Coal Tit and Marsh Tit

A recent newspaper article reported the RSPB's latest information about Britain's birds that are increasing and decreasing in numbers. One that I recall that is becoming more numerous is the coal tit. This is in part due to the effects of people feeding birds that visit their gardens. On a recent walk in the Forest of Dean we saw quite a few species congregating at a feeding station, and among them was the coal tit (first photograph).

The other species attracted by the mixed seeds on offer were the blackbird, robin, dunnock, chaffinch, blue tit, great tit, nuthatch and marsh tit (second photograph).

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The back end of the year

When I lived in Yorkshire I often heard the last month or so of the year referred to as "the back end". The meaning of the phrase is self-explanatory. However, I never heard the beginning of the year referred to as "the front end", only "the new year". When I looked at this photograph it spoke to me of that Yorkshire "back end", a time when it is typically, cold or damp, when shadows are long, the bracken is dying down, and the brief appearance of the low winter sun draws a few more people away from their fire-sides and central heating. Of course, the dog walkers are out whatever the weather and this couple with their four animals, silhouetted against the woodland, made a nice composition for this passing photographer.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Oast House (or hop kiln)

Wall Hills House, near Ledbury, Herefordshire, is a former farm. The house is Georgian and nearby outbuildings include a cruck-framed medieval barn and a circular oast house. Both the barn and the oast house with its adjoining brick barns fell into disuse as farming changed, but it is good that they remain for us to see today. An oast house is a building designed for the drying of hops that are to be used in beer making. They can be square, oblong or circular and all have a characteristic pointed roof with a cowl. In Herefordshire, where hops are still grown in the Hereford-Ledbury-Bromyard triangle and the Teme Valley, oast houses are often called hop kilns. The oast house (or hop kiln) and attendant barns in the photograph haven't suffered the fate of many i.e. being turned into a desirable country residence.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

"So this is Christmas..."

John Lennon's opening words to his song, "Merry Xmas (War Is Over)", seem somehow appropriate at this strangest of Christmas times. The combination of the pandemic and the actions of the most inept British government of my lifetime (and possibly ever) have made it a Christmas like no other. But, in the small part of my life that is this blog, I will not dwell on such things. Instead I'll try and post images of interest that exist despite the gloom that surrounds us, such as this rain-speckled bauble on the public Christmas Tree in the centre of Ross on Wye, Herefordshire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Gloucestershire College, Cinderford

As we walked round the large pond at the edge of the Steam Mills area of Cinderford we were surprised to come upon a large, shiny, modern building. It didn't show on our map. What was it? Peeping out from the trees on its site overlooking the water, it appeared to be modern steel and glass offices with attached factory buildings clad in wood. As we followed the footpath between the pond and the building we could see nothing to suggest its identity. It was clearly quite new, the landscaping barely established. When we were driving home a road sign suggested its possible identity. But not until I fired up the computer did I discover that it is the Forest of Dean campus of Gloucestershire College, a building devoted to vocational education.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The Old House, Lydbrook

The Old House stands by the side of the valley road in Lydbrook, a straggling village in the Forest of Dean. Most of the picturesque structure dates from the 1500s though the extension on the right is later and is dated 1718. It is built on a slope and the stone cellar has doors and a window at ground level at the front.The wattle and daub infilling of the timber frame on the facade has been competely replaced on the street elevation by later brick noggin, but is present elsewhere. The slate roof and sash windows are also later but the other elevations and interior retains much work from the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The house sign shows both its name as given above and the fact that it was once "Sarah Siddons' House". Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) was a noted Welsh-born actress, a tragedienne, a nationally known celebrity, and the subject of many painters including Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds.

Note: The photograph has had two bags of builder's gravel removed from the bottom left corner of the house, material to be used in some refurbishment of the Grade II* lListed Building.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Greylag Geese

The greylag goose, a species found across Europe and Asia, is probably the second most common wild goose seen in Britain after the introduced Canada goose. Like the Canadian species the greylag is very tolerant of people and can be found in urban parks as well as in open countryside. It is thought that the greylag was one of the first wild species to be domesticated by man, over 3,000 years ago, and today's domestic geese often interbreed with it. At lease one pair successfully hatched young on Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean this year where this very obliging group was photographed.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

