If you go down in the woods today ...

"you're sure of a big surprise", the song goes ... and indeed you would have been on Saturday, had you come across this dappled glade on Hampstead Heath, populated by a pop-up photography exhibition and a crowd of picnickers. Photos, idea, and execution are by Sabine Thoele, who is fascinated by and enamoured of crows, but can turn her hand to any subject. Have a look at her photos here, and crows specifically here.

...flying...

...landing...

The photographer photographed

Smiling for the camera (photo by Sabine Thoele)

Other, better, photos of "A Murder of Crows" (by Andrew Smith) are here.

Note the old coppiced tree, which would have been cut back every 10 or so years to obtain firewood - originally this part of the Heath was common land, used for gathering wood (to be sold in London, just down the hill) and also for obtaining sand. This mining for sand and gravel (for making bricks and for the railway) makes for a pocked landscape, which is part of its charm.