Making tracks

It was spring-like and the snowfall in the first part of the morning was wet and slushy - great for seeing who had been visiting the bush lot where we often walk.
In this image you can see that the owner of the lot has been hard at work cutting down a beech. Many of the beech trees in her woods have become infected with some sort of virus or fungus that is killing them. This is so sad because they are among the most stately of trees when they are open grown on the edge of a forest. Some in this small wood lot must be over 400 years old they are so huge around their middle.
The interesting thing for me is the tracks in the snow... some are my dogs - you can see Bliss standing to figure out what's out there to chase after (top right hand corner). Some are other creatures, and some are ski tracks... this is a lovely place to have a short cross-country ski.

In this image there are human boot prints, and deer tracks right in the middle of the ski tracks.

The deer hoof print is small and recent. I hope it's long gone from the area since I don't want the dogs chasing it.

But they did find this - the jawbone of a deer. Not only are their footprints all around it there are also other tracks that I was unable to decipher... but no blood or other indication that the deer had been killed here in the bush.

I assume this one had been taken down somewhere else and a scavenger - fox, coyote, even a large cat had made off with this trophy.

The dogs are pretty good about leaving something alone when I tell them too - though from the freshness of this "find" I'm sure they would have preferred to make off with it themselves. But who brought it here? I left it where I found it, moving it on a later walk.
I saw many more tracks that day including more of the small deer and some of a very large one. As well, there were those of raccoon, squirrel, mouse, bird - many of the tracks you'd expect in a woods. All have their own story to tell.

And so we left this part of the bush - following ski tracks and the many doggy footprints in the snow - and headed out onto the field planted in winter wheat, for the rest of our walk on this balmy winter day. The temperature was well above zero and the sun shining brightly making it a very pleasant afternoon.
As I continued the walk, I thought about all the tracks I'd seen and their stories and marvelled at the synchronicity of nature and its abundance.
As a species we've not paid much attention to the abundance we find all around us, but certainly this year with El Nina or climate change or whatever it is affecting the weather, many of us have been made more aware of the fragility of the planet. I'm hopeful that we'll begin to protect it better so that (selfishly) people like me can enjoy a walk like this one was and so that others can enjoy their experiences, whether work related or recreational, in the outdoors.
Have a super day.