An Abergavenny tomb

The Gwent/Monmouthshire edition of the Buildings of Wales describes the collection of medieval monuments in the church of St Mary, Abergavenny, also known as Abergavenny Priory, as "one of the outstanding series...in the British Isles". The photograph shows the memorial to Sir Richard Herbert of Ewyas who died in 1510. This canopied monument has been mutilated and restored over the years but much of the original structure can still be seen. The main figure shows a bare-headed, armoured knight, his legs straight rather than crossed, and at his feet a lion. Under the arch behind him is an albaster Coronation of the Virgin. A headless Sir Richard and his wife kneel in adoration at her feet. To left and right of Mary are the couple's six standing sons and two kneeling daughters. Monuments from this period are not too uncommon though quite a few suffer from over-restoration. That is not the case here and the structure is all the better for it.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Silhouettes at the quarry

On a recent walk in the Forest of Dean we went to look at a large, working quarry. Like all such places it was fascinating. It was a massive and deep undertaking that appeared to be supplying stone for a variety of purposes. At a number of locations were piles of rock that had been assembled by type: principally size, but also, it seemed, colour. The quarry was at the highest point of that area of the Forest and the very highest summit was a heap of relatively small stones. A couple of other walkers and their dog were using the heap as a viewpoint. We decided to do the same and as we approached I took this silhouette shot of them as they surveyed the distant horizon.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

A cloistered chat

Tewkesbury Abbey, like almost all monastic buildings in England, suffered the depredations of Henry VIII. In the case of Tewkesbury, however, the main church remained largely intact because the town purchased the monks' part of the structure from the king for £453 and it became the parish church. The Lady Chapel, a detached bell tower, and the cloisters, along with a few other buildings, were pulled down. On a recent late afternoon we visited the grounds of the Abbey and during our circumnavigation of the church we came upon two ladies engaged in conversationon on a bench caught in the last sunlight of the day. They were having a literal and metaphorical cloistered chat (evidence of the site of the cloisters remain on the abbey walls around them).

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Derelict timber-framed house, Mordiford

On a recent walk near Mordiford we came upon this derelict old house. It is a classic Herefordshire, timber-framed structure, though quite a bit smaller than most such remaining buildings. It now stands in splendid isolation in a grass paddock but presumably it had adjacent outbuildings, gardens etc. What is interesting is the way it displays the elements of the structure that are usually hidden from view today. A stone plinth supports the timber framework comprising panels filled with vertical wooden staves. These were usually hazel, chestnut or oak. Interwoven horizontally are pliable withies or wands. Here unbarked hazel or ash was usual, the whole forming a basket-like structure onto which was plastered clay mixed with straw or hair. This type of infill is called wattle and daub.

The brick infill is very likely to be a later replacement of the older materials. Any other stonework is associated with a chimney which, of course, needed to be fire-proof. The slate roof will also be later and may have replaced tiles, or less likely, thatch. The brick extension at the back will also be later. When was the house built? It could be as late as the early nineteenth century but is likely to be quite a bit earlier than that. As far as I can see it has not been Listed as being of historic or architectural interest.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

A quiet street, Tewkesbury

The Covid-19 lockdowns and the restraint shown by many people during the pandemic has produced many weeks of quiet streets where the only people visible are essential workers, people shopping for food or those taking some daily walking or cycling exercise. I took this photograph in Tewkesbury on one such day. It shows the corner of Gander Lane and Church Street. The main building is the end of a unique curving row of twenty three late 1400s timber-framed dwellings, probably constructed as a speculative undertaking by the monks of the Abbey.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Timber-framed house, Ledbury

"The Steppes" is a timber-framed house on New Street, Ledbury in Herefordshire. It dates from around 1600 and presents a fine example of the builder's art to the street. Why the "Steppes"? Because, like many such buildings it is stepped outwards (jettied) at first and second floor level. It is a close studded example of timber framing in an area where squares prevail. Over the years it has been modified and updated. The windows (with the exception of those in the right gable) are all later, as are the doors and, possibly, the bay. I photographed the building on a day when the autumn light was clear and sharp, illuminating the details of the building to perfection.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Hereford Cathedral from Victoria Bridge

