above).

A few days ago I caught a short clip on TV about a Calderdale-based land artist, Winston Plowes, who creates transient artworks of mandalas and other patterns using natural, found materials, usually on site, leaving them to weather and disperse. I've always been fascinated by land artists like Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long, so when I saw that Winston Plowes had created a mandala in Hirst Woods a few days before (see photo below, a screen shot from the video), I decided I'd try to locate it. 

Well, I did find it but already the wind and rain had wrecked it, leaving only a few red berries and a vaguely discernible circle on the ground.