Seeds on the wind

Another magical afternoon in my garden. As I was cutting the grass a deer plunged from the thicket by the railway and bounded around the curve of cut grass to another thicket at the bottom of the field.I thought I'd be clever ad sneak up on him by walking towards where he was with the wind blowing towards me. He let me get within 20m before he jumped over the broken fence and plunged into the woods.

​​I suddenly noticed a blizzard of white seeds dancing in the air. I tracked the source of the seeds to the three 'cat willow' trees in my garden. I later discovered that the seeds germinated in hours and I now realise that they are the source of all the willow saplings that sprout up around my garden and in the meadow. These few trees have given birth to literally hundreds of willows that I have chopped down.

Depending on the direction of the wind they float into the paddock or onto the lake. On the lake they float on the surface and accumulate around the edge which is where I often find willows growing. 

I assume these wind blown seeds germinate everywhere but notice that where they seem to grow and flourish is at the margins of the garden - by the lake or along the fence line where they are protected from my mower - until they become too big to ignore and I cut them with a saw. But such is the power of regeneration that they sprout many new shoots unless I can remove the roots.

I am glad I had the time to watch the dancing seeds for a while. It inspired me to make a little movie which I set to a piece of music by Hans Zimmer called 'Light'.