Hereford Cathedral, like a number of smaller British cathedrals, is surrounded by a compact green and close that is bordered by buildings. It also, again like many smaller cathedrals, lacks prominent west towers. Consequently it is difficult to photograph in its entirety, or with most of its mass on display. Photographs taken from nearby tend to suffer from distortion whilst those taken from afar show only the main tower and the upper parts of the nave and chancel. This photograph was taken from the mid-distance as we stood on the ornate Victoria Bridge, a suspension footbridge over the River Wye. The intrusion of buildings and trees obscure all but the cathedral's tower, and the prevalence of evergreens in neighbouring gardens means that even winter doesn't reveal significantly more of the building.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

A foggy Prospect

John Kyrle (1637-1724) is the renowned eighteenth century benefactor of Ross on Wye. The poet, Alexander Pope (1688-1744) called him the "Man of Ross" in his poem in the third of his Moral Essays "Of the Use of Riches"(1734). One of his many contributions to the town was the public open space above the cliffs near St Mary's church. It was called "The Prospect" for its fine view over the meander of the River Wye, and beyond. It is a place still visited and enjoyed today. We were there on a recent afternoon and, the view being cloaked with fog, I turned one hundred and eighty degrees to get this photograph of the tower and spire of St Mary behind the pines and the mistletoe decked trees.

Something of the extent of John Kyrle's philanthropy can be seen in this extract from Pope:

"Who taught that heav’n directed Spire to rise?
The Man of Ross, each lisping babe replies.
Behold the Market-place with poor o'erspread!
He feeds yon Alms-house, neat, but void of state,
Where Age and Want sit smiling at the gate;
Him portion’d maids, apprentic’d orphans blest,
The young who labour, and the old who rest.
Is any sick? the Man of Ross relieves,
Prescribes, attends, the med’cine makes, and gives,
Is there a variance? enter but his door,
Balk’d are the Courts, and contest is no more.
Despairing Quacks with curses fled the place,
And vile Attornies, now a useless race"

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Walking the dog

On a recent walk in part of the Forest of Dean that we had never visited before we found that the off-road cyclists substantially outnumbered the dog walkers. I tried to include some cyclists in a few photographs (for scale more than anything else) but was unsuccessful. This was due to their speed and their predilection for travelling in groups. No such difficulty with the dog walkers: this trio very effectively illustrated the size of some of the taller trees in Barnhill Plantation.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The warm light of (almost) winter

The pollarded willow tree above featured in a photograph with vapour trails that I took in June. This was shortly after it had been cut and all the year's shoots had been removed. The photograph above is testament to the resilience of the willow: by next year it will have quite a full head of shoots and branches. I took this photograph at sunset as we walked by the River Wye, the warm tinges of the sunlit clouds contrasting with the cold blue of the sky and the growing shadows. The image is a reminder that winter will offer warmth to photographs but mainly when the sun is near the horizon.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The cold light of (almost) winter

 

A necessary visit to Tewkesbury found us, in the early evening, on the bridge over the canalized River Avon looking towards the dark, derelict bulk of the Borough Flour Mill. The cold colours of the sky and its reflection caught my eye, and as I studied the composition in my viewfinder I noticed the pleasing contrast of the leafless branches. In the bright light and colours of daytime in spring and summer this view has only a little to commend it. But in these almost monochrome conditions of late November the silhouettes of the same view are much more appealing.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Late afternoon light, Ross on Wye

I imagine that more people than not regret the changes that late autumn and winter bring to the light that we experience on a daily basis. Gone is the sharp brilliance from on high. Now it is less bright and the lower position of the sun means it is often tinged with a yellow hue. Moreover, the shadows are longer and deeper. To most photographers, however, these are things to relish. If you add to the mix the more moisture-laden skies of our islands then soft, more muted images become possible. That is probably what appeals to me about this photograph of Ross on Wye taken from near the river.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Flats, Franciscans and fish shops

Was it wilfulness or ignorance on the part of the owners or constructors that led to the apartment block built off Greyfriars Avenue, next to Greyfriars Bridge, being called Fryers Gate? Greyfriars refers to the colour of the religious habit worn by members of the medieval Franciscan Order, the former inhabitants of the area. "Fryers" makes it sound like the site's earlier occupant was a fish and chip shop. The apartments are built on legs - pilotis - to prevent flood damage from the adjacent River Wye. In recent years they have proved their worth, the water level having risen to within a couple of feet of their tops. I'm quite pleased by the oddness of my photograph; the way the single image can also be seen as subdivided into two or four sub-images.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Speech House Lake, Forest of Dean

