Harwood Forest

Standing in tracks cut in two feet of snow by forest machinery, I held my camera with freezing cold hands looking around for a good vantage point becoming momentarily absorbed in the intense hush; no noise, no wind, the icy mist hung in the distance making the sky indistinguishable from the snow on the ground.
My eyes watered stinging from the cold air and the dazzling whiteness of the snow, I tried to focus on the distant line of wind breaking pine trees, softly blurred in grey tones almost blending into the haze on the horizon.
Hearing the faint hum of the harvester in the distance and the occasional grind of a tree trunk against the metal blade I wondered how these men continue to work in these conditions, how do they keep warm, how do they cope in the ice and snow, how do they get here at all in this weather? The engine noise grew louder, a forwarder must be coming out of the woods bringing a new load of cut timber to leave at the road, I turned towards the noise and waited. Emerging into my line of vision along the two tracks cut in the deep snow was indeed a forwarder pulling a fully loaded trailer of cut tree trunks. The sight of this huge machine cutting its way through deep snow and ice was awesome, so much worth the trip just to see this.
Ian Stewart stopped his machine at the edge of the track and flung open the cab door greeting us with a warm, friendly and predictable Northumbrian smile.
He revealed that it had taken him two hours to get to work this morning from Barrasford and during the conversation I realised from his accepting tone that our foresters take these harsh conditions in their stride, as part of their work, they are completely comfortable in their working environment and are practised in coping with the danger it presents on a daily basis.
My questions answered!
This snow, they thought, would take weeks to melt in the forest areas and meanwhile they would just get on with the job. Egger and Taylormade will get their timber and the consumer would get their kitchen furniture and garden decking.