The Flickr Tasmanianash Image Generatr

From the forest floor, a backlit tree-fern frond (Dicksonia antarctica).

This is an older, previously logged, regenerating forest not a plantation and the dominant species is Eucalytpus regnans or Mountain Ash (among many names). The species grows very quickly and can reach 65m in around fifty years. The trees around the fern here are about that age and it is the butt of one such tree that provides the dark, tapering backdrop.

Growing so large and so quickly means E. regnans is a fabulous carbon sink with mature trees also providing habitat for countless species of birds, mammals and invertebrates.

Ricoh GRiii, 18.3mm f/2.8, 1/500th sec at f/2.8, ISO 100

I volunteered as a race marshal for the Australian National MTB Champs held last week at Maydena in southern Tasmania.

Duties were to ensure riders and spectators were safe and that accidents could be dealt with quickly and efficiently.

In between races, volunteering gave me the opportunity to stand alone in the forest and simply listen to it breathing.

Early starts also meant that the forest floor was still in relative darkness when I reached my post. As the sun climbed, brilliant sunbeams picked out details like this backlit tree-fern frond (Dicksonia antarctica).

This is an older, previously logged, regenerating forest not a plantation and the dominant species is Eucalytpus regnans or Mountain Ash (among many names). The species grows very quickly and can reach 65m in around fifty years. The trees around the fern here are about that age and it is the butt of one such tree that provides the dark, tapering backdrop.

The tallest known living specimen of the species is Centurion at ~100m tall, just a few kilometres away in the Styx Valley.

Growing so large and so quickly means E. regnans is a fabulous carbon sink with mature trees also providing habitat for countless species of birds, mammals and invertebrates.

Ricoh GRiii, 18.3mm f/2.8, 1/500th sec at f/2.8, ISO 100

No, that isn't too many clamps. Don't be silly.