The Forest of Dean has a few small areas of open water. Most, if not all, of these are man-made, some connected with the powering of mills, others associated with workings that led to hollows filling with water. The Speech House Lake seems to have been created by the blocking of a stream for landscape or fishing purposes, though I may be wrong about that. What I can say with certainty is that it is one of the most picturesque of these stretches of water and I'm glad our first visit to it coincided with low morning sun and the remains of autumn leaves on the surrounding trees.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Rudhall memorials, Ross on Wye

Part of the interior of the church of St Mary, Ross on Wye, is dedicated to the display of memorials to a local family, the Rudhalls (spelling varies). The earliest piece dates from c.1530, the latest from 1817, and the photograph shows two of the most prominent examples. In the background is Colonel William Rudhall (died 1651), a local commander of Royalist troops in the Civil War. He is dressed in ancient Roman armour but his hair and beard are contemporary to his day. In the foreground is a portrait bust of Thomas Westfaling (died 1814) who married into the Rudhall family. It too is classical in inspiration and is the work of William Theed Senior (died 1817). The absence of irises and pupils in the subject's eyes appears odd to us, but it is a feature of both ancient Greek and ancient Roman portrait sculpture, though in those cases the marble may well have been painted, as was the rest of the sculpture including clothing.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

St Mary, Ross on Wye

The church of St Mary, Ross on Wye, stands at the highpoint of the town above cliffs that fall away to the River Wye below. Its significance in the landscape - it is visible from great distances - is ensured by its 205 feet high tower and spire.

We recently climbed the tower, to the parapet where the spire begins, and briefly enjoyed the view over the town, valley and nearby wooded hills. I say briefly because when we were up there a squally shower that had been approaching when I took the main photograph, lashed the church and drove us back under cover.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Edge of Chase Wood, Ross on Wye

One of our favoured walks takes us through Chase Wood, one of the areas of woodland that crown the two hills behind the town of Ross on Wye. On a recent day, as we pulled ourselves up the steep track by the side of the wood, we stopped to admire the trees growing along its edge and the way they contrasted with the green of the pasture. They seemed to be in their final array of autumn colours and I took this photograph as a reminder of their beauty, something to look at again when they have become the dark skeletons of winter.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Sallow Vallets Inclosure, Forest of Dean

The small plantation of conifers in this photograph form part of an area of the Forest of Dean known as Sallow Vallets Inclosure. I caught them at a point in the afternoon where the low sun was illuminating only favoured areas of the undulating ground, the cold shade of the tree trunks contrasting with the strong sunlit colour beyond. This oddly named location is today largely given over to challenging cycle tracks. Sallow Vallets refers to its original appearance as an area of small valleys (vallets) where sallow (a low, bushy form of willow) grew. Inclosure is an old form of the word "enclosure" describing a piece of "waste" land taken into cultivation.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Autumn afternoon light

Some of the best light for capturing the colours of autumn can be found in the afternoon. Find the right angle to the sun and you can engineer greater colour saturation and stronger contrast in photographs. In this part of the Forest of Dean the trees, mainly beeches, were showing to great effect as we walked among them.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Cattle as habitat managers

Walking through Woorgreens Nature Reserve in the Forest of Dean, an area of heathland and a lake, we came across six young Highland cattle. Some were the traditional ginger/brown, the others black. They were introduced in 2019 to restore, create and maintain the heathland by grazing the bramble, coarse grasses and gorse, as well as restricting the bracken by trampling it. This will allow a wider range of plant species to flourish and attract a greater variety of insects, amphibians and birds.

A few weeks earlier, when the cloud was low, we had seen the Belted Galloways of May Hill going about similar work. These cattle, however, sported bells, something we haven't seen in Britain before.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Stag's Horn Sumac leaves

Many years ago we had a Stag's Horn Sumac tree (Rhus typhena) growing in our front garden. It was an attractive specimen that flourished in the city in a relatively small space and it could easily be kept small and still offer the beauty of its leaves. However, it had two faults which, eventually, caused us to replace it. Firstly, it sent out frequent suckers which tried to establish themselves and which required controlling. And secondly, it had the habit of losing limbs in strong winds and therefore was frequently an odd and unattractive shape. I was reminded of this tree when I photographed the colourful autumn leaves on a "Rhus", as we call them, in a front garden in Ross on Wye.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Churchyard tree

This fine specimen of a tree can be found in the churchyard of St Mary's, Ross on Wye. It is a notable tree for its short trunk and fan-like shape as well as the spectacle it presents in autumn. And for the fact that I can't identify the species. I've seen the tree in a few places around the country - they draw attention to themselves with their tightly packed branches that are sharply angled upwards - but I've never been able to put a name to it. I suspect it may be a Caucasian Elm (Zelcova carpinifolia), or perhaps a Keaki (Zelcova serrata), but the descriptions and illustrations of neither of these are entirely like the tree in the photograph.

