Death...

...it can be beautiful.

The Poppy. 

The Crow.

I have come to realise that I'm intrigued by birds at the moment.

I have always found wildlife fascinating, since becoming more interested in photography I have found myself stood 'silently' clicking and hoping for the perfect shot.

The photos below aren't exactly the perfect shot, but they are unedited and I took them while out on a walk.  I find there are an abundance of birds and mammals in the cemetery but being sneaky enough to get a decent photo is hard.

The Crow is such an interesting bird; it's common to most of England and I've started to notice them even more recently. I think part of the appeal is that they are beautiful and majestic when they're swooping to the ground, yet watching them hop about looking for food or fighting with one another they look completely different. They have a sinister and dark edge to them. I don't think they'd be out of place guarding a medieval castle.

The crow is a carrion creature so it's not suprising that they are associated with death. I thought it was particularly apt that I found this one sat on a head stone.



A common sight amongst the gravestones.



Sinister image.

Beautiful and Dark



A couple seconds later I disturbed it and it took off.

If you're interested have a look and see What the RSPB say about the Crow

Reflection.

Not the sort you get in a mirror. The sort that goes on in your head.

Since going to the old cemetery the other day I found myself wondering what it is that I find so appealing about being there. Some people might find it odd that I would enjoy walking around a graveyard by myself. I mea firstly I didn't even plan to go there, I went out to go for a walk, happened to pass and thought I'd go in and explore a little, having heard from my friend Ben that it was a pretty good one (sounds like we're graveyard junkies, we're not....yet) So there I was in this huge cemetery and honestly, I haven't felt as relaxed and peaceful in a long time. Since then I've found myself wanting to go back again, to get that feeling back. I guess everyone has somewhere they feel comfortable, yes it's a little unusual that I feel like that in a graveyard but then I suppose when you've experienced as much death in your life as I have it doesn't hold the same stigma as it does for others.

There's so much beauty in the stone work and the contrast between the neat rows of headstones and then the haphazard ones...

I found it fascinating reading some of the headstones, finding people that had died hundreds of years ago, later having their children buried with them. I find that all rather poetic. In my family I'm the only one who wants to be buried, everyone else opting for cremation. I have been to considerably more cremations in my life than burials. Yet that one burial I was a part of changed my whole opinion on my death. I don't think until that point I'd ever considered a burial, when you go to cremation after cremation it forms the idea in your head that it's almost the done thing. You forget there are other options...