Stills

Lots of good bits, but I agree with Doug - the whole just doesn't live up to the sum of the parts, although I disagree about the remedy :-)

In the top two thirds I see a much more harmonious collection of shapes and lines, and I'm drawn right into the centre which is a good place to be. As it is, I'm pulled away from that area to the base which has bigger, cruder, tonal patches and either a focus or movement loss of definition.

Ober Heath doesn't sound very English does it?
 

This is it!
 

I had some which were reflection only. I doubted there was enough interest.

As an experiment I cropped off a bit at the bottom (-154 pixels) which runs through a 'gap' in the main tree reflection. I find that the point of interest then moves up and my eye now includes the far bank. I accept I struggle with in the current image to include the far bank. Thanks.
 

I agree with Colin about the apparent focus loss in the foreground (what was the point of focus?) but disagree with, first Doug, about cutting off the top (a different idea but weaker) and, second Colin and Rex, about cutting off 154 pixels at the bottom. The latter image is weighted too much to the shore, whilst as presented there is a tie up to the length of the trees and their reach to the viewer. The answer is to re-shoot for the foreground!

I like the idea of black water on heathland and, if it isn't a river, the movement must be wind-driven leading to the interesting water patterns.
 

OK, it has its appeal and it has its problem. May I suggest its problem might simply be colour? I much prefer it in B&W where it gets, in my opinion, magically balanced and shows its strengths much better.

I think the colour only adds distraction. I am biased on this, indeed I tend to view colour as a distraction unless it is the subject or a big part of it.

Christina tends to consistently prove me wrong on this, but I digress :-)

Really, once I remove colour, I see a wonderful, very interesting shot.
 

It certainly needs something to bring it all together. The arc of the trees in the water leads to a glow and that left had long arc holds that reflection up well. The whole shot has plenty of detail save the top left. Perhaps bringing out some of the detail in there may be the something I need. Well seen though.
 

It is easy to understand what inspired you to take this shot -- the water is quite beautiful.

With the benefit of the comments, I spent some time experimenting with this and eventually came to agree with Guy that bringing out the top left helps unify it. A bit of a balancing act tonally -- I may have gone a bit too far, but here is one of my results:

http://cgstudios.smugmug.com/gallery/431455?f=94#238437880-A-LB

And although Stephane's idea of B&W did balance it out by losing the color, I, (naturally) also tried going the opposite direction -- to bring out the subtle colors more. It might have killed the whole idea of "black water" and lost the mood, but I included a link anyway for the sake of conversation:

http://cgstudios.smugmug.com/gallery/431455?f=94#238437843-A-LB
 

I rather like the 'extra colour' version however, in absolute terms, I still prefer the slightly darker upper corner of the original. Lightening it goes just that little bit against nature!
 

It's that little bit of brightness on the bank that pulls me out of this. Losing a bit on the top and on the right, and I think you'd have something.