Addendum: It's a hornbeam!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Autumn, Ross on Wye

The village of Brampton Abbotts is on high ground just to the north of Ross on Wye. At the highest point in the village stands the church. From the area around it, and from the fields to the west, are some of the best views of the town. On a walk that took us through this area we paused to look at Ross and I took a few photographs of the buildings among the changing colours of the trees. A slight haze gave the scene a hint of John Keats' "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness".

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Echo sculpture, Forest of Dean

We've never been ones for guided tours or carefully constructed trails: we much prefer to wander where our fancy takes us or the details on a map suggest. Consequently we have never "done" the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail in its entirety, from beginning to end. Instead we have, by chance, experienced a few small sections over the past couple of years. In time we will see it all. We came upon this exhibit the other day unexpectedly. It is a cast of the face of the small quarry in which it sits and which can be seen behind, the work of Annie Cattrell dating from 2008, called "Echo".

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Sculpture trail, Forest of Dean

A number of years ago the Forestry Commission, who manage much of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, established a "sculpture trail" in the woodland. It is a footpath several miles long that is punctuated by art works. One of the most striking is "Cathedral" by Kevin Atherton. It was erected in 1986 and remarkably, considering how it must be affected by the weather, it still gives pleasure today. In autumn the colours of the piece compete with the natural beauty on show. In winter it glows, jewel-like, against the more sombre colours of that season.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Sweet chestnut leaves

Sweet chestnuts (Castanea sativa) are thought to have been introduced to Britain by the Romans. They made a porridge of the ground nuts and milk called polenta. However, the nuts must have been imported because only the hottest British summers allow them to grow large enough to eat. Most of the sweet chestnut trees we see today were planted for decorative reasons. But can that be true in Herefordshire where they are extremely common? Regardless of why they were planted they do offer a colourful autumn spectacle, the leaves showing green, brown/orange and yellow simultaneouly, much like the beech.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Humorous sign

I came across this sign in the yard behind a pub in the small Gloucestershire town of Newent. It makes its point about good behaviour - to parents and children - with a little humour. It raised a smile on my face.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The blue Malvern Hills

As we walked along the side of the the prominent wooded hill known as Penyard Park, near the village of Western under Penyard, we kept getting views of the the autumn coloured Herefordshire landscape below. Fields of ploughed red soil contrasted with the fresh green of sprouting winter wheat and sheep-cropped pastures. Russet and yellow tints marked the hedgerow trees and small copses as the green leaves took on their final colours of the year. And above it all was the blue ribbon of the distant Malvern Hills, about fifteen miles away as the crow (or local raven) flies.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Old Wye Bridge, Hereford

The six arched old Wye Bridge, a structure of sandstone faced with ashlar, was rebuilt in its entirety around the year 1490. In the years since then it has been substantially altered. Four arches remain much as originally built, one was rebuilt in 1684-5 due to siege damage, and another was rebuilt in the eighteenth century. All were altered in the widening of 1826 when pedestrian refuges were built on both the up and downstream sides at the top of cut-waters. The bridge had a defensive gateway similar to the one at Monmouth, but this was demolished in 1782. I took my photograph from the busy new bridge that replaced the old Wye Bridge and my composition benefitted from the inclusion of the cathedral in the background.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Photographing dog walkers

I frequently find myself photographing dog walkers. It's not that I'm a "doggy" person out to capture the variety of species (both dog and human) who fall into this category. It's simply that we do frequent some of the haunts of dog walkers and they are often useful as human interest or a visual focus in a photographic composition. As we approached the clump of trees that mark the summit of May Hill in Gloucestershire I noticed a few people passing between them silhoutted against the sky. I took several speculative shots with a long lens looking for a contrasty composition. This one, with the dog that didn't want to be restricted by is lead, and the owner who was getting tangled up in it, pleased me most. Not least for the humour of the situation.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Fallen sweet chestnuts

The advancing year combined with stronger winds produced a fresh fall of sweet chestnuts in the local woods. On our walk over and round May Hill we came across many strewn across our path. The actual nuts were much smaller than those of 2018, a year when the trees produced many that were large enough for people to gather and eat. The dark, warm glow of the nuts and the orange of the leaves, combined with the sharp, green prickles of the shells prompted me to point my camera at these examples.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Sunlit woodland

As we walked through some woodland on the slopes of May Hill in Gloucestershire we came upon an area of coppiced sweet chestnuts. It's unusual enough to come upon coppicing these days - trees seem to be grown and cropped like cabbages in most places. But why sweet chestnuts, we wondered, as we stopped to get a shot of the sunlight penetrating the trees on the path ahead? I couldn't come up with an answer and I must have a trawl of the internet to see if I can discover the reason. Some of the coppicing is just visible at the left of the photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

View from Garway Hill

Our second visit to Garway Hill coincided with blue sky and moderate winds on an October morning. The views as we walked through the bracken and sheep-cropped turf were great and only slightly subdued by the fast disappearing morning mist. Sugar Loaf and The Skirrid were in view for a while and I photographed the latter as we climbed towards the summit. Our upward trajectory was slowed as we repeatedly paused to watch about twenty ravens, above the top of the hill, rolling, tumbling, even flying briefly upside down, for all the world looking like they were simply enjoying the October morning just like ourselves.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Church photography and trees

Seeing, appreciating and photographing the exterior of English churches is made much more difficult by people's enthusiasm for tree planting around the building. A few well-chosen and thoughtfully sited specimens invariably adds to the churchyard and surroundings. But the species, and more especially the position chosen for them, all too often blocks the best or often the only remaining good view of the church. St Margaret at Welsh Bicknor is a case in point. The building of the church was funded locally by an individual who chose a particular architect who produced a beautiful building. Since then trees have been planted that impinge on our appreciation of the structure. The latest is in the centre foreground of the photograph with a guard round it. Imagine its effect on this view when it is fully grown.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Severn estuary near Lydney Harbour

A visit to Lydney Harbour found us looking over the Severn Estuary trying to pick out landmarks. Berkeley nuclear power station (decommissioned in 1989) was one, as was the tower and nave of Berkeley church. High on the hill behind these was a tall, slim, pointed tower - the Tyndale monument. And in the far distance above the shining sands and sinous lines of water, the towers and decks of the two Severn crossing bridges could be seen, confusingly mingled from our viewpoint, with tall pylons that carry elecricity across the estuary. It was this cluster that I made a point of interest in my composition.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Autumn leaf

Recently, after a couple of days of almost non-stop rain, we visited our youngest son and found that he had erected a pop-up event shelter in his garden. It has arches rather than filled in sides and is ideal in these coronavirus times. The children can play under it, we can all meet under it and, as I found when I looked up, there are interesting photographs to be found under it. This leaf is on the outside surface of the shelter along with the water droplets. Unfortunately I didn't have a dedicated camera with me, only the one in my phone, but it did a reasonable job.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Phone

Shepherd on horseback

During our visit to Llanthony Priory we could hear a shepherd directing his dogs and moving sheep on the high ground above us. The sheep were, for the most part, being sheep and dutifully proceeding in lines across the brcken covered hillside. We couldn't see the shepherd, nor could I hear the sound of a quadbike - the usual method by which shepherds travel overland in these upland regions. Then a figure did appear on the horizon.

When I extended my lens to its maximum magnification I saw that it was the shepherd on a horse or pony - a sight I have never seen before in Britain. Today's photographs are technically inferior. But in terms of the subject they are proof that the old ways continue and, at least for this shepherd, remain the best ways.

Inside Llanthony Priory

When, between 1536 and 1541, Henry VIII ordered the Dissolution of the Monasteries, their properties and lands were sold with the funds raised becoming the crown's. Buildings were deliberately pulled down and damaged so that they could not be used for their old purposes. A few remained undamaged, particularly those that were given cathedral status. Some were allowed to keep a portion of the building so that it could be used as a parish church. In practical terms many of the monasteries became quarries with people using the stone to build or extend their own properties.

Llanthony Priory changed owners down the centuries with some of the building being adapted as accomodation. Today that portion is a small hotel and, unusually, the building as a whole remains in private ownership. Both photographs include a glimpse of a part that is currently still in use.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2